Black leather gloves & white bar tape?

bigpikle

My new bike has white bar tape and I'm wondering if the palms of black leather gloves, like the Giro LX, will likely discolour it? Does anyone have any experience of this?

I find the Giro gloves supremely comfortable and was going to get the white mitt version, only to find out that the palms of those are black as well

If yes, does anyone know any reasonably priced leather mitts with a white/very light coloured palm?

I know white bar tape will discolour gradually anyway but I really dont want to accelerate the process any more than I have to...

Many thanks

marcusjb

Wouldn't worry about it overly.

White bar tape is the fastest colour (scientifically proven), but you've got to accept it needs replacing a little more often than other colours.

Thing to do is to replace it (when needed, not rush out and do it) with something like the Fizik Microtex - which cleans up really well in my experience (I've got white on my fixed and had yellow on a Pinarello - both cleaned off very well indeed). The Fizik tape is also very comfy, so it's a winner in my experience.

If the gloves are comfy, don't replace them!

One thing I have noticed with some mitts is the first few times I wash them, a lot of dye comes out of the leather - so might be worth washing the mitts a few times before riding on the white tape?

planeetx

In my experience white bar tape should stay clean for at least 30 minutes

I used to have a Bianchi road bike which had matching celeste coloured bar tape (very light bluey-green). It looked fabulous but if you gave it a hard stare it would get marked.

Take it off and put some black tape on - your worries will be over

bigpikle

cheers guys - love the gloves and all my other bikes have black bar tape anyway. I was just hoping the white mits would be good for summer as well.

The white is staying put but its the Fizik tape so hopefully should clean up reasonably as you suggest...

marcusjb

It does indeed. I have my domestique clean it whenever I have a stop for a cup of tea - looks like new.

But really - because it's sort of shiny, it really does clean up nicely. Some people complain about that shininess as they say it makes it slippy when wet - never had the problem with that.

Slack

This thread is too kinky for me :twisted:

Uchiga

In my experience with white tape.... I play badminton, got a new racket with white a white handle, it stayed white for one whole game. After that it was already getting brown/black. That one game only took 10 minutes of my time as well....

Brassknocker

Hi,
I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

I've had white Fizik tape on my roadbike for the past 3 years, and also wear those black leather Giro gloves.
My tape's still white (cleans up nicely with a bit of water every couple of weeks).

I find that my hands get a bit black when they're wet from the winter rain/Scottish MTBing... wouldn't worry too much...

...I've even used black shoe polish on the gloves after a very wet ride left them dry and grey.

lemoncurd

White gloves, a snip at £100

http://www.rapha.cc/grand-tour-gloves/

hopper1

As already said, use Fizik Microtex and keep clean using baby wipes... Easy.