Post your bar tape!
rolf_f
Posts: 16,015
Tragic Monday night thread! - post your bar tape (and mileage).
Partly down to someone on the Road forums saying that only people who ride on sportives have non-white bar tape. So, when I was on a sportive recently, I checked out the bikes at a feedstop; there were about 10 in a row of which roughly half and half where white and black. With one exception, the white taped bikes looked scruffy because of the manky bar tape. All the black taped bikes looked smart.
Now since some people seem to get through bar tape quicker than tyres (for me tape lasts at least as long as chain rings), I thought I'd post my tape.
So here it is - black cork ITM bar tape after 3000 miles. Not cleaned for the thread! Flash makes it look a bit grey but it isn't.
Partly down to someone on the Road forums saying that only people who ride on sportives have non-white bar tape. So, when I was on a sportive recently, I checked out the bikes at a feedstop; there were about 10 in a row of which roughly half and half where white and black. With one exception, the white taped bikes looked scruffy because of the manky bar tape. All the black taped bikes looked smart.
Now since some people seem to get through bar tape quicker than tyres (for me tape lasts at least as long as chain rings), I thought I'd post my tape.
So here it is - black cork ITM bar tape after 3000 miles. Not cleaned for the thread! Flash makes it look a bit grey but it isn't.
Faster than a tent.......
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Comments
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That's the sort of arbitrary guff you'd expect from the road forum. Black tape here, but currently very scruffy due to a couple of minor offs last year.1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Black for commuting, white for racing - matches my shoes.0
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Black on the CX, rather smart cos the bike is pretty new.
Tarty brown leather tape on the singlecog.
Red on the scruffy road bike (and it's scruffy, loaned the bike to a prat once who ditched the chain, got coated in grease up to his eyebrows getting it back on the rings and then didn't even bother to make an attempt at wiping his hands before jumping back on the bike).
Air tape on the unicycle.
Never had white.....sounds like a recipe for disaster.FCN 5 belt driven fixie for city bits
CAADX 105 beastie for bumpy bits
Litespeed L3 for Strava bits
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.0 -
Red tape on the Pompino, white on the Roubaix. Both Fizik MicroTex which cleans up really nicely through the magic of babywipes. Seems to last longer than cork, and I like the lack of padding.0
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Duct tape, in black.0 -
Have Yellow & Black leoeoeoeoeoepard type design bartape.... didnt like boring black and the black and yellow matches the bike!0
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Black Cinelli ALWAYS
Anything else should be illegal with on the spot fines. White tape; I ask you, who are these people! :roll:Coach H. (Dont ask me for training advice - 'It's not about the bike')0 -
I'm not saying I'm hard, but I've got Nuclear Grade Gaffer Tape on my pub bike. :roll:Nobody told me we had a communication problem0
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Had white, didn't like it just got dirsty too quick and made the bike look all Euro and girly.
Black Cinelli gel/cork tape now looks a lot better and surprisingly good with the white hoods.
(see link in sig for pic).0 -
White on the Equilibrium, black on the other two. Deda bar tape for preference in white, stays clean really quite well. Last winter I had some excellent Cinelli cork bar-tape which had a stripe of 3M reflective down the middle. Was excellent when a headlight hit it, I bought it off eBay as new old-stock, wish I could find some more.0
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Black tape... but its about to fall off. Will be getting my LBS to replace it this week before a sportive :oops:0
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What? That's just an excuse to go to the new Pearson shop isn't it?notsoblue wrote:Black tape... but its about to fall off. Will be getting my LBS to replace it this week before a sportive :oops:
Back on topic: black on the commuter bikes (they came with black tape and haven't needed new yet.). White on the climbing bike coz it's purty0 -
Black Deda carbon tape on both bikes.
White looks shite very quickly.0 -
UndercoverElephant wrote:Last winter I had some excellent Cinelli cork bar-tape which had a stripe of 3M reflective down the middle. Was excellent when a headlight hit it, I bought it off eBay as new old-stock, wish I could find some more.
This is half the point of the thread - did the tape only last one winter? That's nothing. As per my pic, my ITM tape looks pretty much brand new after 3000 miles.
Incidentally, my tourer has white Fizik Microtex. I made the mistake of wrapping it old style (from the middle to the end) but it soon started folding over just above the hoods being more flexy than the old stuff. So, this weekend I unravelled it and re-wrapped it from the ends. The tape now had a nice stripe of clean white from under the overlap next to the exposed grimy bit) but it all came up clean with some cream cleaner and looks like new.
However, for the most part (eg normal, non retro bikes) I can't quite see any reason not to go for cheap black cork. It seems to last forever and looks like new forever.Faster than a tent.......0 -
cheap black tape on the SS speed has a few holes where I got knocked off (at close to zero MPH) but fairly clean etc. and does the job.0
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Black Fizik soft touch gel stuff with a red band in it that is covered when it's wrapped, seems grippy comfortable and still looks good.
Did have some white spesh roubaix stuff but was a pain to keep clean even with clean gloves0 -
White on the Focus Variado - cos that's what it came with
Red on the Focus Cayo - ditto
Black on the Boardman - dittoROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH0 -
White bontrager cork on the best bike and Blue bontrager cork on the commuter both about 2 years old and both could do with changing, after the winter, but they should make it though one more season.
The white tape comes up nice and white with a bit of cif on it.Commuter: Forme Vision Red/Black FCN 4
Weekender: White/Black - Cube Agree GTC pro FCN 30 -
JonGinge wrote:
What? That's just an excuse to go to the new Pearson shop isn't it?notsoblue wrote:Black tape... but its about to fall off. Will be getting my LBS to replace it this week before a sportive :oops:
Actually, I went in there at the weekend to ask about a BB service, and its a bit steeper than my usual LBS. They quoted £45. Nice shop and friendly staff, but I'd probably only use them in an emergency or if I needed something like a bike-fit. I'm a cheapskate like that.0 -
bails87 wrote:£45?! What does a 'BB service' involve?
Apparently not a new BB...0 -
The new Pearson shop is friendly and they have some interesting stock. Nice coffee too. £45 is a bit of a shocker though....0
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Rolf F wrote:UndercoverElephant wrote:Last winter I had some excellent Cinelli cork bar-tape which had a stripe of 3M reflective down the middle. Was excellent when a headlight hit it, I bought it off eBay as new old-stock, wish I could find some more.
This is half the point of the thread - did the tape only last one winter? That's nothing. As per my pic, my ITM tape looks pretty much brand new after 3000 miles.
Incidentally, my tourer has white Fizik Microtex. I made the mistake of wrapping it old style (from the middle to the end) but it soon started folding over just above the hoods being more flexy than the old stuff. So, this weekend I unravelled it and re-wrapped it from the ends. The tape now had a nice stripe of clean white from under the overlap next to the exposed grimy bit) but it all came up clean with some cream cleaner and looks like new.
However, for the most part (eg normal, non retro bikes) I can't quite see any reason not to go for cheap black cork. It seems to last forever and looks like new forever.
The tape would have lasted much longer, except I needed to change the shifters on that bike as they had broken completely. I do change the bar tape quite often, due to an insatiable urge to upgrade or fix bits.0 -
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Specialized Needs wrote:
Actually, looking at their Workshop price list I may have been wrong and they were quoting me parts + labour for a replacement.0 -
On the District Fizik Microtex in black. On the Kona Fizik Microtex soft touch stuff, in black. Prefer the suede feel of the soft touch tape but the District spends the day outside (in the rain) at work five days a week and wasn't sure the st tape could handle that.
@Notsoblue: Cheapskate, but you pay for someone to wrap your bars? :?: It's easy, you can even 'practise' with the backing tape stil on there. Do remember that Fizik includes a piece to cover the STI bracket thingy so you don't have to cut a piece from the roll. It's inside the roll of tape. Forget this and you come up short :oops:0 -
On the white sl pro i have pink Fizik and on the pompetine Versa Alfine a nice world cup red.
Though I should have gone with the pink on that too
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