Bar tape for my Langster - Martini colour scheme

daniel_b

So I have a Langster Monaco, and don't use it very much at all.

Mostly due to the original flat bar levers tbh, and no hoods.

So rather than trash the beautiful handlebars, I have some carbon hong kong generic carbon bars (Will match forks so shouldn't stand out too much) to fit, and I have some cane creek brake levers/hoods to fit too.

This means she will require some bar tape - for those not in the know, this is said bike's colour scheme:


I am erring towards this one from Planet X:

It's quite an unusual blue in the paint scheme, and the above seems a near perfect match.

Or they have this one:


Or should I just go full on red?

EDIT: Just found this one on Parkers of bolton:


I did look for Martini colour tape, but no go :evil:

EKE_38BPM

Buy the red/white and the blue/white tape and wrap one side with one colour combination and the other side with the other.

Since Williams are now sponsored by Martini, will you be fitting a turbo to your bike as well?

veronese68

That bartape would be a nightmare to wrap and have the stripes look right, but could look very good if done well.
I thought everything in Martini Racing colours looked cool, then found this:

Oh dear.

bigmat

Are those first two Eleganza tape? Its a nightmare to keep clean. And that was in red. I reckon white would look very shabby, very quickly. I'd go Fi'zik microtex in red, white or blue (if they have a similar blue). Or maybe something in red and white - I think Specialized do a red tape with white pattern?

UndercoverElephant

I think the top two are Fizik, and if I'm right, they're a nightmare to wrap, worse still when I did a reasonable job, they came unwrapped at the drop of a hat. I think I kept it about three days on my Equilibrium before replacing it. Awful, loathsome stuff. Never even looked that good when it was actually on the bars, either.

t4tomo

Stripes are a nightmare. I had italian tricolor tape on my Bianchi and it looked OK on the tops and drops but a dogs breakfast around the hoods and curves - however good you are at wrapping. Its now covered in celeste coloured tape!

Kieran_Burns

I'm curious: has anyone successfully managed to combine two different coloured tapes?

You wrap one around, leaving a large gap for the second tape and then wind that one in the gaps left by the first. I'm not sure this would actually work due to the steep angles involved in wrapping the tape, but I an curious to know if anyone has been successful.

EKE_38BPM

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm curious: has anyone successfully managed to combine two different coloured tapes?

You wrap one around, leaving a large gap for the second tape and then wind that one in the gaps left by the first. I'm not sure this would actually work due to the steep angles involved in wrapping the tape, but I an curious to know if anyone has been successful.

i meant blue & white tape on one side of the handle bar and red & white tape on the other, rather than combining the two colours on each side.
Double taping as KB describes sounds like a nightmare.

smokey_bacon

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm curious: has anyone successfully managed to combine two different coloured tapes?

You wrap one around, leaving a large gap for the second tape and then wind that one in the gaps left by the first. I'm not sure this would actually work due to the steep angles involved in wrapping the tape, but I an curious to know if anyone has been successful.

Ive seen half and half bar tape on the your bikes section of the board.....unless im being thick.

That OP bike is what I call a bobby dazzler!

rolf_f

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm curious: has anyone successfully managed to combine two different coloured tapes?

You wrap one around, leaving a large gap for the second tape and then wind that one in the gaps left by the first. I'm not sure this would actually work due to the steep angles involved in wrapping the tape, but I an curious to know if anyone has been successful.

i meant blue & white tape on one side of the handle bar and red & white tape on the other, rather than combining the two colours on each side.
Double taping as KB describes sounds like a nightmare.

Part of the problem is that the outer layer won't be covered by any other tape - ie you'll be able to see both sides. And modern tape tends to curl over if it is wrapped from the middle outwards (ie old style) so is likely to quickly look crap immediately behind the hoods. Also, it won't be partly anchored by the previous turn so will probably shift in time. Would be fun working around the hoods too........

Anonymous

Don't you start wrapping them both at once?

veronese68

coriordan wrote:

Don't you start wrapping them both at once?

I'd have thought so, just treat it as thought it's one piece of double width tape.

UndercoverElephant

No, no, no. Just go the whole hog and harlequin wrap them...



In the correct colours, of course.

walkingbootweather

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm curious: has anyone successfully managed to combine two different coloured tapes?

You wrap one around, leaving a large gap for the second tape and then wind that one in the gaps left by the first. I'm not sure this would actually work due to the steep angles involved in wrapping the tape, but I an curious to know if anyone has been successful.

Just been listening to the wireless and there was this Mr Snoopy Dog who by all accounts is something of an artist when it comes to wrap. I understand he has been moderately successful in particular with Langster wrap

(or it could have been gangster rap?)

rolf_f

Veronese68 wrote:

coriordan wrote:

Don't you start wrapping them both at once?

I'd have thought so, just treat it as thought it's one piece of double width tape.

Good point. But then life would be so much easier if you used that PX tape and it would look pretty much the same only slightly less terrible!


]

walkingbootweather wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm curious: has anyone successfully managed to combine two different coloured tapes?

You wrap one around, leaving a large gap for the second tape and then wind that one in the gaps left by the first. I'm not sure this would actually work due to the steep angles involved in wrapping the tape, but I an curious to know if anyone has been successful.

Just been listening to the wireless and there was this Mr Snoopy Dog who by all accounts is something of an artist when it comes to wrap. I understand he has been moderately successful in particular with Langster wrap

(or it could have been gangster rap?)

Painfully contrived but amusingly clever. Well done!

daniel_b

Wowsas, I don't look at the thread for a few hours and it explodes!

The tape I posted to initiakky in blue/white, and red/white is just sold as Planet X tape, so I assume not Fizik.
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/BTPXCST/planet-x-contrast-stitch-bar-tape

The mention of it being a nightmare to wrap it and make it look good puts me off though.

I'm sure someone on here has mentioned in the past wrapping thin cheap tape of one colour on the bars first, and then wrapping a perforated tape over the top so the other colour shows through.

That could work better than trying the two tapes route?

In the interim, as I was ordering from CRC anyway, I have ordered red and blue Cinelli tape to see if either match:



I am expecting the blue not to match, but want it for my Marin anyway.

At the mo, I have written off the stripey tape idea, but I think if the perforated tape with another colour underneath would work that might be the next best option.

Perhaps white cotton tape underneath:


Thankyou for ALL of the feedback, puns included, all much appreciated

EDIT: What about this red blue Cinelli tape.......?


Although in hindsight both blue and red do not match!

t4tomo

perforated over white cotton sounds good. the cinelli red blue zebra tape avoids the "stripes look crap around the hoods" issue but its too busy compared to the classic clean lines on the frame.

rolf_f

Step away from the zebra tape!

There is nothing more tragic than a colour mismatched attempt at colour coding. Either get the colours right or don't bother - it will just look crap otherwise. I almost want to cry every time I see a bike with the saddle badly matched to the frame colour which is badly matched to the bar tape colour which is badly matched to the tyres!

monkimark

I had the black & red version of the planet x tape and wrapped it so that the perforations overlapped the coloured bit so you only see the colour through the perforations and on the stitching. I think the coloured stripe only showed just behind the hoods where there was nothing to overlap it.

The coloured bit is so narrow that if you try to have it showing then the tape will be butted from one side to the other (ie no overlap) and I can't imagine that would last long. It's also thicker in the middle than at the outside due to the black & red layers overlapping in the middle so your tape would be undulating with flappy bits - I couldn't see it lasting long like that.

redvee

Pretty sure there's a thread about this somewhere.

daniel_b

So a pair of these arrived today:


Which I think are a pretty decent match - the Rubino's were too light a red.
And I am pretty pleased with the match on the red cinelli tape, so am likely to stick with that as a simple combo:

daniel_b

Thought I may as well update this thread now I have managed to get the tyres fitted, and the bar tape fitted over a couple of nights.

The new outers went on last week, after a bit of a balls up of cutting the damned stuff (lack of previous experience) too short, I had to order a further 2m :?

My first effort at taping the bars, and I possibly made it more tricky for myself as I decided not to use the extra bits that came in the pack, and instead to go solely for the 'figure of 8' method - took more than the 5 minutes the youtube videos suggested, but I got there in the end.
Hoping that perhaps the cane creek levers are trickier to wrap around than a stock shimano one, as it was pretty darned tight to get the tape to cover it all on the inside edges - ie the rubber hood is probably only 0.5cm over the edge if that makes sense.

Happily the application of the tape/electrical tape meant I could dispense with the two cable ties near the stem.
All I have left to do now is apply some clear protection tape around the stem logos/stripes, and give her a wash.

So it has gone from:

To this:

dhope

:shock:

rolf_f

:shock:

Doris Day

Marry me




So i can get the bike in the divorce

meanredspider

That looks incredibly pink in those pics - though the pics of the Pro4 and the bar tape looks red (as does the original pic of the bike) - I'm assuming it is actually red?

daniel_b

The tyres are actually Lithions, my mistake.


Its partly the lighting in that room in the evening and the phone camera that has changed the colour a bit.
Also, as I stretched/tensioned the tape as I fitted it (as per the online guides) it seemed to lose some of its innate redness.
Perhaps Fizik tape next time.

I think its the lighting above all, as the bike itself looks a bit pink :shock:

Changes made above are tyres, pedals, carbon bars/stem, cane creek brake levers, and jagwire outers.

corriebee1

That's a pink bike!

lostboysaint

You've not heard the phrase "less is more" have you. :shock:

rolf_f

Funny thing is, with all the extra red, it doesn't look like a Martini livery anymore. More red and white with a bit of blue.

Still, it does look, errrr, different to how it once did!

elbowloh

The red looks quite pink now?