Cleaning white bar tape - a solution?

crescent

A chance remark to my wife about the state of my white bar tape unintentionally laid down the gauntlet for her to try and clean it. She is a bit of a clean freak and we have a vast array of household cleaning products under our sink at her disposal. To cut a long story short, she tried various products including Cif, sugar soap, Vanish Oxy action, Persil, Finish dishwater tablets and Fairy washing up liquid. These were all applied using various brushes and sponges but all were disappointing. I popped out for half an hour and came back to find my bar tape gleaming white in 'as new' condition. This had been achieved by applying Muc Off to the tape, leaving for a couple of minutes and then a gentle sawing motion with a damp cloth around the circumference of the handlebar. I tried it myself and it is the proverbial piece of p*** and the results are superb, the amount of dirt that came off was amazing.
I know, it's a cool story, but I have been struggling to find a suitable method of cleaning my white bar tape for ages and I suspect I'm not alone. Result.

jscl

There is a far easier solution y'know... Don't use white bar tape

But in all seriousness, Muc Off stuff is awesome. Does the job anywhere on the bike.

ddraver

yeah...with JCSL. One moment with oily gloves and you re ruined for ever... I agree it does look pimping though so i always end up coming back to it! :oops:

supermurph09

Are we talking the pink Muc Off stuff in the squirty bottle here?

BigLee1

Excellent idea! Gonna try it on my red bar tape today I think Might try it on my mtb grips too

stueyboy

Baby wipes also work really well on white tape

zx6man

stueyboy wrote:

Baby wipes also work really well on white tape

+1 and on yellow ofc

rolf_f

Giraffoto

stueyboy wrote:

Baby wipes also work really well on white tape

They work disturbingly well on nearly everything - tar on wooden floors, bike grease on your skin, biro and permanent marker on furniture - and it really concerns me what's in them. Because whatever it is, you're meant to rub it all over babies.

opus25

Giraffoto wrote:

stueyboy wrote:

Baby wipes also work really well on white tape

They work disturbingly well on nearly everything - tar on wooden floors, bike grease on your skin, biro and permanent marker on furniture - and it really concerns me what's in them. Because whatever it is, you're meant to rub it all over babies.

This.

Never knew how handy they were until parenthood. And they seem to get anything off my bike and keep the white tape clean (as long as I wipe the bars after each ride).

rs6mra1

I was in my LBS last week and the chap in there mentioned the wet wipes from the likes of B&Q and said they work better than baby wipes

mfin

Lots of Pledge, and a microfibre towel works really well too, even on suedey tape, soak it in and grip the towel around it and twist.

drlodge

Replaced my white bar tape recently, rode to work and back (80 miles) without mitts and made the tape all dirty from the sweat. Tried some cheap citrus cleaner and a rag on them - worked a treat.

crescent

I'm a big fan of baby wipes for cleaning my bike in general but never had much success with them on the white tape. Tried riding with and without gloves and it just changes the colour of the dirt. I like Muc-Off but I'm always a bit sceptical of anything that claims to be nano this or nano that, but this is the best solution (quite literally) I have yet tried for cleaning white tape, it's as good as new. I had tried it before but I think the sawing motion with the damp cloth is critical to it working properly as it doesn't seem to work if it is just rubbed with a rag. Black tape was obviously an option but would look pants on my bike.

Who's going to be the first to report back on using Muc-Off on a baby's bum?
(Disclaimer : FFS don't try it, I was joking)

sungod

bear in mind, not all white bar tapes are equal

white fizik microtex cleans up very well with fairy liquid, best applied with a rough cloth

feelgoodlost

Swarfega works pretty well too.

LegendLust

Cif is good too

Downward

Picked up 2 bottles of this stuff for £1 in Asda

Demon Machine Rapid Dirt Shifter

http://www.wilko.com/car-cleaning/carplan-demon-machine-1l/invt/0345072

Although if left for a few weeks I'll hit it with the Deepio cleaner -- This is £1.49 from Makro for 750ml

http://www.pgpro.co.uk/deepio-professional-spray-degreaser

kingstonian

Another vote for baby wipes. We have had them in the house for the past 8 yrs and I've used them to clean pretty much everything imaginable. frightening what is in them, but my 2 kids seem to have survived them unscathed.