Brake blocks and bar tape

secretsam
secretsam Posts: 5,120
edited September 2015 in Road buying advice
Just back from an early morning ride in the damp on the old steelie.

Surprised at how rough the ride is so want some padded bar tape - any recommendations?

Also need some new brake blocks (rim) as the current ones are shoot! Use Swisstop Greens on the road bike, are they good for winter as well or is there a better alternative?

It's just a hill. Get over it.

Comments

  • I'm a big fan of Specialized Roubaix bar tape. Nicely padded on its own, but you can also get a kit with gel strips to go under the tape if you think you need them. It lasts forever too. But then again bar tape is a bit like a marriage, everyone likes to think they have the best wife!

    As for brake blocks, I use Swissstop greens all year round. They're not amazing in the wet but they're pretty good, and they won't get shredded by all the crap on the roads.
  • northpole
    northpole Posts: 1,499
    I just run the green pads all year round and find them fine - sometimes difficult to distinguish between seasons in this country!

    The earlier poster is quite right when it comes to bar tape - naturally I'll tell you that Lizard Skins is the only bar tape worth having. It's particularly good in wet weather when it provides grip that I don't get with other tapes. Not particularly padded, but then I tend to address the padding with the type of mitts I use. I found the rapha ones superbly padded and also like the padding on some specialized.

    Peter
  • +1 for Spesh Roubaix tape nice finish, wraps well and wears well.

    For blocks in the winter - I read blocks in the wet and Koolstop Salmons are my choice.
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729

    +1 these perform better than greens, particularly in the wet, chainreaction or wiggle have them, the Evo version is not an evolution, it's thinner though, so if you don't need them to be thinner (for wide rims/brake adjustment limitations) don't bother with the Evo ones. Koolstop Salmons are about as good, softer and quicker wearing though in my experience.

    Roubaix tape is great, it is a cloth base so in the wet it can hold the water a bit, doesn't bother me. If you can afford it the Specialized HD Tape is rubbery and with more padded feel, as I say, it costs a lot but it's great stuff that lasts.
  • luv2ride
    luv2ride Posts: 2,367
    A vote here for Zipp CX Service Course bar tape. Either that or Lizard Skins DSP....
    Titus Silk Road Ti rigid 29er - Scott Solace 10 disc - Kinesis Crosslight Pro6 disc - Scott CR1 SL - Pinnacle Arkose X 650b - Pinnacle Arkose singlespeed - Specialized Singlecross...& an Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray 4 string...

  • I use the black original in winter. They wear quick probably get about 2k out of them but they don't wear the rims at all and have a good all round stopping power. To be fair though you can't go wrong with any Swisstop the best out there imo.
  • cswitch
    cswitch Posts: 261
    koolstop salmons and fizik bar tape - i use the soft touch stuff. relatively cheap, durable, bit harder to wrap if you do the figure 8 way as its not so flexy but no biggie.