Question about road tape on a new bike

wx71
wx71 Posts: 3
edited July 2016 in Road beginners
Hi all,

Can anyone tell me if this is normal? I took my new road bike out for it's first ride (also this is my first road bike) and this is already happening to the handlebar tape

http://imgur.com/a/1yX6v

The weather was hot and humid today but I don't understand why it would start peeling that fast. Any suggestions?

Comments

  • plodder73
    plodder73 Posts: 326
    No shouldn't happen first ride, or tenth ride. Take it back and ask them to put some more on, I'm sure they will do it, couple of quid to them and ten minutes. After that learn to do it yourself it's very satisfying.
  • ForumNewbie
    ForumNewbie Posts: 1,664
    It looks as if has been scraped against something or the bike has fallen over. Was it definitely not like that when you got the bike?
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    As above, that looks like damage, rather than wear. Either the bike has been upside down, or you are wearing chainmail gloves.
  • wx71
    wx71 Posts: 3
    Thanks all
    ForumNewbie wrote:
    It looks as if has been scraped against something or the bike has fallen over. Was it definitely not like that when you got the bike?

    Was definitely not like that, tape was fine before the ride but over the course of it just started to wear down. The bike definitely wasn't upside down/leaning against anything that would have caused something like that
  • ForumNewbie
    ForumNewbie Posts: 1,664
    wx71 wrote:
    Thanks all
    ForumNewbie wrote:
    It looks as if has been scraped against something or the bike has fallen over. Was it definitely not like that when you got the bike?

    Was definitely not like that, tape was fine before the ride but over the course of it just started to wear down. The bike definitely wasn't upside down/leaning against anything that would have caused something like that
    If you bought it at a shop, I'll take it back, explain, and get them to put new tape on free of charge. If you bought the bike online, I would suggest you buy new tape and re-tape it yourself - plenty of videos on line to show you how to get it right. I recently put new Bontrager tape on that cost about £12 and very happy with it.
  • simon_masterson
    simon_masterson Posts: 2,740
    You could take it back, but it looks like the typical bog standard stuff they put on new bikes. Get some decent tape (I like Fizik, personally) and learn to put it on yourself.
    Retro(ish) TT 2017-
    Fixed TT 2015-2016
  • svetty
    svetty Posts: 1,904
    Change your sandpaper gloves to ordinary ones :)
    FFS! Harden up and grow a pair :D
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Is it a bike that could have been sat in a sunny shop window for a long time before you bought it? Looks like the bar tape's breaking down, which definitely shouldn't be happening on a new bike. The retailer should rewrap the bars for you.

    Also well worth learning to do it yourself; you'll need to do it periodically anyway due to wear and tear, crashes, having to replace cables etc. Very satisfying when you get it spot-on.
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    What the hell has gone on on the left there?

    Must be a defective roll or something. Never seen it happen.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    2 quid eBay Chinese cork tape also works perfectly well. I bought some while I was getting a position sorted so meant moving shifters and re wrapping a few times. Lasted a year until I could finally put the fizik stuff on, by which time I wanted to change the colour.

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