Leather bar tape. Any point?

mrfpb
mrfpb Posts: 4,569
in Road buying advice
I'm needing to replace my bar tape. Currently have black foamy stuff. As I have a black leather saddle, I'm considering black leather tape.

Is there any practical advantage to this? Or is it just a warm fuzzy feeling of knowing it's leather/expensive?

Comments

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Why not?

    Won’t be light but you know that.


    Is it gonna get wet a lot?
    _
  • mrfpb
    mrfpb Posts: 4,569
    This is Britain, it will get wet. But its not for my commuter, so not going out in all weathers with it. The saddle has a rain cover for when I leave it in the open.
  • jollygiant
    jollygiant Posts: 117
    Only if you're a hipster riding a fixe with a Brooks saddle, brown loafers with no socks and a beard!
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    The cork tape is a lot nicer and cheaper. That's why everyone uses it.
  • fatted864
    fatted864 Posts: 67
    I tried some Brooks leather bar tape (made in China) it was not at all comfortable so went back to the modern stuff
  • pilot_pete
    pilot_pete Posts: 2,120
    Depends on the type of riding you are doing. As others have said, hipster riding around town on fine days no problem. Commuting in all weathers it is probably impractical and will get ruined pretty quick. Any decent sort of mileage and you probably want something with a bit of padding to it, hence cork type spongy tapes that don’t absorb water, dry quickly and give some relief from road buzz.

    PP
  • pilot_pete
    pilot_pete Posts: 2,120
    Oh, and you can get something practical really cheaply too...

    PP
  • mrfpb
    mrfpb Posts: 4,569
    edited January 2020
    jollygiant said:

    Only if you're a hipster riding a fixe with a Brooks saddle, brown loafers with no socks and a beard!

    How about sandals with socks.

    And, why would I wear brown loafers with black bar tape.

    And how high would people rate the warm-fuzzy-feeling factor of knowing it's leather.
  • Longshot
    Longshot Posts: 940
    mrfpb said:

    And how high would people rate the warm-fuzzy-feeling factor of knowing it's leather.

    On a scale of 1 to 10, -3.
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • cycleclinic
    cycleclinic Posts: 6,865
    edited January 2020
    Nothing wrong with it. Just because its not popular does not mean t crap. Leather is quite durable in the wet. The tape itself is comfortable enough but is hard to wrap round some mordern bars. its for older bikes or bkes with traditional bend bars.
    http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.
  • asprilla
    asprilla Posts: 8,440
    I did 10k miles on my old Ti frame with leather all round. Brooks saddle, Brooks leather bar tape and leather washers.

    All were extremely durable, more so than the frame.

    The only down side I found was that wet leather tape and wet leather mitts are slippery as fudge.
    Mud - Genesis Vapour CCX
    Race - Fuji Norcom Straight
    Sun - Cervelo R3
    Winter / Commute - Dolan ADX

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