Bar tape opinions



marleyjane

New Member
Sep 4, 2004
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i am a semi-newbie to road cycling (just purchased an '04 Bianchi Giro w/ 105 groupo for myself after a couple of months on a friend's old customized Trek racing setup - feel free to say anything encouraging about the Bianchi!:p ) and am ready to apply my own bar tape... am a Bianchi lover and am about to order tape direct from their website; any thoughts on Bianchi tape and/or cork v. padded vinyl?
 
I've been using Cinelli cork tape for the past 2 seasons. Pretty comfy, and not bad durability for cork.
 
cydewaze said:
I've been using Cinelli cork tape for the past 2 seasons. Pretty comfy, and not bad durability for cork.

I'm pretty "wrapped" (pardon the pun :D ) with my Specialized Bar Phat - comes with a Gel pad that mounts on the bar under the tape - absorbs a mighty amount of road shock. Comes in a 2.5mm thick gel or 4.5mm thick gel -I'd avoid the 4.5, especially if you have small hands. You can have any colour you want so long as it's black.
 
I prefer "cork" tape and haven't seen too much differences between brands. I generally buy Profile tape simply because it is the cheapest one that's commonly available around here.
For added comfort, I put one strip of old tape (or the little section they give) on the upper side of the bottom section of the handlebars, because I ride mostly on the drops. That way I get added cushion on the load bearing side without unduely increasing bar diametre.


One trick if you have more than one bike or want to have always perfect tape: stick to the same brand. That way, if you tear the tape on one side, you can replace only that side and it won't look goofy.


Gel tape: I haven't tried it, but I touched it in the box and got the feeling it might be slippery when wet.
 
actually the cinelli gel isn't slippery at all in wet conditions. And what I like is that you can stretch it a lot without breaking it.