taping a handlebar

B said:

OK, you are sitting on the bike saddle. On the right handlebar, beginning on
the end where the plugs go, does the tape go clockwise or counter clockwise as
you tape up towards the brakes?
B

(remove clothes to reply)

Most people prefer counter clockwise to lessen tape slippage under tight
hand pressure. I've always started from the stem end and locked the tape
with an extra turn.

--
Bob Wheeler --- http://www.bobwheeler.com/
ECHIP, Inc. ---
Randomness comes in bunches.

clockwise, so you finish taping away from you, so the ends don't get
unravelled

B elij3? WHAT said:

OK, you are sitting on the bike saddle. On the right handlebar,
beginning on the end where the plugs go, does the tape go clockwise
or counter clockwise as you tape up towards the brakes?

Two considerations should make this apparent. When riding hands on
the top of the bars, the grip puts a torque on the bar (tape) in the
direction of the thumbs. Therefore, to prevent unrolling the tape, it
should be wrapped in the direction that the thumbs point.

Secondly, as in roofing, shingles overlap so that descending water
does not run under them. Similarly, because there is a downward force
and sliding of the palms of the hands on the bars toward the brake
levers, the tape should preferably be wound from bottom to top so the
overlap edge will not curl.

A further extension of this is that the lower ends of the bars have a
slight preference of the hands to slide forward. For this reason one
might also tape them starting from the brake grips (both up and down)
the bar.

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Therefore, to prevent unrolling the tape, it
should be wrapped in the direction that the thumbs point.

The thumb point towards the center of the bike. Clockwise or counterclockwise
would both go in this direction. I did not understand your reference, did you
mean with thumbs under the bar which would be counterclockwise?
B

(remove clothes to reply)

B belij3 (who is this?) said:

Quoted message said:

Two considerations should make this apparent. When riding hands on
the top of the bars, the grip puts a torque on the bar (tape) in
the direction of the thumbs. Therefore, to prevent unrolling the
tape, it should be wrapped in the direction that the thumbs point.

Quoted message said:

The thumb point towards the center of the bike. Clockwise or
counterclockwise would both go in this direction. I did not
understand your reference, did you mean with thumbs under the bar
which would be counterclockwise?

Do you ride bike and do you have road (drop) bars? Regardless, you
have thumbs and they wrap around the bars. Wrap the tape in the
rotation direction of the thumbs.

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

A further extension of this is that the lower ends of the bars have a
slight preference of the hands to slide forward. For this reason one
might also tape them starting from the brake grips (both up and down)
the bar.

How would you do that? Cut the tape?

With cork tape I start from the bar ends. On the right bar I use
a right-hand screw, on the left bar a left-hand screw. The trick
is learning to maintain the screw-sense while wrapping around the
brake levers---it is possible to reverse the screw-sense when
doing so.

Joe

Quoted message said:

Regardless, you
have thumbs and they wrap around the bars. Wrap the tape in the
rotation direction of the thumbs.

Got it! Thanks.
B

(remove clothes to reply)

B said:

OK, you are sitting on the bike saddle. On the right handlebar, beginning on
the end where the plugs go, does the tape go clockwise or counter clockwise as
you tape up towards the brakes?

There are no wrong answers but I always begin by pulling out
and up from the inside on both left and right by habit.

(In your description clockwise right, anticlockwise left)

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

How about starting at the bar end and rolling the tape away from the
rider or from inside to outside.

http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/bartape.shtml

Park advocate two different options:

View the handlebars as if sitting on the saddle and start from the bar
end.

(1) Simple method
right hand side - counter-clockwise
left hand side - clockwise

OR

(2) Advanced technique
For the drops:
right hand side - clockwise
left hand side - counter-cloclwise

reverse direction at the brake lever and

For the tops:
right hand side - counter-clockwise
left hand side - clockwise

Note they dont advocate the traditional figure of 8 when passing the
brake lever with modern padded tape as it created too much of a bulge -
something that you're probably already aware of.

On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 19:10:11 GMT, [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

B belij3 (who is this?) said:

Quoted message said:

Two considerations should make this apparent. When riding hands on
the top of the bars, the grip puts a torque on the bar (tape) in
the direction of the thumbs. Therefore, to prevent unrolling the
tape, it should be wrapped in the direction that the thumbs point.

Quoted message said:

The thumb point towards the center of the bike. Clockwise or
counterclockwise would both go in this direction. I did not
understand your reference, did you mean with thumbs under the bar
which would be counterclockwise?

Do you ride bike and do you have road (drop) bars? Regardless, you
have thumbs and they wrap around the bars. Wrap the tape in the
rotation direction of the thumbs.

Actually, it wasn't such a dumb question. I ride a lot with my hands
on the first bend from the stem. In this position my thumbs point in a
different direction than when I'm on the drops or on the top of the
bars. :-)

jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

Quoted message said:

John Everett writes:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Actually, it wasn't such a dumb question. I ride a lot with my hands
on the first bend from the stem. In this position my thumbs point in
a different direction than when I'm on the drops or on the top of
the bars.

I think you have a different topology than others. My thumbs point
the same way with respect to the handlebar whether on top or on the
drops. Visualize stretching the bar out straight and I think you'll
see that it is the same direction.

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

Dear Jobst,

You and John may be missing each other on #2 below.

#1 If you grab the lower curve of a dropped handlebar (the
end of the bar), your thumb is closer to the stem than your
little finger.

#2 If you grab the upper curve of a dropped handlebar in the
same manner, just behind the lever, things reverse and your
thumb is now farther from the stem than your little finger.

#3 If you grab the straight section of a dropped handlebar
next to the stem, you're back to having your thumb closer to
the stem than your little finger.

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

John Everett writes:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Actually, it wasn't such a dumb question. I ride a lot with my hands
on the first bend from the stem. In this position my thumbs point in
a different direction than when I'm on the drops or on the top of
the bars.

I think you have a different topology than others. My thumbs point
the same way with respect to the handlebar whether on top or on the
drops. Visualize stretching the bar out straight and I think you'll
see that it is the same direction.

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

Dear Jobst,

You and John may be missing each other on #2 below.

#1 If you grab the lower curve of a dropped handlebar (the
end of the bar), your thumb is closer to the stem than your
little finger.

#2 If you grab the upper curve of a dropped handlebar in the
same manner, just behind the lever, things reverse and your
thumb is now farther from the stem than your little finger.

#3 If you grab the straight section of a dropped handlebar
next to the stem, you're back to having your thumb closer to
the stem than your little finger.

Carl Fogel

Sort of like starting with hands wrapped around the brake hoods and then
sliding them up the bars towards the stem a bit.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

Carl Fogel said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Actually, it wasn't such a dumb question. I ride a lot with my
hands on the first bend from the stem. In this position my thumbs
point in a different direction than when I'm on the drops or on
the top of the bars.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I think you have a different topology than others. My thumbs point
the same way with respect to the handlebar whether on top or on the
drops. Visualize stretching the bar out straight and I think
you'll see that it is the same direction.

Quoted message said:

You and John may be missing each other on #2 below.

Quoted message said:

#1 If you grab the lower curve of a dropped handlebar (the end of
the bar), your thumb is closer to the stem than your little finger.

Quoted message said:

#2 If you grab the upper curve of a dropped handlebar in the same
manner, just behind the lever, things reverse and your thumb is now
farther from the stem than your little finger.

Quoted message said:

#3 If you grab the straight section of a dropped handlebar next to
the stem, you're back to having your thumb closer to the stem than
your little finger.

You may be missing what I wrote. I introduced no other hand positions
than on the tops and drops for explaining the wrap rotation. That the
hands slide toward the brake hoods was also explained to give the
starting point of the wrap. When climbing, the brake hoods are
gripped and when sitting with the hands just behind the brake hoods no
torque is transmitted by the grasp of the bars and therefore, no thumb
direction is pertinent.

I don't dispute that other effects can be found. I mentioned only the
primary reasons for the rotation and the direction of the wrap with
which most bars are wrapped by the people who do it professionally.
You can argue whether these perceptions are valid or not but that is
the way it is done. Do it any way you like.

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>>Two considerations should make this apparent. When riding hands
>>on the top of the bars, the grip puts a torque on the bar (tape)
>>in the direction of the thumbs. Therefore, to prevent unrolling
>>the tape, it should be wrapped in the direction that the thumbs
>>point.

Quoted message said:

John Everett said:

Actually, it wasn't such a dumb question. I ride a lot with my hands
on the first bend from the stem. In this position my thumbs point in
a different direction than when I'm on the drops or on the top of
the bars.

Quoted message said:

I think you have a different topology than others. My thumbs point
the same way with respect to the handlebar whether on top or on the
drops. Visualize stretching the bar out straight and I think you'll
see that it is the same direction.
I am sure there are handlebar shapes where this is not the case, but
for conventional drop bars, it's the same relative hand position
whether on the tops or drops, the most used positions.

Does this help?
http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/THUMBS.JPG

I don't have an opinion on 'proper'. Personally, I wrap from
the inside bottom out and up to start, always from bottom to
top. But, hey, wrap _your_ bars any way you like!

I cut cotton tape when it reaches the outside face of the
lever body, under the hood. I wrap one 80mm piece from the
inside of the lever body, across the back of the lever band,
to the outside of the lever body. The last piece starts on
the inside face of the lever body and ends near the stem.

I do it a little differently without covers, using 2
vertical strips and then wrapping past them, never doubling
back.

I'm just happy customers have stopped asking for 2-color
braided 'harlequin' Benotto wraps. That was tedious - hard
to get the pattern evenly spaced.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Quoted message said:

Carl Fogel said:

Quoted message said:

> Actually, it wasn't such a dumb question. I ride a lot with my
> hands on the first bend from the stem. In this position my thumbs
> point in a different direction than when I'm on the drops or on
> the top of the bars.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I think you have a different topology than others. My thumbs point
the same way with respect to the handlebar whether on top or on the
drops. Visualize stretching the bar out straight and I think
you'll see that it is the same direction.

Quoted message said:

You and John may be missing each other on #2 below.

Quoted message said:

#1 If you grab the lower curve of a dropped handlebar (the end of
the bar), your thumb is closer to the stem than your little finger.

Quoted message said:

#2 If you grab the upper curve of a dropped handlebar in the same
manner, just behind the lever, things reverse and your thumb is now
farther from the stem than your little finger.

Quoted message said:

#3 If you grab the straight section of a dropped handlebar next to
the stem, you're back to having your thumb closer to the stem than
your little finger.

You may be missing what I wrote. I introduced no other hand positions
than on the tops and drops for explaining the wrap rotation. That the
hands slide toward the brake hoods was also explained to give the
starting point of the wrap. When climbing, the brake hoods are
gripped and when sitting with the hands just behind the brake hoods no
torque is transmitted by the grasp of the bars and therefore, no thumb
direction is pertinent.

I don't dispute that other effects can be found. I mentioned only the
primary reasons for the rotation and the direction of the wrap with
which most bars are wrapped by the people who do it professionally.
You can argue whether these perceptions are valid or not but that is
the way it is done. Do it any way you like.

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

Dear Jobst,

When you dig yourself into a hole, denying it is kind of
silly.

Carl Fogel

A Muzi said:

Quoted message said:

I think you have a different topology than others. My thumbs point
the same way with respect to the handlebar whether on top or on the
drops. Visualize stretching the bar out straight and I think
you'll see that it is the same direction. I am sure there are
handlebar shapes where this is not the case, but for conventional
drop bars, it's the same relative hand position whether on the tops
or drops, the most used positions.

Quoted message said:

Does this help?

http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/THUMBS.JPG

But Andrew, whose overweight hands are we seeing in the pictures?
None of the three shown positions is grasping the bar as though
riding. Who holds a bar with the thumb parallel to the bar, sort of
open hand style. For that reason I would say "This doesn't help!"

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

A Muzi said:

Quoted message said:

I think you have a different topology than others. My thumbs point
the same way with respect to the handlebar whether on top or on the
drops. Visualize stretching the bar out straight and I think
you'll see that it is the same direction. I am sure there are
handlebar shapes where this is not the case, but for conventional
drop bars, it's the same relative hand position whether on the tops
or drops, the most used positions.

Quoted message said:

Does this help?

http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/THUMBS.JPG

But Andrew, whose overweight hands are we seeing in the pictures?
None of the three shown positions is grasping the bar as though
riding. Who holds a bar with the thumb parallel to the bar, sort of
open hand style. For that reason I would say "This doesn't help!"

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

Dear Jobst,

Whose hands?

Sweet Jesus! That cowardly Andrew Muzi has posted
anonymous--

Yes, ANONYMOUS!

--hands on rec.bicycles.tech!

For all we know, he may have even mirror-imaged the
pictures, too!

Carl Fogel

Andrew Muzi posted:

Quoted message said:

Does this help?
http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/THUMBS.JPG

Holey inner tubes, Batman! Those are actual thumbnail jpegs!