The ideal bar tape (which, when and why)?

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Alexandrumarian
Posts: 795
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Location: Romania

by Alexandrumarian

I also mostly use the standard Deda although in terms of touch/feel I prefer the Canyon which has a texture somewhat similar to suede. I also used Lizard, nice but a bit easy to scuff and also an expensice Cannondale microfiber/gel which was pretty but too slippery.

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NiFTY
Posts: 1493
Joined: Sat May 26, 2012 11:26 pm

by NiFTY

I always ride with gloves so don't take this as bare hands recommendations.

White tape i have found supercaz super sticky kush to be light,comfortable, durable and stay white. It is certainly slippery is bare handed and wet.

Fabric silicon stays white the best but is heavy, expensive and it kinds of pills like a sweater at the high friction areas which limits its longevity

I used lizard skins for years but it doesn't last long and the white yellows quickly

On my black bar tape bike i am using deda traforato. Light durable grippy. If it were white i think it would stay white for about a second.
Evo 4.9kg SL3 6.64kg Slice RS 8.89kg viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110579" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

GaBa
Posts: 322
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:01 pm

by GaBa

Another LizardSkins user. If you tend to sweat much and don't ride with gloves I would not recommend it though, once it gets wet (does not soak sweat) it can be slippery. I sweat heavily but ride with gloves most of the time. The grip of Lizardskins' tapes is amazing though.

Kumppa
Posts: 488
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:05 am

by Kumppa

For weight/price Deda Traforato is great and hopefully it's also durable. Haven't test it yet.

Used Lizardskin 2.5 for couple year and atm using last tape on trainer bike. Very slippery with sweat hands but with gloves no problem and not so durable. I wouldn't pay ~30€ but 20€ sale price is ok.

Prologo tapes had also nice soft touch but can't remember exactly what I have been used. One of the favourite tapes.

3T tapes are pretty light. Team model had soft and nice touch. Friend had LTD and it felt really harsh.

ome rodriguez
Posts: 1371
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by ome rodriguez

Lightweight handband. Just enough thickness, grippy, comfortable, and light

angrylegs
Posts: 166
Joined: Mon May 21, 2012 2:32 pm

by angrylegs

c60rider wrote:
Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:33 pm
I've used cinelli cork tape and more recently the gel tape for many years now. The thing I like with the gel rather than standard is that it grips to the bars rather than sticks so you don't get sticky residue left all over the bars when you come to replace it. You just have to pull the gel stuff quite taut as you're wrapping or else it will slip on the bars. But the feel of cork ribbon I've always found to be soft, almost slightly warm to the feel, grips well, all good things if you don't wear gloves out training, and you can scrub it really well with soapy water and a brush and it comes up pretty clean.
Cinelli Cork it is for me too. I've found nothing I like better and I've tried pretty much everything (except Supacaz, which I wish to try for a style I like, so I'll give it a shot). I always come back to Cinelli Cork.

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themidge
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by themidge

mrlobber wrote:
Fri Feb 22, 2019 8:10 pm
The lightest "tape" which actually isn't cycling bar tape, but general purpose "soft isolation tape", is Tesa - full wrap is almost 2x lighter than Deda Traforato - 15g or so.
Benefits:
1) totally cheap
2) lightest :twisted:
3) doesn't leave any residues whatsoever
It doesn't offer any real cushion, but at least ensures your hands don't slip on your expensive uberlight carbon handlebars ;)
If you're riding with gloves, there's no point of having additional cushioning in bar tape, but, but stating this opinion, please note I'm relatively insensitive to handlebar comfort (given that I'm comfortably (enough for me) riding 22-23mm tubs and full carbon naked Berk saddles). On my light bike, I'm ridingTesa even without gloves.
+1, this is my experience of Tesa tape as well.
kode54 wrote: interesting...never thought of using TESA tape. Do you have a pic of your handlebars with it wrapped in TESA?
I have quite a few, apologies to the thread for the photo dump.
Here's the tape newly wrapped.
Image

In this photo you can see the little bumps of my iLinks underneath the tape. I like this, it fits my grip nicely, but it's something that should be considered.
Image
Image

You can see that after a while it gets a bit bobbly, but is still fine to use:
Image

Eventually mine got a hole (worn, not a tear)
Image

But it's easy to patch up. I've just done the same thing on my Hetchins which has handlebars perfectly designed to wear out bar tape, I'll change them eventually :D.
Image

Last thing (before the length of this post gets too @Calnago-esque :wink:) I wrote this in my build thread for the bike in the photos above:
themidge wrote:Tesa 51608 ‘bar’ tape
4ibanez provided a pretty good review earlier, but I though I’d do my own anyway. The tape is very thin, like so thin it’s just a furry coating for your bars. As such, it offers pretty much no cushioning to the hands, so I would definitely recommend everybody wears gloves when using this tape over normal distances, except perhaps on very smooth roads. It is quite nice to the touch, and I like the way it allows the cables underneath to make a ridge at the front of the tops of the bars for you to grip when climbing. Obviously the hoods themselves are not affected by bar tape, but beware of the more significant drop off onto the bar with such thin tape. This is the main reason I would always use gloves with this tape, the transition from bar to hood is in just the wrong place and in combination with the knobbly iLinks, digs into my hand if I don’t wear gloves. The drops felt a little thin at first, but I have got used to it quickly and find I quite like it.
I should add that trying to wrap the bars all in one go without leaving gaps or cutting off a strip to put over the shifter clamp is impossible because of the width of the tape, but it is easy to make touchups, especially around the shifter area.

wintershade
Posts: 295
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:12 pm
Location: Boston, MA

by wintershade

Supacaz Super Sticky Kush -- Always. It's the bomb. Perfect texture. Cleans up nicely (doesn't seem to absorb dirt/grime), come in a ton of colors.

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C36
Posts: 2471
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by C36

wintershade wrote:Supacaz Super Sticky Kush -- Always. It's the bomb. Perfect texture. Cleans up nicely (doesn't seem to absorb dirt/grime), come in a ton of colors.
With 3mm and rubber construction, isn’t it on the very heavy side? Closer to 100g (can’t remember if was th supacaz or a fabric that I weight above 100g)?


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kroem
Posts: 435
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2019 4:37 pm

by kroem

This looks promising. Bike Ribbon Cork
A2FABED9-7B8B-44F3-A9EB-62DFA9CD70AA.jpeg
5989BD6E-01EB-46F9-8E8A-FAB6CDE11095.jpeg
Current
Waltly Gravel (stolen... and found!)
P-X Spitfire Ti
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Old
Canyon Ultimate SLX 6.7kg (crashed)
Tantan GR039 7.2kg (sold)

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wltz
Posts: 335
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2020 10:49 pm

by wltz

I just received OG-Evkin tape. 3mm thick, has the feel and texture of LizardSkins which is my favourite tape, 73g for 2 rolls, and comes with alu screw-in bar end plugs (adding 20g to the weight). All for £10 shipped. Could be a winner.
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kroem
Posts: 435
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2019 4:37 pm

by kroem

wltz wrote:
Sat Feb 13, 2021 11:46 am
I just received OG-Evkin tape. 3mm thick, has the feel and texture of LizardSkins which is my favourite tape, 73g for 2 rolls, and comes with alu screw-in bar end plugs (adding 20g to the weight). All for £10 shipped. Could be a winner.
Heavy😬

But I do also like the lizardskin texture, until it's wet...
Current
Waltly Gravel (stolen... and found!)
P-X Spitfire Ti
Fairlight Strael

Old
Canyon Ultimate SLX 6.7kg (crashed)
Tantan GR039 7.2kg (sold)

cloud9blue
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:49 pm

by cloud9blue

Zipp Service Course CX tape. Best tape IMO. Well cushioned, light, grippy, and easy to clean. Also, the backing uses those sticky silicone thing instead of cheap double sided tape—making it easy to reuse/rewrap if needed.

Image

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wltz
Posts: 335
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2020 10:49 pm

by wltz

kroem wrote:
Sat Feb 13, 2021 1:13 pm
Heavy😬
It's going on my beater, I guess I can live with it 😁

by Weenie


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chops
Posts: 111
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:13 am

by chops

themidge wrote:
Sat Feb 23, 2019 3:29 pm
mrlobber wrote:
Fri Feb 22, 2019 8:10 pm
The lightest "tape" which actually isn't cycling bar tape, but general purpose "soft isolation tape", is Tesa - full wrap is almost 2x lighter than Deda Traforato - 15g or so.
Benefits:
1) totally cheap
2) lightest :twisted:
3) doesn't leave any residues whatsoever
It doesn't offer any real cushion, but at least ensures your hands don't slip on your expensive uberlight carbon handlebars ;)
If you're riding with gloves, there's no point of having additional cushioning in bar tape, but, but stating this opinion, please note I'm relatively insensitive to handlebar comfort (given that I'm comfortably (enough for me) riding 22-23mm tubs and full carbon naked Berk saddles). On my light bike, I'm ridingTesa even without gloves.
+1, this is my experience of Tesa tape as well.
kode54 wrote: interesting...never thought of using TESA tape. Do you have a pic of your handlebars with it wrapped in TESA?
I have quite a few, apologies to the thread for the photo dump.
Here's the tape newly wrapped.
Image

In this photo you can see the little bumps of my iLinks underneath the tape. I like this, it fits my grip nicely, but it's something that should be considered.
Image
Image

You can see that after a while it gets a bit bobbly, but is still fine to use:
Image

Eventually mine got a hole (worn, not a tear)
Image

But it's easy to patch up. I've just done the same thing on my Hetchins which has handlebars perfectly designed to wear out bar tape, I'll change them eventually :D.
Image

Last thing (before the length of this post gets too @Calnago-esque :wink:) I wrote this in my build thread for the bike in the photos above:
[quote=themidge]Tesa 51608 ‘bar’ tape
4ibanez provided a pretty good review earlier, but I though I’d do my own anyway. The tape is very thin, like so thin it’s just a furry coating for your bars. As such, it offers pretty much no cushioning to the hands, so I would definitely recommend everybody wears gloves when using this tape over normal distances, except perhaps on very smooth roads. It is quite nice to the touch, and I like the way it allows the cables underneath to make a ridge at the front of the tops of the bars for you to grip when climbing. Obviously the hoods themselves are not affected by bar tape, but beware of the more significant drop off onto the bar with such thin tape. This is the main reason I would always use gloves with this tape, the transition from bar to hood is in just the wrong place and in combination with the knobbly iLinks, digs into my hand if I don’t wear gloves. The drops felt a little thin at first, but I have got used to it quickly and find I quite like it.
I should add that trying to wrap the bars all in one go without leaving gaps or cutting off a strip to put over the shifter clamp is impossible because of the width of the tape, but it is easy to make touchups, especially around the shifter area.

[/quote]

What width do you use?

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