Originally Posted by
HillRider
Basic black. Goes with everything and never shows the dirt.
+1. I went into my LBS recently to buy some red tape to go with a red Specialized Allez Steel Double and he almost refused to sell it to me. He said no matter what I did it would get dirty and I wouldn't be happy with it.
I think the point is if you go with black, it really doesn't need to be clean at all. It just doesn't show dirt. Just wipe down from time to time. With any other color, you probably are going to notice soiling. White tape looks gorgeous, for awhile, and then starts to look dingy. Sure you can use Simple Green and such, but it will eventually start wearing down the surface and it just won't ever look the same again.
Just my opinion. I have a recent addition to the herd, a Centurion Ironman, that has white tape. Looks like leather but is vinly. It cleans up pretty nicely. Don't know if it is still commercially available or not. If I could find out what they used, I probably would buy it for another bike that I have that would look great in white.