Classic & Vintage - Cork, Leather or Cloth

and why:D
Just curious how other people feel about their choice in handle bar tape. I am redoing the mustache bars on my Redline 9.2.5 (I know, I know it ain't vintage:rolleyes: ) and can't make up my mind. It is not a daily rider, usually more like once every couple of weeks. I just put on a new Brooks Champion Flyer in Honey, and want to redo the bars with something besides the black plastic tape that came on it. So far I have looked at the Brooks leather wrap, the Cinelli Cork Wrap and the standard Cloth. I also looked at the elk hide covers from Velo Orange. I have always used cloth tape on all of my drop bar bikes.

Aaron:)

if you want to use leather, and don't mind it not matching the brooks saddle perfectly, poke around for an old leather coat at thrift stores and yard sales. i've done it a few times, and it's pretty easy once you get the hang of using multiple strips instead of a single long one. and it's super cheap:)

I like cork more than the cloth stuff, but I havent tried the leather yet.

I use the $1.98 roll of Hockey Tape, :D

But it sounds like you are aiming for something more upmarket. :rolleyes:

the honey brooks tape discolors terribly if you dont use gloves. im a cloth fan, but im a wierdo.

Plain cork and then shellac to match your saddle. The more coats, the daker the cork. You can get pretty close that way.

I like the elk hide from Velo Orange.

CLOTH!! Gotta love it. Worldclasscycles.com in New York has the legandry Tressoplast in many colors for about $2.50/roll

By far the best bar wrap I've ever used is Stella Azzura Elaganza. It looks and feels just like vintage leather sports car steering wheel wrap....with micro holes and all. It also comes with very nice satanic pentagram finishing tape.

when it comes to cloth, my favorite is by far the viva tape from jitensha.

i would love the stella azzura except i hate the contrast stitching. kills me.

I like the Fizik tape. Not many colours but it feels quite nice.
Not heavily padded at all ( as in none ) which I prefer.

Marty

A couple notes on the Brooks Leather. It is nice, but being different cut of leather from the saddle they don't match if that is a concern to you. Also it is not continuous in length, is made of three pieces stitched together. The stitching might end up at an inconvenient spot.
I have a Honey colored saddle which darkens and reddens as it ages. The Honey Bar tape is lighter to start and lightens and becomes blonder with use.
It definately wears and ages well, should be good for several seasons...

I tend to put my hands to sleep while riding, so I need as much padding as possible. Was using good old-fashioned cloth tape, but switched over to modern cork on all my bikes. I'll stick with the purely period stuff for the bikes that are destined to only hang on the wall.

Viva cloth over gel tape finished off with shellac.

I use a good quality cork tape, like "bike ribbon" or "Cinelli", then wrapped again with 'fizik' black tape which is a thinner, leather like wrap. The combination of the two fits my hands perfectly without being too thick on the bars. Looks elegant too.

I'm building a moustache bar bike, and I'm going with the Elk Hide from Velo Orange.

I like the elk hide from Velo Orange.
How hard was it to install. I bought some of their tan seconds but it looks like I'll have to sew the dang thing up (thought it was predrilled). I plan to use neatsfoot oil to darken it to match my darkened honey B17N on the 73 Raleigh.