Originally Posted by mainstreetexile

I think that's mainly because cloth/thinner tape was the norm back then, so it was easy to tuck it under the bar end plugs. With cork/thicker tape, it can still be tucked in, but it's trickier and usually easier to just terminate it with tape at the top.



This is the correct way, but I always forget the direction. When I rewrapped some bars yesterday, I just looked at another bike I had near it, and now both of them are backwards.

Here's the park page on handlebar wrapping:

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-...ation-drop-bar