Just a silly little idea if you're wondering how a new color of bar tape would look on your bike. I did a local group ride yesterday where some people will decorate themselves or their bikes for Christmas. So I grabbed some gift wrap ribbon at the grocery store and wrapped my bars and top tube in red and green. It went on just as easy as any actual bar tape. I used electrical tape just on the ribbon to secure it so it will come right off without any damage to the actual bar tape (I'm sure scotch tape would work just as well if you just want to look at it and take a few pictures as opposed to riding it for 65 miles). $1.99 for a four color role of ribbon so $1 to wrap the bars.

While I didn't do this to check out new colors, I kind of like the red and think I'll be using red bar tape on my bike next spring. And actually the green looks better than I would have guessed.