Back in Schwinn Mechanics' School, Cranbury NJ (I still have my Official Card from 1984), they showed some crazy figure-8-type technique for going around the levers. This was done on the steel bar of a Varsity (?) with that plastic semi-transparent waffle tape that Schwinn used (and was re-used a million times to wrap that bar) - of course there was enough tape. later, when wrapping with Velox, I soon learned the Salmandrine (above) technique of short piece to cover clamp, then kind of just keep wrapping when you get to the lever. Brake hoods were a bonus as they could "clean up" the look. Oh, and stretch as you go helped.