It now occurs to me that you could tape the tops starting from the top and tape the drops starting from the bar end and leave the ends of both sections snugly taped to the outside of the brake lever and tucked under the hood, much as I did, but using the bar lever as the destination for both parts of the wrap.

That way you have the clean look of starting from the top and the simplicity of starting from the bottom without having to tuck inside the bar end or having to use tape or twine to secure the top.

Probably not traditional enough for some, but I think it’s another good option.

Otto