Well nashbar had some gel/foam tape on sale for $5 so I bought that . If it sucks, I didn't waste much money on it. This is my first time using bar tape so I didn't want to blow a bunch of money.

How's it compare to grips? Basically my project bike had vaguely mustache-bar-shaped handlebars with grips. I'm going to flip 'em, probably leave the brake levers where they were (out at the ends), but figured if I wrapped 'em all the way with tape I would have another good hand position out at the front.