Originally Posted by Shiznaz

Favorite handlebar tape poll:
BIKE RIBBON
BROOKS
CINELLI
DEDA ELEMENTI
FIZIK
FSA
ITM
PROFILE DESIGN
SALSA
VELO

Frame branded tapes (probably the same tape w/ different logos)
COLNAGO
PINARELLO
DE ROSA
MERCKX
PEGORETTI

and of course:
NO NAME GENERIC BAR TAPE

I've probably missed a few but these are definitely the major ones.

I have used cinelli cork/foam tape, deda elementi foam tape and nashbar 'faux carbon' tape.

The cinelli looks and feels very nice; nice colours and bits of cork and a good texture to wrap your fingers around but its pretty fragile and can start getting chewed up very easily.

The deda doesn't have as nice a texture or colour as the cinelli tape but it is cushier and much tougher. Since its all foam though they aren't very breathable meaning your hands will get hotter and sweatier.

The nashbar 'carbon look' tape isn't all that comfortable and not breathable at all, but it looks cool on the right bike and is super duper tough. Its also the least deformable tape I hjave come across so if you want to rewrap the bars or even move the tape to another set of bars you won't have floppy edges to deal with.

My Polish housemate has used the profile design tape and it seems pretty nice but it didn't have any adhesive backing making it a harder wrap job and more likely to become unfurled later down the road (especially if you crash and the tape gets cut in half).


your turn!