Plastidip Your Handlebars?
 

This stuff:

http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip

I have a can of this and was thinking of trying it out as grip tape substitute. In the interest of not wasting it, has any tried this yet? It can be painted on.

It my experience, the stuff peels off tools pretty fast, much less something that you're constantly twisting your hands and sweating on like a handlebar. I'm doubting it would last long.

Have to dip it, to get it thick enough
so you need a tank big enough to dip it into.

You can buy slip on track bar grips , for the bottom bend.

\ 4 piece Grab on grips are still Sold.

I have used plastidip as a replacement coating
on my old Cordura Messenger bag lining.

I see a couple of downsides to doing this. If the bars are polished it is likely not to stick very well and will start to peel up at the edges. If you apply it thick eough to be smooth it will be relatively heavy compared to bar tape. Finally its smooth nonporous surface will get wet and slick with sweat and may tend to cause blisters. I'd stick with dipping tool handles and electrical connections.

+1. In my experience the stuff is just not very durable.

It comes in a can large enough to dip brake lever tips in, a couple dips after letting it dry in between makes a smooth durable surface. Don't know about handlebars tho, I have the old Hutchinson formed rubber on the handlebars of one bike and it isn't all that great to hold onto and it is waaay stronger than the PDip. I have thought about putting Plastidip on the chainstay of my mountain bike to catch the chain slap, but I did do bicycle rear baskets with it. PD doesn't stick unless you really clean and prep the metal. I scrubbed a new basket with steel wool and acetone, then a tack cloth followed by spray paint for stoves/refrigerators/appliances. After a week of drying, I sprayed the PD on it and it has lasted three years of grocery shopping, and carrying bocce balls in a bag with a small cooler to the park. But it lasts about 6 months on any tool I ever have put it on.

you might want to try truck bed liner instead.

Great idea on lever ends.

If there was a low-tech way that's better than tape, I'm pretty sure someone would have thought of it by now... those foam tubes on 80's department-store ten-speeds aren't it.

Maybe something high-tech will turn up one of these days, though... some sort of ultra-nifty mouldable foam?

Bob, your semi-random Caps Never cease to Spin me Out, man... ;)

Once used plastidip whem making cyclocomputer sensor, dipped the breadboard with reed switch in it so it'd be weatherproof.

Also tried it on some bar ends (not an entire bar), it scrapes off easily and then looks ugly.


Try inner tubes for alternative bar coverings; however rather than cut them into strips and wrap as you would bar tape,
leave it in tube form and slip them over the bars for a seamless covering
choose a tube size of appropriatly tight diameter, compressed air is a must to make it go on....

I use it mainly for waterproofing R/C car bits. It occured to me that thorough degreasing may well alleviate peeling/detaching.
This stuff does not require dipping. It brushes on thickly and repeated, it leaves a good cushiony grip.

I reckon it's not likely to stick too well to anodising. Or chrome.

IMO this might be a good idea for pimping up a junker, but I don't think it belongs on anything better.

Just a word of warning. Unless you sprinkle some grip sand onto the Plastidip while it's drying the smooth shiney surface is hellishly slippery when wet.

on the weight weenies forum, they talk about using appropriate diameter shrink tubing for various purposes. I know I've seen photos of people who use shrink tubing to for brake lever hoods. I would imagine that it would be fairly straight forward to do the handlebars. It would be interesting to try. You can buy any diameter and color you want on ebay, electrical supplie stores, and probably any number of other places. Maybe two layers if one isn't enough?

I tried it on some bare metal, thoroughly cleaned. Yeah, it peels right off. No good.

Now for shrinkwrap... the last place I worked they some seriously heavyduty wrap, up to 4" in diameter, but some smaller diameter that might be good for grips. It was black with a shiny surface so It might be slippery.