Hello folks,

I'm wondering if there is any place on the internet or perhaps even some old thread (there is so much information on this forum that a not-entirely-thorough search has proven useless for me) here that describes the evolution of handlebar grips and tape? I am curious about what materials were available in different decades, going back to the earliest years of drop bars. My particular interest right now is what materials were favored for high-end road bikes c. 1960. Thanks!

I know cotton tape and plastic ribbon tape (Benotto) were both widely used.

cloth, leather, cork - glad they've come back around

EVA foam? Actually they still sell it for Jones H-bars. But every 1980 bike that had it doesn't have it anymore - it fell off.

For your study, I would look up old Raleigh and Rudge catalogs and images - search pathfinder, clubman

Look here:

Lightweight Classic Vintage bicycles

-Bandera

Thanks for the information thus far! I was aware of cotton probably being a popular choice c. 1960, but am also curious about plastic. Particularly, I'm intrigued by this Olmo wrap that has indentations in it, unlike the smooth Benotto type:

Vintage Olmo Celle Ligure Bar Tape Blue | eBay

I saw another advertisement on Ebay International for the same wrap that put the date to "1950s-60s" but I have no way of confirming this with the images and descriptions I've come up with so far... Thanks!

thread dredge, but if you are interested, look at the catalogues for what was on offer
1939 Brown Bros Catalogue grips start at page 128 and tape is on p320
1948 Brown Bros catalogue grips start at p80 and handlebar tape at p225

for tracking uses over time, have a look through the Holdsworth Aids catalogues on the V-CC library The 1961 catalogue has the handlebar tape varieties on p40 (cloth and embossed plastic)

I find looking through the bikes on Speedbicycles gives a good understanding on what was used over time.

Cotton tape mostly. Dig up old pictures of racers. You'll see it was dominant.

I gather some people in the 60s used plastic tape also. Can't say for sure cause I wasn't around. It would have been in most cases more like the textured Hunt Wilde-tape that used to come on Schwinns. I remember seeing lots of NOS tape like that in the backs of bike shops when I was in high school.

There was some kind of velvet texture tape that people used in the 70s. I forget what it was called.

Bike Ribbon was pretty popular and the only real alternative to cotton when I first started riding circa the late 70s. It was an early vinyl padded tape and pretty similar to modern tape like Fizik.

EDIT: also in the 70s, Grab Ons were HUGE.

Cork tape came out in the mid 80s. Benotto Cello tape was also something that was a relatively brief fad for a few years in the early 80s. No one had it, and then everyone had to have it. Then it was gone again. It may have been around for decades before in Europe or something. I don't know.

Cotton tape was what I used in the 70's. Those who wanted something a bit nicer would often shellac the tape; this would last more than 1 season, and could look rather nice.