Trek Bar Tape
 

Is this original Trek tape? It looks to have somewhat of a glow, and be somewhere between leatherette and vinyl with some padding? If still available it could be nice for new C & V builds.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4552/2...f599d0a1_o.jpg

How does this 400 compare to the 412?

Your best source to find this out is VintageTrek. Com

Nice bike BTW, I somehow acquired 3 Trek 400's of different years and love the ride characteristics of each.

That looks similar to results I get from several coats of clear shellac over cork tape. Greatly extends useful life and I like the look. Depends on color of the bar tape, but I generally prefer the look of amber shellac rather than the clear. Don

It's vinyl tape

Yeah, padded vinyl tape. It's Bike Ribbon or one of the imitators. They came in metallic colors in the 80s.

Nobody shellacked tape in the 80s, and nobody even knew how to do it.

Thanks for the heads up, my friend also thought Bike Ribbon and said to search for Italian padded bar tape.

My guess is no- my 1984 420 came with white Benotto ribbon tape.

^^^ yeah it was probably not the stock tape. The metallic tape was a fancy aftermarket item. Who knows though. I can't really remember what tape they came with, and I used to sell them. Seems like some Treks around then came with some sort of padded vinyl tape. Could have been put on by the LBS at the request of the customer at time of purchase. That was a pretty normal thing. Customer, "I'll buy the bike if you put different color tape on it."
Shop: "OK, sure!"


BTW, this is what I think it is, but in metallic brown, obviously.

Supermettalizzato!!!