I have a bike id like to put some suntour barcons on. DO you install them and then put the bar tape on flush with them starting with one complete revolution or do you start taping with a bit of overhang and then tuck in the extra and jam the barcon in like you would a bar end plug?

Install them and put the tape flush.

I agree, me too.
I have tried it the other way and for me it was no go.

If I’m taping bars for someone else, I install the bar ends then wrap, if it’s for my own bike I tuck. It looks better, just take a minute or two more.

Wrap flush with the bar end.
I have used suntour bacon's, shimano bar ends, and Microshift bar ends- none had enough room to tuck tape in. Maybe the thinnest bar tape would work to tuck?...I'm not sure as I only use tape that has some cushion to it.

I agree with the above as you only have around 20mm of opening in the bars and need a solid seat for the plug and you then wrap over the housing for a few or more wraps depending on the bar types, aero, drop, etc.

I do Barcon tape jobs a little differently. I do a normal wrap from bar end to bar middle, ensuring that a good part of the starting point has complete wrap around the outside end. Once the bar is wrapped, the start end is very secure, held in place buy overlying wraps. Then, using a really sharp knife (X-acto or something similar), I trim the end of the overlapping tape clean off. Then I can insert or remove the Barcons with ease...


Note: My method is workable with cushion tape, cheap cushion tape. Cloth tape, forget my method and wrap from the middle to the end, and stuff the overlap inside the bar. Then, insert the Barcon...

On my Miyata 610, I did it a different way. I wrapped the bar tape first (with no cable inside), and then installed the barcons. The cable is completely exposed and outside the tape. It works totally fine. Especially in my case where I am running the cable fairly short in anticipation of having a randonneur bag up front at some point.

Depends on the tape. I use cloth tape most often and tuck it into the end of the bar before shifter installation.

I wrap (always) from the bottom up, so with barcons there is no difference - except -

Plastic cover on the brake cable under the handlebar tape?

I do a little tuck on my microshift bar end shifter and then cut a little section of old inner tube, not sure why i do the inner tube but I guess it ensures it stays tucked.

When I was using a cork-ish tape, I'd install the bar-ends and then wrap from bottom to top.
With cloth tape, I still install the bar-ends first, but then wrap from the end and top and finish under the brake hood.




With the harlequin pattern, it just wouldn't look right to finish up at some random place in the pattern, and then stuff the tape under the bar-end.
Also.. with two layers of tape, there probably wouldn't be room.
I was surprised that finishing under the brake hoods worked as well as it did.

For the cases where folks install the bar-end after shoving the cloth tape into the end of the bar, I assume that the shift cable housing has been taped in place prior to starting the wrapping of the bars?

Steve in Peoria (still not very good at the harlequin pattern, but getting better)