laman012

Hi,
i am looking for the best brand cloth bar tape (preferably a french marque...). Will this tape be comfortable? could(should) i wrap it over cork tape to be more comfortable?
any advice on cloth tape would be great!
-ladule

dbakl

From my experience, they're all pretty similar. When it gets dirty or worn, throw another wrap right over it. By the time you get to 5 or 6 layers it will be really comfy. Serious!

OrangeOkie

https://www.velo-orange.com/hacoandta.html

I get mine from velo orange, then shellac it. Very nice.

moki

If you want to get fancy, try diamond wrapping your tape to get 2 layers. Cloth over cork could work; Just make sure to keep the cork thin and tight.

frameteam2003

For cloth tape go to an Uphostery supplyer thy sell large rolls of white cloth tape.Same tape as bar tape without the sticky backing.

tolfan

I have heard putting old inertube on the bars first then wraping over them works good. Dont know first hand.

USAZorro

I've heard that the Cateye brand is easy to work with. I wish I could find a reliable source for it in a color other than black or white.

I went the route of ordering tape and shellac from VeloOrange. Customer service is great, and I have no complaint with the product, other than, like most cloth tape, it takes a supreme effort to get the tape on without creases and wrinkles.

Mhendricks

+1 on the Cateye. Tressostar always wrinkles when you try and wrap unless you're really careful and have a lot of patience. EBAY has some sellers for cateye in colors like red, blue, yellow.

https://cgi.ebay.com/Cateye-Cloth-Tap...QQcmdZViewItem

Christof H

I've used athletic cloth tape from big 5, bandage tape, lightweight otton seam tape from sewing supply, and sticky backed no namebrand from the LBS.


Bandage tape wears fast, but I never shellaced and hemped it.

Seam tape is AWESOME if youcan get it to not wrinkle. Which I can't.

best bet so far is no name LBS tape, with shellac.

even better, though, is acetone shaped light leather strapping (I cut my own since I make seat bags and recover old plastic seats) and lots of proofide. Get it on there, shaped, use binder clamps or padded c clamps to hold it on (or a padded vise) then LIGHTLY gorilla glue the end after it's completey set. If you want to get fancy you can skive and bevel the strapping and make it all flush mount, even loosely unwrap and glue the leather to leather after it's dried out and the shape and stretch is set.

Acetone is a bit nasty, but works well, I learned the trick making knife sheaths. Water works okay, too, though.

onetwentyeight 

my favorite cloth tape is the viva tape.

https://www.jitensha.com/eng/tape_e.html

marqueemoon

I prefer Cat Eye over Tressostar. It feels great wrapped over cork. Overlap as little as possible and wrap it tight if you want it to reach though.

lotek 

if you don't mind a faux leather the Fizik tape is really nice,
no padding.
As for padding the fizik gel pads are also nice, not too thick
and you apply it where you want, not the entire bar.

marty

jgedwa

I love hockey stick tape. Dirt cheap. Wears well. I put on three layers, and it is pretty comfy. Only comes in black and white however.

jim

top506

What about Velox? That's the last cloth tape I bought before I discovered hockey tape.
Top

dbarnblatt@usa.

Sort of on the subject... what is the best way to wrap bars with cloth tape?

I've hear that you start at the bar ends and roll towards the stem. But then you have to finish it either with twine or electrical tape.

But it seems to me that you can start near the stem, roll over the end of the tape once and then start rolling towards you (if you are sitting on the bike) and finish at the bar ends... wrap the last of the tape around the bar end and press a bar end plug in... it holds the end of the tape inside the bars.

Six jours

Yes, you can do it that way, but then you are left with the exposed edges of the tape facing upward, which makes them susceptible to curling up under hand pressure, especially if you like to ride with your hands on or just above the hoods.

I don't recall ever finishing any kind of handlebar tape with anything other than electical tape. Do you do cork or other tape without electrical tape? To me I think it would look unfinished...

cmdr

I have a friend who owns a shop here in richmond who uses some sort of adhesive and carefully trims the edges so that it has a near perfect circumfrence. It looks the way bar tape SHOULD look in an ideal world. Whether it would hold up to real world abuse... I don't know, but it sure looks pretty on that Olmo track bike he has displayed. So... pretty...

robo

I think rivendell sells a bunch of colors of the Cateye tape.

ken cummings

They sell cloth tape, cork bar tape, cork grips, and suggest wine corks to plug bar ends. Since I got a set of their fingerless gloves I have felt no need to tape my handlebars. Just some cheap cloth sticky tape to keep the brake lines in place.

robo

As i discovered yesterday, untaped handlebars will make your hands freeze in even mildy cold weather!

robo

BTW - is there any sort of guideline for the number of coats of shellac you need? I'm using clear shellac over grey tape so after the first coat it's not changing the color much, and i don't really want the 'thick varnished' look that a zillion coats seems to get you.

Any reason not to stop at 2-3 coats?

Also, how long should i wait before riding? I kind of want to go for a ride, but the last coat went on an hour ago and it's sorta dry but still smells like the solvent.

OrangeOkie

This is the industry standard proceedure

Six jours

It wasn't 15 years ago or so, at least in any of the shops where I worked. Maybe things have changed.

< edit > But come to think of it, how can there be an "industry standard procedure" when no one in the industry wraps bars with cloth tape?

Six jours

Being as you don't actually need any coats at all, you can use as many or as few coats as you want. I'm aware of people who use a single coat.

Not that I can think of.

In my experience, the first coat wants a long time. Twenty four hours, at least. Subsequent coats take less time, but mine still wants 3-4 hours before riding.

Raiyn

https://www.rivbike.com/webalog/handl...ape/16068.html