Partial Wrap on Drop Bars
 

A few days ago, I picked up a really nice Fuji Gran Tourer. As it happens, it has chromed steel nitto olympiade bars. I'm thinking that if I'm going to keep these on and put up w/the weight, I should get some bling out of it, so I'm wondering if people have any ideas/pictures about partially wrapping drop bars and whether this is even a reasonable idea and there is any way to do something attractive/tasteful.

Don't have any pictures handy but I've seen it done with the wrap from the brake levers down or with just grips on the ends of the bars and no wrap. I think it looks great on a bike from the period where that was common (pre-war, maybe into the late 40's?) but I'm guessing they didn't ride the tops very much. Unless you plan to stay in the drops all the time I'm not sure that would be practical.

Unless you have some REALLY cushy gloves!

People here in Fixieville, USA, do it all the time to get that stripped down, primitive, retro look. I don't know that they do much besides ride between keg parties, tho.

Grips on the bar ends is the way to go. Classic, cool looking, and practical.

Bought a new Peugeot UO8 back in early 70s and the bars were partially wrapped, from brake levers down to the end of the dropbars. Looked good/distinctive.
As for always 'riding in the drops' have done a 200-mile event doing just that, no problems. All depends on your riding style/preference.

Sweet, I might do something like that on the UO8 I'm building since it'll just be a casual ride bike for dinner rides and pub crawls. As for riding 200-miles in the drops, I'd be crippled after a 200-mile event no matter what riding position I used so I doubt it would matter. :D

Hmm, like the idea of wrapping from the levers down. It does encourage you to ride the drops, although I like doing so anyhow. I'm kind of going with inserting a little red into an otherwise monolithically black bike, maybe a shorty wrap, so to speak, from levers, in a harlequin red/black. The full bar harlequin is pretty extreme, not that I don't like it, but it is a big commitment. A little shorter like that could be a cool accent without becoming one of the, if not the, biggest point of interest on the bike.

Thanks!