Bar tape and shellac
 

I give. What's the big deal with shellacing your cotton bar tape? Better grip? Longer life? Or is it just a fashion statement?

SP
Bend, OR

All three.

yeah all 3.

cons:
semi permanent
not soft
non vegan lol

offers a bit of customization with color too.

More work.

Twenty minutes of painting never hurt anyone. And shellacking wrap takes far less "work" than many other things I do on my bike routinely...

Taking the 5x or 6x lifespan of shellaced tape over untreated cotton into account, I disagree with this assertion.

Stays cleaner, too.

+1. To which I would add (as others have), stays cleaner and if you do need to clean, just wipe with some alcohol, takes off a thin layer.

Makes the bars feel a little grabbier as well. I like about 3 coats, which seals things up nicely but doesn't leave a gloss or get real hard. Then, as you use them, the texture gets a little like worn leather, quite a nice feel IMO.

While I admit that it looks good, I've never been able to get over the liquified bug aspect. Bleh!

Then I hope you don't like Skittles.

I'll concede that it's less work from that perspective, but it doesn't FEEL much like cloth tape, so I'd want to replace it straight away. (= more work, based on my own sensibilities.)

My wife is a Skittles fan. Do tell.

Never have.

Shellac comes from the Lac bug. I'm not an expert, so don't quote me on it, but I believe it is some kind of waste. I don't know if it is in the feces or some other form of waste. I think that the bugs and waste get heated up, filtered, and processed into shellac. They use it on Skittles and a bunch of other hard shell candies in Europe. There are a few other food products that use it too, but this is getting away from the main topic.

Try an internet search if you want to learn more, but I wouldn't recommend it. Good things may not come.

If you are really interested, Zinsser the company best known for shellac, has a brochure titled "The Story of Shellac".
Paint stores may have it or I'm sure if you wrote Zinsser they would send a copy. Its informative and amusing.

Sometimes I get the heebie-jeebies when I put honey in my breakfast, and remind myself it came from a hive full of bees. Still doesn't change the fact that it's delicious on cottage cheese.

+1 - totally classy and functional. I just shellacked cork grips on my townie - good grip, durable, and it makes cheap-a** cork look like a carved-piece of wood.

Velo-Orange's shellac chips come with a little betcha-didn't-know info. Neat stuff. Mother nature likes bikes!

I ended up using Velox rim tape (as I found a big roll of it for about the price of a small roll of Trellostar.) Put a scant three coats of Zinser on it and it's just starting to give me wear patterns. I wasn't sure I would like it, but I actually find I like it better than cork/PU tape.