Cheap shiny plastic handlebar wrap...
 

So many of the older bikes (1970s) had cheap, thin, textured, shiny, black, plastic handlebar wrap.

Is it possible to still get this stuff ??

If so, where ??

I'm cleaning up a few older bikes & want them to look their age !!

M

The Hunt-Wilde stuff is still out there. Check that big auction site. Memory Lane Classics in Ohio should have some too. The Schwinn-branded stuff is the most common and came in a rainbow of colors. Some colors can be expensive though. Rams Horn Fastback collectors are after white glitter, coppertone, blue, and campus green. Strangely enough, violet is still cheap. Burgundy seems like a tough color to get too.

I liked that stuff back in the day. You could stretch it super tight and it wouldn't break. One roll would easily do a set of drop bars and there was always plenty left over.

Its on ebay. I have a bunch of wild colors, but no black. Bought it up over the years but decided I don't really like it...

I am still using the original bar tape on my Gitane TdF. I did rewrap it, but it looks pretty good. It does make the bike look its age.

Thanks for the pointers.

Most of the eBay stuff I have found is the new cheap stuff from China. I just won THREE auctions for the cheap rubbery stuff for one cent each, plus $2.99 postage.

Coincidentally, I re-wrapped my Gitane ran Sport using the original stuff, too.

I bought 40 rolls when one of the LBS's went out of business last year. All Hunt-Wilde or Benotto. Almost out of black, though..... but I have lots of other colors. :)

I've bought several packs of black plastic wrap with plugs from Niagara Cycle Works for my flips; less than $2.00/pack.
http://www.niagaracycle.com/product_...ducts_id=12115

Same plastic wrap applied to my '77 Moto:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/...7617c37f_z.jpg

My LBS still has some of the original Schwinn tape but I think they have red and yellow only at I think $2.00 a roll.

Thanks for the info !!

Exactly what I'm looking for.

Mike

Thanks for the information!
 

I volunteer with Bicycles for Humanity and have been looking for a source of cheap tape for several months. As old 10 speeds are unsuitable for use in rural areas of Africa, we refurbish the ones we have donated and use them both for fund raising by providing our local university students with inexpensive transportation, and also donate them to some of the local social agencies such as the Salvation Army. If anyone is interested, the cheapest source of 10 speed tires we have found is Mountain Equipment Coop which sells a tire for$9 Canadian. If anyone has any information on any cheaper sources we would love to hear from you. We have sent almost 3000 bikes from our little city and are sending 350more next Saturday to Sierra Leone.

Most Peugeots in the early 80's came form the factories with white cello (Benotto?) type bar tape that actually looked pretty nice, but not very comfortable on the hands. That's why many (including me) replaced them with cloth or foam type girps like "Grab-Ons".
When the mid 80's came around, the padded vinyl tapes took over on 99% of bikes and the cello tapes were pretty much pushed awy into history. It's still nice to see some NOS bikes from the 80's being sold lately at eBay still have the old cello plastic tapes on them though. Specially the white ones on Peugeots.

Chombi

garethpritchard sez: If anyone is interested, the cheapest source of 10 speed tires we have found is Mountain Equipment Coop which sells a tire for$9 Canadian.

I just ordered a bunch of rolls of black handlebar tape from Niagara.

Those black-wall "Cheng Shin Tire" or "CST" tires at Mountain Co-op are now selling on their website for $7.50 Canadian - about the cost of a submarine sandwich. They ship from Vancouver to Ontario for a one-time charge of only $6.50 Canadian no matter how many you order, unless you order over a certain amount after which shipping is free. I read the CST reviews and then I bought six of them a couple of weeks ago. I should have bought more. At my age and riding old low-performance bikes from the 1970s & 1980's, these tires are absolutely OK for my kind of riding.

Reviews on the internet were by people who ride Cheng Shin and swear by them, people who say the tire is the only point of contact between the
bike and the road, so you should buy the best you can afford, (and that Cheng Shings are dangerous), and people who say riding Cheng Shing is ok for slow bikes but not for
performance bikes.

And for you Americans, I see that Niagara Cycle has these same "Cheng Shin C637 Road Tire 27 x 1-1/4 Wire Black Wall" tires on their website for $6.99.

http://www.niagaracycle.com/product_...oducts_id=1434

Thanks for the heads up Michael!

i can't use those on my flips, it just looks crappy to me, i don't know why, maybe it's cause most of my flips already have that on it, so i'm tearing that stuff off to put some nice foam or cork ones for 7 bucks, for me 5 bucks doesn't make the difference, i just wouldn't want anyone to use those, you might as well not even wrap it if you're gonna use that stuff..

by the way, nice bike, minus the wrap :)

I think I have one black Benotto and one pearl Benotto.
Neither of which I have any use for.

Too bad we are spread all over the continent or we could pass these left-over rolls of handlebar tape around.

Have you tried opening up a wholesale account with a Canadian parts distributor? I am sure you could get repair parts a lot cheaper. Sorry, but I don't know who the Canadian equivalent of QBP, J&B, etc would be.

Benotto America has 1000 rolls in 15 colors in stock. Have your LBS also try Merry Sales California) or Mel Pinto Imports (Virginia). They both have inventory as of 2 weeks ago. Also YellowJersey.com has some colors.

I love Benotto tape (under my other tape).

+1 Also you should consider contacting one of the on line places directly. For large orders, some will offer you additional discounts, free shipping, etc. I usually consolidate my parts buying to get those kind of deals.

Greg Lemond used to come to our shop and buy the white Schwinn plastic stuff that was textured on one side and smooth on the inside. He would wrap it smooth side out so it looked like Benotto but alot thicker.

This thread has been bumped by Benotto America, just so posters are aware.

OK. No problem.

Welcome to the forum.

Jenson is clearancing their cheap foam cork tape for $3.99 USD. I bought 4 last week in blue red and yellow. I think that's all the colors they had left but check it out. Go to Jenson and search "pro tape"