For the current project by [MENTION=319010]Narhay[/MENTION] on his SuperCourse, he asked about bar this bar tape Deda Mistral Tape Leather. Which reminded me of a puzzle that you folks should be able to answer.

Why do bar tape manufacturers slobber their logos all over the tape or at least on half of the tape? Is it supposed to be a guide so that in our attempt to cover it over we get a half width overlap? Some logos are all over the tape so it cannot be covered. Some are embossed and contrast colored so they cannot be overlooked. Is it somehow cool to have the bar tape logo showing all along the bar? Does this just fall in line with current trend of bicycles and wheels covered with garish advertisements so they look like NASCAR rigs?

Or is everyone else actually sponsored by these vendors and I'm the only one who didn't get asked?

Is THAT the attraction of cloth tape - no logos nor adverts nor sponsorship? (OK, you're right: -1deg again today, glare ice all over, another 5-8 on the way and salt lying on the roads thicker than bar tape. I'm edgy.)

Go with Fizik.

? Superlight Bar Tapes in Microtex - Handlebar lightweight tape for handlebars by Fizik

It's totally the NASCAR thing. Have you taken a hard look at a modern road bike lately? Every component is plastered in giant logos. For synthetic leather tape, look at Fizik. No branding, looks good, and wraps really well.

Specialized has some nice tape out there as well though. Full range of types and if you use your own plugs, no one will be the wiser. Love there synthetic leather tape.

Nashbar sells nice, their brand, tape in many colors, at a nice price, but the last time I checked, they didn't have brown. I have had that same Deda brown tape in my stock pile for a long time but have hesitated to use it because of the blasted logo.

I'm considering putting drop bars on my folder and using a brown Brooks Team Professional that I've had. So I might be "forced" to use the Deda and see if I can hide the logo under each wrap.

I assume that it works the same for cycling as in motor racing, but the sponsors determine their return on their dollars by how many times their name is shown. That is why you see the names on the bottoms, under the hoods, inside the wheel wells, etc. Then there are people who watch the race recording, frame by frame, to tally it all up. In the same way TV ratings determine the advertising rates, the more times a sponsor's logo appears, the more value the race team can say they provided. So, even if they don't win, as long as they are in view, there is value added.

I don't like having big logos plastered all over my stuff. No one is paying me to wear them.

Soma has some nice Brown padded tape, no logos

Thick and Zesty Bar Tape | SOMA Fabrications

I go on to eBay and pick up no-brand tape for about $4 shipped.
Looks, feels, smells, tastes, just like any other tape, but no ugly logos.

My LBS usually carries some standard issue padded tape (Origin8?) with no logos. Decent quality, closer to the pricey tape than the bargain-basement crap.

As others have said, the Fizik fake-leather tape is logo free, but I ran into an irritation with it. The two halves of the tape aren't identical -- half perforated, half not -- but they don't send a "left/right" pairing. So in order to have the perforations on both sides of my bar I had to wrap one inward and the other outward. I really like my symmetry and this just bugs the hell outta me.

And yes. It's the 21st century branding juggernaut. Everything's got logos. Yay corporate world, where everybody's a market and everything's a billboard.

EDIT: I was looking at the Cinelli tape on my Schwinn, and the logos are only a couple of shades darker than the rest of the tape. They mostly disappear at a viewing distance of 8' or so.

Universal Cycles -- Charge Bikes U-Bend 45 Bar Tape - Available in Colors
This one is a decent "leather like" tape. Although the it does have the logo repeated on one edge...it is not colored differently and can be covered for the most part. I have it on my raleigh supercourse and like it.

Here is an old picture. (I have since changed the stem)

I personally don't ***** myself out to any brand; I'm not a billboard, and I make it a point to shun product labels (whether physical or implied). But a lot of consumers of products accept endorsement labeling, I assume because they associate them as a "badge of passage", i.e. "I use XXX brand, which costs many moolah, so I'm serious about my sport". I personally see this as doggy paddling in the shallow end of the personality gene pool, but, I could be wrong all this time.

I was thinking about this...couldn't you just unroll one and use the tape backwards from the center of the roll out for one side? Wouldn't this have the effect of having a left and a right?

Sonofa....

The marketers get it, They know that having 79pmooney displaying their product would be the kiss of death. They also know that the same 79pmoney will only pay for and display logos for companies he really respects and has benefited from. So they slobber their HB tape, rims, seats, jerseys and shorts with those logos. 70pmooney buys products from other manufacturers. Marketers breath a sigh of relief.

(79pmooney has been known to purchase items well outside his comfort zone in emergencies. Hincapie Sportswear and Felt are probably still cringing that he bought a jersey 3 years ago with Felt in large lettering at an out of town ride when he realized he for got his.)

Ben

I totally agree but dont totally dislike. Bar tape logos, yuck. Too much.

Then, there is this thing with modern wheelsets:




For bar tape, I use the generic and comfortable Nashbar tape in basic black with Specialized reuseable plugs in the red color theme.

I use the Bontrager cushy bar tape. It's got the little logos embossed into it, but they're more like golf ball dimples. Don't even notice they're logos.

There are no logos on cloth tape.

FWIW, I used the Deda bar tape on my tandem, and was able to hide most of the logos, except for a few where it makes the bend. It looks fairly nice:

They've convinced a large part of the market to actually pay them, to advertise for them.

Those "theys," they're always up to something, those boogers.


Sometimes, I like it.

Last Bar tape buy, of mine, was the Fizik gel pad/tape set.

oh, please point me in the direction of a $4 tape that looks and feels just like $20* fizik!

* ebay price

I would have liked the Fizik stuff without logos but it wasn't available in brown from where I purchased the rest of my stuff. I fully intend to cover the slobbered labels.

Which brooks do you think would be the best match?

Which brooks saddle? I'm not sure, I've never used one.

It's sublimertable,sublimering,sublimmerish,, forget it. It's sneaky advertising.