Now try it with thick, chiral bar tape.

cf: I suck at bar tape.

I thought "Being and Nothingness" was entirely appropriate for a handlebar-wrapping thread backdrop.

I think my first ever attempt at bar tape was probably my best... I've gotten progressively worse each time.

I SHOULD do that! The red would look neat and I can still do it without really "undoing" any existing work!

HAHAHA!


Disclaimer - I this bike project has moved inside since the weather here turned so I can literally sit on my nice leather sofa and true wheels, etc. while not freezing my ass off.


This pick was taken in the direction of my WIFE's end of the office in our home... a photo of MY bookshelf would show the following:


- A bunch of stuff by Elmore Leonard


- A bunch of stuff by Cormack McCarthy, including the border trilogy


- The Count of Monte Cristo


- Books about maps


- Books about politics (Chasing the Scream, The New Jim Crow)


- Various Technical manuals and books about financial accounting framework

Bar Tape: A
Photo Orientation: D-

It's hard to tell with the way the pics are turned. But it looks pretty good. At least you don't have your bar tops wrapped in the opposite direction like mine currently has! I did the wrap method around the brake clamps that leaves nothing exposed, but in doing so I somehow got the tape going the wrong direction on one side. So at the tops near the stem, the end of the tape points forward on one side, and back towards me on the other side. Ooops.

I have new bar tape ready to put on, which I will do as part of my complete tear-down and rebuild this winter, probably over Christmas break, along with new cables and housing.

looks good; I see you went bottom-up and electrical taped the top. I like to try to go top-down and avoid tape altogether. Didn't work too well last time as I cut my new rear brake cable a little too short, when I'm hefting the bike around the the wheel flops, the binding cable pulls at the bartape. Annoying. But not annoying enough to make me re-do the tape or replace the brake housing!

At the risk of beating a subject into the ground, for the benefit of the newbies reading this, it must be said that bottom-to-top wrapping is generally accepted as the correct way for a reason.

Wrapping top-down exposes the edges of the tape to your hands natural tendency to move outward or downward. The edges tend to curl up and the tape will look ratty fairly quickly and wear prematurely. This happens 99% of the time for those that choose to wrap top down. The only real benefit is a slightly cleaner appearance when freshly installed.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using tape to hold down the ends, that is the way most of the free world does it.

I am not here to debate this, like I said, this is generally accepted by almost everybody. If you truly prefer to go top-down, and it works for you, don't let me stop you.

The commies don't use tape?

The last time I managed to wrap one top forward and one back. Before I had three kids, I'd have been annoyed enough to fix it, but now, it's not breaking anything right now so it can wait. Same goes for the harlequin wrap.

In Sowiet Russia, bar wraps you!

I think it looks great. way better than my terrible first, second of even third attempt at wrapping.

I want to find out how to double wrap my commuter for a bit extra comfort on the commute.

I'm not here to debate either; it just seems obvious to me that a solution without tape is preferable to a solution with tape, Ockham's Razor and all. I don't have any problems with my bartape edges peeling up from outward hand pressure, maybe I don't ride hard enough? I've had my current red tape on for almost 2 years/5000mi now, and sure it's blackened and grubby, but it lays down just fine. And it was the cheapest tape I could buy off eBay, probably under $5.

But if the edge-direction thing is sufficient reason to others to justify bottom-up plus tape, go for it! U be U!

It's definitely a thing. Though, possibly, a nod towards tradition as well.

I had an old Raleigh Super Grand Prix wrapped from the top down. The edges of the tape absolutely started curling and getting generally nasty on the corners of the tops, where the bars start to curve forward. My hands spent a lot of time there. However...I've noticed with more modern bars, and modern hoods...my hands never really end up on the corners. Hoods, drops, or occasionally the tops. But never the corners.

So...take your riding habits and bar configuration into consideration.

I always come away from that book more confused than before. Is that what you're driving at here? ;)

Update:
 

Just finished adjusting the dish/ truing the rear wheel and had my Lbs install the chain ($8 included installation)

Time to take the kids for a nice long ride tomorrow to work off the copious amounts of sweet patotoes I will consume today!!!

This is my first attempt at bar wrapping (maybe second...got 2 sets of the same tape for 2 bikes). Pay no attention to the rip on the drops portion..had a bit of a wipeout in the rain over the summer :o

Oddly...I find both wrapping bars and building wheels very relaxing.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/pAzg8Qm.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/ga2ErzL.jpg[/IMG]

My daughter and her sweetheart are visiting from Colorado for seven nights. She asked me to teach her to wrap bars. She did a good job. She said it was really not hard, but that's because she's a perfectionist.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VW...w1022-h1360-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/LG...=w766-h1360-no

Ooo i like thr purple and yellow

:love:

I figure that if you already have well wrapped bars, you can do one at a time and use the good one as a guide for how to deal with shifters and bends. I provided tape to the mechanic when I got the last bike tuneup. I really like the Cannondale Synapse bar tape and I found the bright green that (mostly) matches the green on the bike. It's a little better than the white, but when you start putting on more miles, it gets dirty :-/ And since the seat is white, black/dark tape would look terrible. https://photos.app.goo.gl/sZGWb8u4kHH56mQ03

Looks great! + it looks like you have the brake levers mounted up high like me... considering moving them down a little if I get a taller stem