help how to wrap handlebars
 

ok, got my new trekking bar for my commuter (trek su100) -- looks so cool and the choices of hand position i love --- my question how the @#*! do u put the end caps all the way in when wrapping the bars. I don't seem to have the ''ummp" necessary to push them in... what's the trick?

You could try hitting them with something. I just use my fist :)

actually, teenage son #2 came to the rescue... he struggled too but looks like the caps are nearly all the way in now

I don't tuck my tape. I start it by using a piece of electrical tape to secure while I start the wrap. Also eliminates that lumpy feeling at the end of the bar.

8 bikes and no problems iwth this technique! I just make sure to wrap in the direction that my hands apply pressure in that area when I ride. That way as I grip, if I twist, it doesn't unravel the tape!

There was a funny little story on BF a while back where a fellow cyclist noticed his end-cap coming out and decided to knock it back in with the palm of his hand. The only problem was he was going 20mph at the time and without thinking, knocked his handlebars, directing his bike into a parked car.

so... make sure you are stopped. :)

Lol!

I used a hammer to get mine in.

[edit] come to think of it, it was probably a wooden mallet not a hammer... but same idea.

Wow. If only these things happened before reaching reproductive, we'd have a cleaner gene pool in a few decades. <---- to Moocher's Dad, of course, not the Original Poster.

i use a ball peen hammer, just electrical tape some excess bartape to the head before you use it, so you don't mar the finish of your end caps.

Wet them and twist them in. Saliva will work just fine.

Hammer for the ends and I just use electrical tape for the ends of the bar wrap.

Electrical tape is the best finishing tape IMO, just be sure to melt the tape to itself when done. I use a cheap soldering iron to melt mine. It keeps the tape from coming loose when the bike is ridden in the rain repeatedly and such. Some days my bartape is soggy enough that it makes squishy noises when I squeeze it.