I know this question is cycling-sacrilege, but I'm looking for suggestions on bar tapes with materials/textures that make them more likely to be re-usable after changing out cables and housings, if unraveled down to the shifter and then re-applied. My tape usually looks like-new when I re-wire the bike, and it's a considerable expense to toss perfectly good tape every time. I've only used the velvety-like stuff (Fizik tape, for example) and it tears the outer layer of material off upon removing the electrical tape, rendering it unusable. The Lizard Skins look like they might stand up to it, but any others I should put on the short list?

Cinelli cork gel tape has a very mild adhesive on it so will unwrap and rewrap easily.

How often are you changing out cables/housing? I would think the lifespan of the cables/housing is about the same as the tape.

The tape(s) get stretched and formed by stress into the shape of the bar. You are not likely to rewrap it well enough to hide any imperfections. That is true of dirt as well. Even though you may think you are keeping your tape really clean, and Fizik does stay clean, I think you will see the difference when you uncover the underneath layers of tape. You will never get those covered up properly again if you rewrap with used tape. Just bite the bullet and spring for new tape. It is the right thing to do.

10 Speed Shimano under-tape RD shifter cable has a crap design flaw and mine breaks every 2500 miles or so.

I rewrap. In my experience the cheaper the wrap the less adhesive is used. Even wall mart 9 dollar wrap is too sticky for rewrap. The China 3 dollar wrap is easy to rewrap.
I got a used 10 year old 100 mile cannondale on CL to use as a donor parts bike. And the bar tape had a rubbery feel to it, so I put that on as well. I really like it but recently it started to peel. So finally using a BF tip I decided to use inner tube as bar tape. I thought it would be similar to the old tape. It works however it doesn't have as much padding. Thinking of just wrapping over it again with some more inner tube.
Fwiw, I'm not cheap or frugal, I'm just poor when it comes to bike money.

I used some foam wrap that had no adhesive on it at all. Don't know the brand name, but it's out there.

I doubt I could get the length right on subsequent wraps.

I really like san marco presa corsa bartape, it has silicon strip instead of some adhesive, so you basically re wrap it as many times as you want

Lizard Skin is about the only one I know that would do OK, and that is because it is not designed to be pulled taught as it is wrapped.

I buy $4 bartape (including shipping) from Chinese sellers on eBay that is indistinguishable from Cinelli and Bontrager tape except for the absence of ugly logos stamped into it. It isn't worth the hassle of trying to reuse stretched-out bar tape.

Not S-Works Velvet that's for sure.

This stuff lasts forever. I think I've rewrapped one set at least four times.

Shimano Pro tape uses silicon backing instead of adhesive so it's easy to take off and rewrap. You can find it for $20 or less

you dont need to change the housing when you change the cable, especially at 2500 miles. The wear is only near the head of the cable

This is 100% not my experience with cinelli cork.

I was just about to say this. I just recently took some Cinelli Cork tape off a bike, it did not come off cleanly. It does about a fews mins after your put in on (so you can easily correct mistakes when wrapping), but after riding for a year, nope, it's trash once you decide to remove it.

Nor mine.

I've had luck re-using Bontrager Gel Grip tape, and Fizik Superlight.

Benotto Cello tape can be reused many times.

I just rewrapped my bars last night. PO did a terrible job and had also installed some kind of sticky gel things underneath. I left the gels on for now but completely unraveled and then re-wrapped the bars nice and tight. All I know is it's black Bontrager tape and it's somewhat foam like. Was not really sticky at all when I pulled it off, and I was able to get the length right by making sure I pulled it tight enough and spaced it out just right (which took two attempts on each side). Some fresh electrical tape and it was good to go!

Yep, I had wrapped some brand new aluminum nitto bars on my vintage cannondale tourer but found the bars to be a bit too narrow for my liking and then ultimately swapped the bars to make the bike a townie.

I think the tape was on the bars for maybe 3-4 months with only a handful of rides. The tape ripped into a thousand pieces when I was trying to take it off. There are still chunks of it it on the bars because I was too lazy to scrape it off before tossing the bars into the parts bin.

To answer the question, I have had luck rewrapping Fizik superlight tape.

True. But in order to fish out the fraying cable, invariably I have to unwrap the bar to get adequate access.

how far up the hoods are you wrapping? With 5700/6700 if you flip up the hoods you should be able to see bare cable. I just fish under with a pick then push through the opening in the shifter. Of course I always check and replace the cables as soon as I see a single fraying strand. Usually the shifting starts degrading at that point so its obvious

I had Lizard Skin DSP 2.5 that I re-wrapped (couple times on one side) without problem, but I found it didn't wear that well esp. considering the price. So I just put on fizik Lightweight 2.0 yesterday. Will have to see how that works. I do have a layer of "sport tape" on the bar so that's what the bar tape is actually sticking to (the Lizard Skin was slipping prior to using the sport tape which is why I had to rewrap it).

scott s.
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