AEO

Handlebar wrapping for smaller hands; how to reduce that lump on the brifter and hide the "gap".

Here's something I tried out with deda bars and some 10sp style shimano brifters.
It may or may not work with other combinations of bars/brifters.
As you can see, there are no gaps where the brifters are and there's also no major lump. So what's the trick?


Here's what it looks like under the hoods. The trick is to put those small bits of bar tape angling UP wards. Adjusting the position of the small tape while doing the brifter section is recommended, takes a bit more time, but you'll appreciate the OCP factor after all the work.

Now, I have small hands, and I for one really hate lumps in where I'm gripping. Solution? Simple, cut the excess off where it's not needed. The bartape provided is excessively long for the application. Tuck in the longer tape into the gap that's created between bar and clamp on the top, and leave the bottom un-tucked.


Green lines are how the small tape is aligned, red line is where I cut off the excess.


What about the lever angle? Well, for me, I found that the 0mm difference between the bottoms of the lever and bar was perfect with deda/shimano combinations. The tops become flat and the levers aren't in an awkward position.


End results:



YMMV.