canyoneagle

I just realized my list excluded possibly my biggest pet peeve - dirty/greasy drivetrain. Not necessarily on others' bikes (not my problem if you want to deal with the mess).
I've ditched grease/oil altogether and have gone the Molten Speedwax route for several years now, and will never go back. Silky smooth and spotlessly clean.

I guess my years of commuting with a belt drive/IGH setup decreased my tolerance for dirty driveline beyond my already low level, once I re-integrated chains into my life.

canyoneagle

I've wound bottom to top for nearly 40 years - the center tape has always been an element of a properly finished bar, in the minds of many (myself included).
More than aesthetics, there is a practical reason for going bottom-top, primarily the direction of the overlap as it relates to the direction of your hand placement/movement. For folks who spend alot of time on the hoods/tops, the bottom/top wrap yields a more compatible overlap, whereas the top/bottom results in an overlap that will very readily peel/roll or gap as the miles pass.
Who among us can remember gaps in their Benotto pearlescent tape or rolled edges of cloth/cork tape on the top bends and above their hoods after trying the top/bottom wrap?

Personally, I'll take a small strip of tape at the center of my bar to messy tape edges and gaps any day

Eric F 

Exactly. You don't put shingles on a roof by starting at the top. Overlap direction matters.

steelbikeguy

I get that once in a while.
What I find interesting is that I get it a lot more when riding the recumbents than when riding the upright bikes. Maybe I'm more recognizable as kin when leaning back than when leaning forward?

I do try to wave to the motorcyclists more often now, just to try to expand the sense of community. A little positive public relations never hurts!

Steve in Peoria

canyoneagle

to wit:

RobbieTunes

Shiny??

Drillium Dude 

Wrap from top to bottom and the tape will roll from contact on the tops of the bars, okay. But! Wrap from the bottom to top and the tape will roll from contact on the drops.

I guess it all depends on where you prefer to have your tape rolling. Rolling is going to happen regardless if you utilize the bar's real estate to the fullest extent possible.

Top down for me, and sometimes I use an alternating finishing tape. Sometimes not.

DD

thook

i've seen some folks wrap the tops down and then from the bar ends up finishing off both at the levers

bironi

I'm frightened by the very large flat pedals with the knarly grippy studs for foot traction.
They are shin rippers to me.
They are friendly to my wife and some of her riding friends.

thook

ha! there was a time in my younger years of riding knobby platforms i shied away because of the shin damage. i don't ride them, anymore. i like toe straps. getting stuck in them sucks....and then it's bloody elbows

tkamd73 

If you know what your doing, and do it right, it doesn’t roll or fray either way!
Tim

Drillium Dude 

I shellac these days, so yeah, it's no longer an issue in my household.

DD

Road Fan

More terminology: "vintage"

Road Fan

I haven't read all of the thread yet, but what about starting from the brake lever/brifter/Ergopower and wrapping outward from there? I really don't like tape rolling anywhere. I've been using cheep foamy tape to mimid my preferred, Cinelli. I don't gt much wrapping or tearing, but it tends to creep on the tops as it approaches the first bend. Cinelli doesn't tear much but it can break, old Forte slips, stretches, and breaks, Profile Design is not much better. I haven't tried any leather ones, temped by Brooks and Selle AnAtomica.

But none of these are peeves for me, so maybe this bar tape stuff is just off-topic.

Phil_gretz

I finally understand your screen name! Yay!

Phil_gretz

Non-aero brake cable housing where the loops pass beneath the handlebar from the front side. Yikes.

Splatter patterned bar tape.

Tires colored to match the trim of the bike. Tires should be black or tan/black. In some exceptional cases, wider tires can be cream colored. Otherwise...no.

Phil_gretz

The one exception to this I've found is where the closing the lever would interfere with a disc brake caliper combined with a thicker MTB fork. Flipping the front skewer gives the lever free movement on the drive side. I know, otherwise a heresy.

SurferRosa

"The horror... The horror..."

steelbikeguy

I'm going to go off-topic a bit, because I don't have any opinions on what others should do (at long as it looks good).
My question is whether this (and other) advice is specific to a type of tape, and whether there are factors that determine whether the edge of the tape will roll.

Honestly, I thought this debate was only relevant to cloth tape. I've always wrapped cork-ish tape from bottom up because ... I think that is what the instructions showed? It's been so long!
Plus, cotton tape was finished at the bottom partly because you could just shove it in the end of the bar and secure it with the bar plug. That was never going to work with the thick tapes.

Personally, I don't recall the tape ever rolling, regardless of the type or direction of wrap (with the disclaimer that I always wrap cloth from top to bottom, and cork from bottom to top). Cloth tape wears out before it rolls, or just starts looking terrible. Cork-ish tapes get filthy or get loose, or both.

I think some proper research is in order! I recently wrapped a bike with Tressostar cloth tape using the Harlequin pattern. The bike uses bar end shifters, so I had to wrap the top half from the stem down to the brake levers, and the bottom half from the bar ends up to the brake levers. Maybe I'll get both halves rolling at the edges? Maybe neither? I'm betting it will just get too faded and nasty before either happens.

(sorry... no good photos)


Steve in Peoria

Eric F 

I spend a LOT more time on the tops or hoods and haven't had an issue with tape rolling in the drops. Not even Bennotto. Works for me. You do you, man.

BFisher

Personally, I've done cotton tape both ways and prefer top down. Same with cello tape. With padded vinyl or cork I prefer bottom up.

Eric F 

This gives you the wrong overlap direction on both parts of the bar. Starting at the levers and working towards the top and towards the ends would give you the right overlap. However, it wouldn't eliminate the finishing tape on top, which is the hang-up for some people.

thook

perhaps. i'm just sayin' i've seen people do that. i just wrap from the bar ends up, personally. never been a problem for me

Eric F 

People do lots of things that don't make sense - LOL. That said, I'm an ends-up guy, too.

thook

there's a joke in there, but i'll keep it clean...