I recently got an older Gitane(I believe) that I am gonna turn into a fixie..... I have been digging into a lot of info and looking at a bunch of pics.... but the question is "What the heck is up with pads, tape or bandanas I see attatched to the top tubes about 6" inches from steering tube??" I'm thinking it is some kind of fixie culture thing, but is there a purpose to it? Need to know if I should incorporate that into my project or not....

drop bars may, when unencumbered by cables, swing around and ding the tube--either ding the paint, or, in a crash, dent it pretty hard. hence the protectors.

Search frame pads or top tube protector and you find the answers you seek

top tube protector...for drop bars

duh..... this forum is great... that totally makes sense! I guess what you chose to use as a protector is up to your pesonality......thanks all.

YOU THOUGHT THAT TAPE ON THE BAR WAS A CULTURE THING!? LIKE, BLOODS AND CRIPS!?


hahahaha.

Yup, just like crips and bloods, not at all like spoke cards, or little hats, or NJS, or **** being pink, or deep V's, or high flange hubs, or.....

*ignore button

spoke cards and little hats are OBVIOUSLY aesthetic. but a simple act of observation and postulation could have helped this shtforbrains figure out why people were wrapping their top tubes in the exact same place, over and over. chris burke could figure that out.

Spoke cards actually serve a purpose, but you wouldn't know that because you only want to buy the look...https://www.bikeforums.net/singlespeed-fixed-gear/187972-there-any-good-websites-buy-cool-original-looking-spoke-cards.html

i don't even buy the look. i don't have spoke cards, or a little hat. i don't participate in the sanctioned aesthetics of fg culture. sorry. i just ride bikes and make fun of people who lie and say they're just 'having fun' while trying to build an identity through fg bike culture.

ROFL. Best use of ironic hypocrisy ever.

you guys just made this thread for me.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


****ing amazing. both truths.

No bar tape is necessary providing you wear full gloves ... for most rides.

Hey, cheesedick. I've been cycling for most of my life, and I figured they were a messenger thing to stop cleated or heavy shoes, or even locks and chains, from dinging up the top tube. I never even considered a handlebar end.

So chill out, choadbreath. You don't have to be such a rampant cockbonker, aight?

Given how much people in the "bike scene" are willing to sacrifice to conform aesthetically with their peers even at the cost of functionality, I don't see how its that far of a stretch to assume people would put bar tape on their top tube purely for aesthetics. Also I have seen some that is clearly not where the drops will hit and therefore is just a stupid culture thing.

oh man. homophobic insults are so cool! i'm totally gonna call everyone else "gay" when we play kickball against those losers from Mrs. Camerlengo's homeroom at recess...!!!!!

oh wait, that's right, middle school is over.

Yeah, I know, I apologize. I'm just getting tired of seeing threads crapped all over by this toad Ryan Ingersol. I don't know who is worse -- this guy, or EURO over on the Road Cycling forum.

That said, connotations aside, "choadbreath" and "cockbonker" are just plain funny words.

I've seen bikes with bullhorns/risers (that could not possibly touch the TT) with tt-pads before. So it's not about functionality for everyone.

maybe they swap bars for different rides, different purposes.

FYI, to the OP, I ride to work every day on an old Gitane frame that's been converted to a fixie; if yours is anything like mine, you're about to be enjoying a nice bike.

that doesn't explain the bikes where its nowhere near where any handlebars would hit. Why is it so hard to accept that people who won;t tape thier bars because they think chrome is cool, will use a coaster brake rather then mess up "the clean lines" of thier bike, will use deep drop stems with 3 inches of heaset spacers, will put track drops on even though they never ride anything but the tops and track drops have crappy tops, or refuse to use a brake even though they have hit pedestrians due to thier poor control wouldn't put a little piece of bar tape on thier bike because it looks cool.

i just wonder what we have to do to get RI blocked from the forum.. i sort of thought that would've happened already.

That's a good point. Also I should point out, that I see nothing wrong with people doing it for fashion. It's good to care about how your bike looks.

Those TT protectors (like the ReLoads) are also used to protect it from a chain.