Just bought a cx bike, not a roadie at all, so what is good bar tape out there, as it needs replacing?

Most tape seems to be the same regardless of which manufacturer you get it from. It comes down to whether you want regular cork, or thicker/gel backed stuff….oh, and who does the colour you like 8)

The new esi tape. Silicone like the grips and can be removed and reinstalled due to lack of sticky back.

SOC13:ESI Shows off Prototype Silicone Bar tape, Extra Chunky Silocone Grips

I like fizik super lite soft touch. Grippy, thin and doesn’t move on the bar.

I like thin bar tape

I also like lizard skins dsp, 1.5mm, really thin, and both are grippy when wet

Thick gel tape feels rubbish, squirms around on the bar, and feels like you are holding a toilet roll. Lots of people seem to like it though

Another suggestion to try DSP from Lizard Skins. It seems to have an ability to rain “tacky”, even when wet. That relaxes your grip on the bars and thus can reduce road buzz. If you find it a bit thin, you can always double wrap or put some gel underneath.

+1 for Lizards Skins DSP. It wins loads of tests for good nreason. Grippy and comfy. I have tried loads incl. the Spesh Phat Tape and gel, but prefer the Lizard Skins

I like the Bontrager stuff, I double wrap the drops but leave the tops single. But then I am odd.

I’ve used Fizik in the past which I’ve found good but sometimes fiddly to apply . Last week I retaped my bars with Giant SLR tape which looks similar but seemed to be easier to apply and was cheaper too.

Does it re-stick? I’ve just picked up a new bike off the C2W sheme and will be transferring the groupset off it onto my Roadrat and upgrading the kit on the new bike. I was going to see if I could get away with just unwrapping the tape on the lower part of the handlebars just enough to remove and replace the shifters, and re-wrap after. I think it’s wrapped in the right direction to do this.

TBH I’m happy enough with planet X bog standard cork normally.