I need new tape as I have ripped mine while moving the brake levers round. I have found the one I want (ie cheapest) and am about to buy it….however do i need to buy 2 x bar tape or 1 x bar tape to retape both side of my handlebars??

It doesn’t say in the description how much you get!! Is one roll enough to do one side or both sides?

1 box/pack of bar tape will do both sides 🙂

Just one, that should be pretty.

top tips.
A old mouse mat cut up makes good padding.
Youtube has some good vids on how to retape.

That is exactly the answer I wanted to hear! Thank you.

ie cheapest

Avoid the absolute cheepest, some stuff is downright nasty. Deda’s cheepest foam tape is about £4.50 from online shopes and does an OK job if a little thick.

I have some thin Deda which I’d never get again but on my other road bike I have this slightly padded Cannondale Synapse bar tape which I’d recommend.

I saw a bike this weekend where the owner had used white electrical tape directly on the bars. I certainly wouldn’t want to ride that far, cheap though

if you are new to bar taping then cheap stuff isn’t such a bad idea as you won’t be upset if your first attempts aren’t perfect

make sure the hoods are in the right position before taping. clean the bars when the old stuff is off

don’t rely on the sticky backing to hold in place, you need to apply winding tension (not so much that the tape breaks)

have some electrical tape and scissors to hand to stick down the end

start at the bar plug end, don’t wrap too thick at the bottom, wrap thick along the tops

don’t worry about the winding round the brakelevers, it may look gappy when applying but not when finished

I bought some Deda stuff from Ribble. It wasn’t the cheapest available but the cheapset of the stuff that looked like it was worth getting! Its the Cork tape, similar to what I have at the minute I hope.

On One usually have some decent tape for £5-10. The Park Tools instructions on re-taping here is pretty good.

just a thought if you are going to spend hours on the turbo -like my mate and sweat alot. then a wrap of insulation first wouldn’t be a bad idea. his bars rotted througand snapped!!!!!!

start at the bar plug end, don’t wrap too thick at the bottom, wrap thick along the tops

meh. Pros start on the tops and end at the plug, as you don’t need to use any finishing tape.

meh. Pros start on the tops and end at the plug, as you don’t need to use any finishing tape.

…and then it unwraps itself and rucks up while riding.

Avoid the absolute cheapest

Disagree. The tape from Decathlon is £5 and excellent quality – at least as good as OEM. That being said, I also use Fizik microtape for colour choice. I use carbon bars rather than padding because I have small hands.

Wrap from the bottom upwards, watch for the figure of eight around the shifters. I wrap anti-clockwise left and clockwise right as I think it looks better. You wrap from the bottom upwards so your hands slide over the joins. Pro’s don’t wrap their own bars.

Pro’s don’t wrap their own bars

Where did I say Pro riders?

Ive done and have bikes with both, and just like much of road cycling it is surrounded by lore, tradition and unwritten rules. I was merely pin-pricking edhornby’s statement

start at the bar plug end

and pointing out to the OP that there are other ways of doing it. He might find one is easier to get right, or works better for him when riding, than the other. Given bar tape is so cheap and re-usable its worth experimenting.

Well we tape a number of pro riders bikes and most of the gb tri squad and always go from the end of the bar inwards.

Semantics. But there is a sound reason for wrapping from the bottom up, and it not related to conservation of electrical tape 😉 . The figure of eight wrap means you don’t need the little extra pieces often included to wrap around the shifter band. It requires practice and I’m always forgetting which way to go on the reversed side. Some very good youtube videos though.