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Realise this is not necessarily the right forum, however i know you nearly all have road/cross bikes. So I'm replacing my battered and tatty old tape and quite like the idea of specialized's gel tape. It's a carbon fork but the rest of the frame is Alu. and here in NZ lots of roads get a cheap chip stone surface (which kills your tyres btw). So whats good and what's not?
A vote for Spesh S-Works tape with BG Phat bar liner under to kill that road buzz.
I use Bontrager Gel tape because its very cheap and good, was about £8. You might be able to get something fancier for more money.
I favour Deda cork tape at the mo...
I like Cinelli gel tape, Its a synthetic cork-type tape and much tougher and stretchier than the natural stuff. It also has a grippy silicone layer instead of adhesive so it can be unwound and re-used. If you dont like the slightly thicker feel you can just wrap it a bit tighter.
I also like the fact that the lack of glued backing is a bit kinder to the clearcoat on carbon bars.
+ 1 for Cinelli gel tape. It's not fat and bulky like some others, but is still quite comfortable enough to ride the knackered roads of the Peaks without gloves.
I've found that the silicon backing didn't altogether like my bars (alu), and because I tend to heave on the tape, I did the old trick of winding inside-out pvc electrical tape around the bars first. Super thin, and no slippage.
Stellla Azzura techno spunga.. Or something like that.. Have a look at gbcycles.co.uk
Spot on, and dead comfy IMHO..
Is'nt that Lizzard skins tape supposed to be pretty good?
Was thinking about giving that a try...