Start the job with a cork jammed in the end of your bars with a decent amount of it protruding.
Pin the tape to the cork, and then start your wrap. It makes for a much tidier job. I used to do this back in the days when I used to do diamond taping jobs with cotton tapes of different colour braided on the bar.
But am I the only one who thinks modern bartape is plain fugly? It's really unsightly where it ends on the tops, except with 31.8 bars where it blends in.
I still prefer plain cotton tape.
The park tool version, where you change direction but avoid figure of 8 bulk (about 8 mins in on this clip) works a treat IMO
But am I the only one who thinks modern bartape is plain fugly? It’s really unsightly where it ends on the tops, except with 31.8 bars where it blends in.
Ah - ending it as the bars flare? That's what I normally do, though I've some flat-topped Eastons that sort of screw that up 🙂
With respect thats nonsense. Ive been a road cyclist for 30 years and Ive always wrapped my bikes like that.
I always wrap bottom up to avoid hand pressure lifting the edge of the tape. I learned that through trial and error when I started taping bars a long time ago.
As mentioned previously, you also need to wrap the tape nice and tight. I also always use the wee extra bits to fill in the gaps as I spiral round the hoods.
Recently I've started using heat shrink tape at the plugs. I wrap it around the end of the bars, slightly overlapping the plug and then shrink it into place. That secures the plugs, which can tend to catch and pop out when I'm leaning the bike against walls etc.
