[Closed] Bar Tape etiquette (Am I being anal?)

Learn to do it yourself.

Totally unacceptable. Take it back.

Dogsby

Who says it is wrong?

I always wind mine that way and have done for the last 25 years. Most people in my old club used to as well.

I think you may also find that eddy mercx did as well.

As per Dogsby.

Dogsby - Member
Totally unacceptable. Take it back.

This.

Learn to do it yourself

This too.

i'd be upset if mine was done like that. take it back, be polite, and ask whether it's backwards.

There is no right or wrong way though !

Wrapping the wrong way is considered neater amongst purists. I am happy to be in the ignorant minority. Go back to the bike shop and give the mechanic a pat on his back, he knows his stuff.

Learn to do it yourself

This too.

It's not wrong at all, that's the way it was done. So I do it like that on my old bikes.
[img] [/img]
Contrary to STW wisdom it doesn't slip at all, in fact it's very grippy.
Not like that on my new bikes though.
Uneven levers? that's what walls and rifles were designed for. Spirit level is your friend.
But do it yourself.

how long does bartape last? DIY cos it's only bartape 🙂 , I start from the inside and work out myself, but there again my bartaping skills are terrible, I wrap it thick where I need it the most and if it runs out at the end I don't worry because I never hold right on the ends

there is a guide on park tools website

I rewrapped my bars last weekend from the drop to the stem.

There's no gaps but the they don't finish evenly, like Oldgits above. There's more bar showing on the left than right.

So next time I'm going to wrap it from the stem as it seems more logical and I'll have an even gap on both sides.

Looks like I'm being anal as well.

You should still be able to re-wrap it as it has only just been put on (if that is your preference).

there's more bar showing on the left than right.

So next time I'm going to wrap it from the stem as it seems more logical and I'll have an even gap on both sides.

If you didnt get it right doing it the first way why would you think youll get it right cos your doing it the other way 😆

Learn to do it yourself.

I actually took the bike back in this morning to get them to correct the misaligned lever.

When I picked it up they still hadn't fixed it.

It was only this evening I noticed the wrapping discrepancy. I thought I'd man up and take the matter into my own hands and fix the damn lever misalignment myself. thinking it was only a simple job. As I began to remove the bar tape from the centre of the bar I became quite confused and it was only then I realised how bad the situation had become.

Here is the offending bar tape
[img] [/img]

Here is a thing of beauty, executed by a different mechanic in the same shop.
[img] [/img]

Got bike back home realised the mechanic has wrapped from the middle of the bars to bar ends.
THE WRONG WAY!!!
On top of that one STI lever is lower than the other!

There was a thread on here recently where a mechanic was on asking how to wrap tape, as a customer had dropped in a (expensive) bike for some fancy new tape to be fitted. Thats why you dont take it to a shop who dosnt know what they are doing!

It's actually really easy, and bizarrely therapeutic I find...

[IMG] [/IMG]

And yes, the steerer length/ stem combo is now squared away.. 😳

I will, but I need £15 to buy another roll of tape.

No need, re-wrap what you have.

Oldgit and Teetosugars those are beautiful examples of bar tape wrapping.
What I cannot understand is why he used tape in the middle where he began the wrap and it's all lumpy!
And he hadn't cut the tape away where the lever hoods needed to press into the lever body.

Stem down, no nasty electrical tape or stickers needed. But uneven controls is not cool, however you don't need to move them to tape.

They may have been squiffy to start, he could have thought you have a short arm and felt too awkward to correct it?!

Herman what do you mean by

Stem down, no nasty electrical tape or stickers needed.

And he hadn't cut the tape away where the lever hoods needed to press into the lever body.

I've never cut the tape?

Just taper it at the end..

Herman what do you mean by

Stem down, no nasty electrical tape or stickers needed.

Guessing he means start at the stem end... Ie where they did on yours..

Ah sorry, I see it's unclear. I wrap mine from the stem down, I hate the sticker or use of electrical tape that seals the tape by the stem.

I find it hard to believe that an adult can`t tape handlebars .

I've never cut the tape?

I mean here. He hadn't trimmed it so the hood didn't fit properly
[img] [/img]

I find it hard to believe that an adult can`t tape handlebars .

I just like to point out that I can wrap bar tape. 😉
It seem rude not to use their bar wrapping services while having the bike serviced. Little did I know....

Little did I know....

I guess you didn't know that there is no right or wrong way!

A little bit of bog standard sellotape holds that bit nicely.

Never mind the tape, mismatching stems & bars!!!

And not all bar tapes are equal. That Giant stuff I put on was all they had, and it was a bit on the stiff side. My favorite is Cinelli Cork.

I've got some old Benotto tape to put on another bike and I can't remember the best way of fitting it.

[url= http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/handlebar-tape-installation-drop-bar ]i do it this way[/url]

I've got some old Benotto tape to put on another bike and I can't remember the best way of fitting it.

Stem out if it is the stuff I remember with no adhesive

Never mind the tape, mismatching stems & bars!!!

Well spotted chapeau to the mechanic for continuing the shonkey theme 😉

Like OMG! I've bean doing it worng all these years!

How have I not died?!?

!!! etc.

Edit: @ OP The answer [i]is[/i] anal

how long does bartape last?

the fizik stuff on my bike is a few years old, 15+k miles still white.

It's a cross bike (albeit with road tyres 😳 ) it's meant to be shonky!!!
[img] [/img]

Bar tape lasts as long as the next cable change.
BTW very nice bike, I love orange road bikes....it's a Molteni thing 🙂

As long as its neat there is no right or wrong just a personal preference

At work we alway start at the bottom and Finnish at the top as that's what people expect and how most new bikes come
But going then other way is my own preference

Beautiful bikes don't happen by accident , take it back be clear and specific or learn to do it yourself and take care.

Oldgit- that is a very nice looking bike.

I'd say stem to bar end IS the right way (if there is such a thing). The fact that so many people get it wrong (imo obviously 😉 ) does not make the other way correct.

But seriously.....paying someone else to service your bike.....would you pay someone else to service your wife? Paying for a service is for pros busy doing press conferences and having massages or the chronically inept who wouldn't even notice how their bars are wrapped. Doing it yourself means you get to 'know' your bike. You and your bike need to go to marriage counselling!

[img] [/img]
/p>

That's cheating! There should be a continuous length of tape from start to finish, with no patching.

If you are riding cross, and riding it hard and muddy with the odd tumble you will be doing well to get more than three months from it, so just get on and ride it and ride it dirty.

Thats not patching its the little bit of tape you get given to wrap the lever .Having said that it is easily possible to cover the back of the lever without it

This is how it's done

He's done that before.

you dont even need to be that careful, if you make a mess of it, unwind it and do it again.
and again

and start from the stem and wrap down, like i did on my racer when i was 11

whats with the sticky backed bar tape shops love to sell these days.

If its wrapped correctly theres no need to have it stuck down , annoys the tits out of me since you cant reuse it 😉

the tape on my roadie - profile cork with no adhesive has been on my bike since 2009 - and its done a power of miles.

Wrapping the wrong way is considered neater amongst purists

As Herman says, if you start at the top and end at the bottom of the drop you dont need any finishing tape so it actually looks neater.

I'm a recent road convert so only taped a few bars, but I found wheel building simpler to get right than bar taping (my first wheel was perfect, my first bars an abomination to my OCD tendencies).

And yes you can re-wrap the same tape.

Nice vid here on how how to wrap, direction change about hoods also means that that hands naturally tighten on the drops and the tops - also no need for those little bits behind the hoods.