Have you mastered bar tape?

I’ve not had problems.

I’d love ve to know where the glueless stuff comes from because its much better without.

How many miles in 2 years?

Loads, over 5000.

I’m sure had it not been for the crash it would still be going now, the undamaged side was fine.

e2a (got curious) – according to Connect (which doesn’t include turbo miles since I don’t use the Garmin), 6744 miles

Just practice – RHS clockwise, LHS anticlockwise.

Just checked my bikes. One was bought off the peg, and the other has had new bars and tape fitted as part of an overhaul at LBS.
One set of tapes goes as above, the other set goes the opposite way. Both work well.

I’d love ve to know where the glueless stuff comes from because its much better without.

Lifeline essentials.

Just needs re-applying every 70 miles or so!

Dunno if it’s changed but over the last few years I’m sure I’ve not had the same issues with getting tape off the bars, it used to be a PITA scrapeing lumps of foam off with a stanley blade. Now it’s just the glue tape left behind or nothing at all.

Cinelli gel tape is also adhesive free and costs about 12 quid. Lasts ages.

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

park tools

Shifter bikes on Instagram is the king of bartape (3rd &4th pics)

View this post on Instagram

A perfect example of when having your name on your bike, running 'euro' style braking and using white bar tape can legitimately be described as 'pro'.

A post shared by ShifterBikes (@shifterbikes) on May 27, 2019 at 5:08pm PDT

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.