have recently got a new Defy which came with white tape. Looks nice but I can’t imagine it will for long. I do have white tape/saddle on my indoor track bike, but I imagine the UK roads are going to mean a retaping in black quite soon !
Fizik used to do a white tape that wasn’t cork and you could wipe clean, I had it on my road bike for years, it looked pretty good the whole time. Can’t remember what it was called unfortunately!
I quite like the white saddle and bar tape. I would just try to keep the tape clean for as long as possible.
My saddle and part of my hand grips on my MTB are white, and they have done okay for the last 7 years. And I am thinking about changing from black to white on my road bike.
I had white tape (free due to roadie bike snobs not wanting it) I can confirm it covered the bars and was comfortable. I don’t shave my legs so that might have something to do with it.
My old Ridley commuter has white tape Iain, been on there for about 3 years and it’s still not bad looking tbh. If ye want it to stay white – keep a wee pair of disposable latex gloves for puncture duties, stops the hands getting black from brake dust/shite.
Edit – I would agree with some others though, black saddle and tape would suit that bike much better though.
Sheeit! How far back is that saddle on its rails? Something’s badly wrong with the setup or the bike is the wrong size.
…and yes, I once bought a new bike that came with white tape and saddle so I got the retailer to swop them for black before I even took it out of the shop.
Hmm looks like you’ve swapped the saddle for a white Adamo. That’d have to go if you changed the bar tape.
I have a black one too 🙂
Sheeit! How far back is that saddle on its rails? Something’s badly wrong with the setup or the bike is the wrong size.
That’s the way ISM Adamo saddles go – you start with them 5-8 cm further back at the front compared to regular ones. The back 2-3 inches of it is never used
I think mine works well ‘cos of the white accents on the frame…
This is my winter bike and keeping the tape clean has been zero effort at all TBH. I can’t remember what tape it is but the LBS knew it was for this bike and supplied something suitable.
My white bar tape was lovely and gleaming like an American TV star’s teeth until I rode the bike while wearing my winter mtb gloves. The ones with a whole winter of mud engrained in the palms.
Well I like the white Fiz’ik logo’d on the Kona to match the Arione saddle. It is relatively clean (about the same as the saddle). I removed the soft white tape from several new bikes. it doesn’t really last past the first puncture. The white is to hilight the Kona logo. Your new bike doesn’t have any white to hilight. Silver to bring out the paint on the forks would work better.
Don’t see the need for bar tape to be anything other than black myself, but if a bike came with it I wouldn’t change it specially. Stuff like that needs changing frequently enough.
rubberised/polyurethane tapes are easy to clean, as well as usually being quite tacky/grippy to the touch. My C’dale CX bike has it’s original white own-brand bar tape, and either spraying it with Muc Off as part of a post-race clean, or wiping with a baby wipe (also part of my CX kit box, and works on cork type tape) and it still looks like new after a season of racing.
oh, and
keep a wee pair of disposable latex gloves for puncture duties
this for mechanicals generally not just punctures. Not just for your immaculate bar tape but your nice Sunday best riding kit.
IMHO White bar tape is classy and ‘pro’ on any colour bike, and top marks for having a matching saddle (wrist slap for chapaking). Saddle looks very far back in it’s rails though?
partly the camera angle, but yes, it is right back on the marker limits. Bike is a medium and I had a bike fit on my previous Defy to get it right between the M and M/L, so I know this fits.
The weird thing about ISM saddles is you start off with the nose 5cm back from where the nose of the regular saddle would be, meaning that even with a layback post (mine has a little over 20mm), it still ends up pushed back. That said, the rear 5cm of the saddle is just for decoration, so the load goes down through the sit bones which are only halfway back.
I’ve got white tape on my Defy and have found riding it in the rain very good for brightening up the bar tape. It’s not so good for keeping the white frame clean though!
dles is you start off with the nose 5cm back from where the nose of the regular saddle would be, meaning that even with a layback post (mine has a little over 20mm), it still ends up pushed back. That said, the rear 5cm of the saddle is just for decoration, so the load goes down through the sit bones which are only halfway back.
But you’ve still got it pushed waaaaay back on the rails – looks like 5-10mm left. With a post with oodles of layback if what you say about ‘starting from 5cm back’ is right their design is shit, the rails should be much further forward in the saddle. That position would be unachievable for many.
I keep fitting white tape to my road bike, I don’t really mind it getting a bit grimey TBH.
Don’t fancy boring black but can’t really find any other colours that suit the bikes “colourway”…
Fitted some cheap snow camo effect tape to my CX bike as an emergency stop gap… It offends on every level, but its annoyingly comfy and hasn’t been damaged so I don’t have an legitimate excuse to replace it yet…
White tape on my new defy as well. Frames white and black mind so it kinda works. Is already a wee bit grubby though so I suspect it will get replaced with black when it starts to wear.
How are you finding the new defy? I’m finding mine incredibly comfy but can’t quite get my position nailed yet, feels quite small in some ways. M/L frame and i’m 5,11 so theoretically bang on plus was fitted at the shop.
i changed my bars recently and some cool kids on instagram had the above colour bar tape on their stigmata’s, so i copied… i think it look the business… just a shame i don’t really like the bars, i’ll swap back at some point, but i’ll be keep that colour bar tape for some time i think.
How are you finding the new defy? I’m finding mine incredibly comfy but can’t quite get my position nailed yet, feels quite small in some ways. M/L frame and i’m 5,11 so theoretically bang on plus was fitted at the shop.
Thanks, I’ve only had a couple of short rides on mine and love it. I am 5 10 with long torso and on a medium, with a 110 stem. I had a 2012 Defy Composite for past 4 years and geometry unchanged so I knew the size to get. In 2012 I had a bike fit and was originally going to buy the M/L but 10mm longer stem gave same effective top tube with better seat post setup. I have actually pushed the ISM saddle forward a bit on the back of some comments but yet to try it.