Inspired by my cheapness, desire to see things re-used, stupidity and our very own [MENTION=133054]AdventureManCO[/MENTION] I decided to try my hand at a DIY leather wrap on some clamp-on grips on a Cinelli Mystic a friend gave me. The grips originally were wrapped with 2 layers of Cinelli tape - under layer was black cork tape, top was brown fake leather.
I started with leather from a "Smoking Chair" listed on OfferUp a few blocks from my house for $20 . When I inquired, the seller said they had put it out on the curb, then messaged back that it was still there. Chair was too big to move and had some bad areas, so I pulled out the razor knife and "harvested" the leather.
I cut a strip from a more narrow section to save larger pieces for bigger projects (seat re-covering?)
I was struggling to cut a clean line, even with a straight edge and then remembered when I was cutting leather on the laser, I would stick down with Super 77 spray to keep flat, and then cut. Didn't have any spray, but did have some good double stick tape, used that to stick the leather down flat.
I had the original piece of wrap as a template, started cutting the leather with the razor knife, but was not getting a clean cut, so I switched to a single edge razor, with a thinner blade.
Decided to do a test wrap, for proof of concept and to make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious.
With the remnant of the double sided tape still on the end of the newly cut piece, I started to wrap the grip, stating with pointy end forward.
On the first try I was overlapping too much and came up short, started again with smaller overlap, that seemed to work out
Overlaps could/will be more even on final product. When I got to the end I took a needle and thread and went through the point and then wrapped around the grip securing the end
I need to get some more/better thread so I can go around multiple times and properly secure the end, temporarily held in place with needle
The leather I got from the chair has darker shades in different places, now that I know this will work, I am going to cut new ones from a darker section to better match the bike.
So my plan is:
- Repeat the cutting steps above with the darker leather and make two new strips
- Add double sided tape to the back of the leather strips
- Wrap as shown above
- Get some new thread and use to secure inside edge with multiple wraps
My question, for this knowledgeable group, what could I or should I do differently?
- Wrap a different direction?
- Skiv the leather first? the edges don't bother me, will they get worse?
- More overlap?
- Different way to secure the end?
- ??? other thoughts?
I tried to go back through the Huffente thread for info, I thought [MENTION=398641]PastorB[/MENTION]obinnh had dropped some knowledge there, but I got lost in the nearly 2,000 posts! I did see a sneaky under-loop AdventuremanCO used on the thread to secure the end of the wrap, but was not sure of the advantage?
Happy to hear if anyone has thought or suggestions?