I ride from March thru July with a youth mentorship program that does 3 training rides a week as practice for RAGBRAI which took place a couple weeks ago. Some of the return riding youth who are dedicated to riding and able to do so, save up to buy road bikes and their tape gets trashed thru the season(since kids arent exactly the most careful). So come RAGBRAI, I am inevitably asked to wrap a few bikes since I help maintain the fleet of youth bikes. I always have the kids do it with me so they have to put effort in and also learn how to wrap the bars, but usually end up adjusting the tape here or there to get it to look good and last.
This year though- I was able to eliminate 2 brands of tape from ever considering for my own bikes.
One was Bontrager Gel and the other was Supacaz. The Bontrager Gel snapped from regular wrapping force. It was crazy to see, really. I was shocked to see such low quality tape that costs $40 retail.
The other, Supacaz, is really nice looking and good material, but doesnt stretch. At all. It was awful to apply as it wasnt long enough, even after re-wrapped 3 times! I couldnt go any further at the risk of the tape not overlapping in spots. Also $40 retail.
I wrap bars in my sleep and absolutely love the process- something zen like in the repetition, maybe. But both brands made me feel like it was my first time wrapping bars- It was crazy.