PdalPowr

Very interesting about that tape.
You learn something new every day.
I have never seen it but will look out for it.
I do find even ordinary electrical tape will hold/adhere better when stretched.
I always presumed it was the elasticity/stored energy in the tape that helped it work.

PdalPowr

Good advice on not stretching the last inch or so.
You learn something new every day.😀

tagaproject6

They also come in red, blue, yellow, orange. Good stuff and does not leave residue. Highly recommended.

PdalPowr

Different strokes for different folks I guess. 😉

csrpenfab

Yes. Just be careful with it... once it sticks to itself, it’s not coming unstuck! Works great and no adhesive at all. I also used it to wrap the chainstay on my prior gravel bike. It held up very well.

Miele Man

I wrap my bar tape towards the stem. Then when I get to the reinforcing sleeve on the handlebar I carefully cut the bar wrap at an angle so that it fits to the reinforcing sleeve handlebar joint. I secure my tape with gel cyanoacrylic glue so that there's no need for other tape at all.

Cheers

Trsnrtr

I use the self fusing tape as well. Should be available at any hardware store or any home improvement store. I generally have to cut it off when time to re-wrap.

mstateglfr 

Yup- a mix of whats been mentioned a lot here is what I have found works best for me.

A few wraps of electrical tape where the first half is pulled tight and then the last full wrap is not tensioned.
Then a few wraps of self fusing tape where the first half is pulled tight(that stuff stretches) and then the last full wrap is not tensioned.
Both the electrical tape and silicone tape wrap to the edge of the bar tape and not over it. All 3 tapes end at the same point and along the same line.

Gives a clean and square look and bar tape never moves.

mstateglfr 

Showing your age...or at least the age of your bikes. A reinforcing sleeve would be foreign to a lot of cyclists!

mdcoram

I've found if you wrap the tape around 5-10 times with a fairly good stretch then one more rotation with very little stretch then most any name brand electrical tape sticks well.

PdalPowr

I wonder if liquid electrical tape would work.

jmess

A real easy way to secure the end of the electrical tape is to glue the end with Super Glue. It won't come loose after that.

Kabuki12

I don't use tape anymore. I start at the top of the bar and end at the plug end . This works better for me and stays tight . I use sticky back cotton tape that tucks in nicely with the plug at the end of the bar.

Wilfred Laurier

Add one vote to 'finish with twine as per Rivendell video'. It takes about two minutes and looks much better.

Although when I used to use Dollar Store elec. tape I never had a problem that I can recall... but maybe that is a problem with my recollection.

Caliper

I could never get electrical tape to stay in place, always ended up making a goopy mess eventually. Heck, even when used on wiring it tends to end up a mess. I have gone to wrapping my bars from the top down and tucking the end of the tape into the end of the bar, secured with the bar end plug. Looks cleaner now and no chance of mess.

79pmooney

With another 6" of twine and barely more work, this could be a proper sailor's whip. Done right, it will last near forever. You can find the instructions in any old how-to-sail or marine knots book. I learned the whip when I was 10 and use it all the time. I don't use it here because 1) it never occurred to me, 2) I use waxed polyester twine which is much thinner and would take many more wraps than I have patience for and 3) I want black there like my bar tape. (And a permanent whip on very temporary bar tape seems kinda pointless, Got better things to do.) I do use quick and dirty whips all the time simply because they are so easy to do and are so useful.

Trick- buy very strong twine. Waxed helps. Tie bowline knots in each end. When finished, slip screwdrivers (or whatever; marlinespike was the traditional tool) into the bowlines and use as handles to pull the whip tight. As you pull tight, you can see the crossing of the lines you are pulling under the wraps. Make sure the crossing stays near the center as you pull tight. Done right, a rope ending in such a whip was expected to stay properly whipped through a hurricane in open ocean. (Failure and the rope unraveling could be one of those little things that add up to a very bad ending. Think - cell phones were still 200 years away. No radio. No search planes. Keeping things shipshape was life and death.) The whip on handlebar tape? Like on the Riviera for that knot!

Ben

79pmooney

Tricks - good electrical tape, see the many posts above. Wrap you bars so the tape comes back across the handlebar at the finish. Cut the tape just behind the brake/shift cable if you have those wrapped (ie aero brake levers or modern brifters). Now wrap your electrical tape in the same direction, again coming back across the top of the handlebars and ending in the same place, just behind the cables under the bar. (Directly under the bars if you do not have cables.) So, the number one thing to get right is the basic wrap direction, I start under the bar at the bar end and plug. Start going outboard, then up and inboard over the top of the drop. So, standing behind the bike, looking at the right handlebar drop and plug, the wrap starts counter-clockwise.

Done this way, when you ride, you will rarely be touching the tape ends. When you do, it will be when you are riding the tops of the handlebars, Your hands will be tending to pull the tape back in the direction of the wrap and if your fingers do come around enough to touch the tape end, you will be pulling it forward with your natural motion, trying to tighten it, not unwrap it or peel it off.

Ben

Jicafold

I could use a quick and dirty whip...but that's a completely different discussion.


They do make that hemp twine in black.

masonv45

Quality electrical tape will have the UL logo (Underwriter Laboratories) in the inside of the cardboard roll it's wrapped around. If not, quality is suspect. Cheap electrical tape probably doesn't have this logo.

Caliper

If you like all that trouble, but I was suggesting wrapping the opposite direction as an upgrade that does away with electrical tape entirely.

Trevtassie

There is one brand of electrical tape that stands out above the rest:, Nitto tape from Japan. Works in the jungle and works in Antarctica (used it in both places, so a super wide temperature tolerance) and won't come undone 600m under water. Perfect blend of stretch and strength.. But self amalgamating tape is better for bars anyway.

2cam16

Been using self-fusing for a few years now and will never go back to electrical tape.

woodcraft

Handy for a number of things- valve stem rattle, fraying fabric, light water-sealing. I've used it on water bottle cages to increase grip on the bottle.

No tensile strength, 'tho, so wouldn't keep bar tape from unwrapping very well.

veganbikes

I am happy with the 3M tape, that is generally what I have on hand or at the shop and it works just fine and dandy. Sometimes I even use electrical tape to put the bar tape down and put the strips that come with the bar tape on top of that but not often.

79pmooney

My bar tape holds up better wrapped from the top. (I don't roll the upper edge down with my hands. I wrapped from the top my first several bikes. When I started at the bottom it was a small revelation. The time the electrical tape takes is close to nothing, I often spent more time dealing with plug and tape ends. And now with wrapped cable housings, it is so much nicer to unwrap to get things right underneath with bartape ending at the top. (If you make it hard, Murphy's Law says you will have to mess with it later.)

Ben