Chombi1 

Just wrapped the bars on my latest project last night with my favorite bar tape, Cinelli's "plain", solid colored cork tape, this time, in yellow.
Things went easy enough, using my usual wrapping technic and overlaps, but I noticed when I was done, the tape looks quite bumpy with each turn of the tape very visible as bumps. Quite unattractive when you look closely enough. Not the nice smooth look I've gotten used to. It seems like Cinelli made the middle portion of the tape just a bit thicker, and the compound they now use seem to have a more rubbery/ elastic feel to it. I was hoping that the tape will sort of bed in and get smoother by this morning, but it's still quite bumpy looking.......Dang!......
Anyone else notice this with the latest cork tapes from Cinelli?
I guess I have to start looking around for a new favorite for bar tapes....

Fahrenheit531 

If my commuter is any indication, the bumps won't smooth any time soon. Definitely a bummer.

"But... we have to change something. PROGRESS!!!"

3speedslow

Not generally a fan of cork but yeah, bumped , thick tape would cause me to look elsewhere. Cotton is always waiting...

Chombi1 

Looked at the tape again this afternoon and found out thst it's not because the tape is thicker in the middle. It's thinner. The bulges are all coming from where the tape overlaps. It looks bad. You have to be at least 8 feet away to not notice the bumpy handlebar effect.....Frankly, kinda cheap looking and not the sleek, smooth look I was used to with the previous version of their cork tapes..... Rats!

francophile 

Noticed, not sure if it's because it's thinner in the middle, I feel like it's thicker at the flange, or maybe it's a bit of both?

I broke down and purchased several $8-13 rolls of tape off Amazon end of last month to try a few varieties. Got one that goes on awesome, love it, but it's slippery as hell when wet. Still have yet to find anything I like. If I do, I'll ping you or update here.

Hardrock23

I don't like the bumpy look from some cork tape either. When I was shopping for tape a few months ago, it was between Cinelli and Deda, for the cheap price and color selection. I went with Deda. I was going to try Cinelli next but I suppose I won't be anymore.

The Deda is quite flat and it's pretty strong (can pull tight, re-wrap as needed). It does have DEDA imprinted in it but that can be covered easily.

Chombi1 

That Deda cork tape looks good! Just like what the Cinelli cork tapes used to look like when installed.
I guess I'll check out Deda cork tape next time.....
Thanks for the tip on it!
I'll take a pic of the Cinelli tape installed on my just finoshed build tomorrow to show you guys what I am talking about. What sucks big is, the yellow tape on this bike is a major part of its aesthetics, and it had to go bumpy fugly on me right at the end of the build.....

Hardrock23

No problem
Its a shame about Cinelli...they have a great color selection! Hope you find one that works!

Chombi1 

Well, this is what it looks like.
Gnarly at best. Real dissapointment with this latest version of Cinellis cork tape.

And it's not like they will change it back to what it was.
Even worse, I notice that it also makes the tape look like it was installed too loose.....
Why did they have to mess with it when it wasn't "broken"??

wschruba

My personal favorite "cork" is Profile. It's cheap, no adhesive, and lays well on the bars.

Doesn't have the bits of real cork floating around (anyone else feel like it's some cheap food product? "Made with real food!"), But that doesn't bother me. No frills tape, usually around $9-10, and it didn't stick up the bars. What more could you want?

jyl

It almost looks like the handlebars are flexible and segmented, like you could bend them into a different shape if you wanted to.

Deda comes in yellow too. Worth seeing if it is the correct shade.

Fizik tape is my current favorite. I think they have a nice yellow.

I think you should write to Cinelli about this. A detailed letter with pictures. Who knows, they might pay attention.

Kevindale

Yeah, that really is obnoxious looking. I could see that style working with maybe a modern cyclocross bike or something meant to be ridden in bad weather, but on the svelt, clean lines of a vintage road bike, it clashes.

mstateglfr 

Perhaps wrapping from the bottom up will make it sit better? Even if it doesnt sit better, you will have it wrapped from the bottom up.

All seriousness though- I have used the cinelli and cinelli gel tape and the gel tape, though more expensive, is infuriating. It doesnt stay put and starts inching back from the top of the bars. The cheaper cinelli stays fine.

I too dislike the bumps some tapes create. As you found out, its because the edges are thick and when they are wrapped atop each other, bumps are created.

Chombi1 

As I noted, the problem is they seem to have made the middle of the tape, thinner,, so where they overlap, looks thicker, thus the bumps..... I think they just made the overall profile of the tape closers to just being flat all the way across..... Maybe to skimp on materials and simplify production.....

Cyclist0108

Mine is like that too. I thought it was a feature. I think it reduces hand fatigue. Mine is dark blue, so maybe it doesn't look as abrupt?

xiaoman1 

I use Deda and wrap it so I don't see the logo....kind of flimsy though.
Ben

Hardrock23

That's exactly what comes to mind when I see tape like that.
It's a very pretty yellow though!


It's too bad they changed it. I really wanted to try them, but seeing how big and centered the logo is kinda turns me off to them also. It was hard to find the color I wanted and a tape that didn't have a logo on it...I took the chance with Deda hoping I could wrap over the logo since it's only on one side though.

Hardrock23

Did you switch it when you wrapped it? It looks like it was wrapped bottom up, up top...top down, on the bottom. Or I'm just confusing myself...

gaucho777 

I had a different experience, though I'm not sure what I have is their current offering. About a year ago, I bought a pack of Cinelli cork tape on ebay. The box looked new, and I don't believe I bought NOS.* I chose this set of tape mainly because it came with the chrome plugs. The edges of the tape are smooth, but I don't understand why the "chrome" plugs have turned orange. When the discoloration first showed up, I thought it might be surface rust, but oxalic acid had no effect and now the orange has progressed further. Anyone else experience this?

*EDIT: I little more looking around, and I see that the newer Cinelli cork comes in a box with orange type on a black/white background image of a peleton. The version I bought came in a tan box which sellers are denoting as NOS. I wonder if the thickness of the tape changed around the time the box changed? Still curious about the discoloration of the plugs.

tyler_fred

Maybe he should switch to Jagwire segmented cable housings also to complete "the look".

Kevindale

That looks like orange plastic with a thin layer of chrome, and the chrome is wearing off. I remember when my sister was working for Motorola as an engineer in the days where their pagers were the iPhones of the day, and I she bragged about how hard they worked to get thinner and thinner layers of chrome to stick to plastic, which they were using on their blingy pagers. It saved a few cents on each pager. I thought it sounded like a great way to generate unhappy customers who would have pagers that looked worn in a matter of weeks or months, just from sliding them in and out of their pockets.

Do you wash and polish your bike a lot? You may have just polished it away.

jyl

@Chombi, I wonder if you can try rewrapping with less overlap between adjacent courses of tape.

Also, to carry the Tout Francais thing to 100%, Velox make yellow bar tape . . .
SOFT Micro Perforée - VELOX® L'univers du vélo - Guidoline® - Jantex® - Tubasti® - Tufo®

Chombi1 

Not much overlap on there actually, just as much as I had on my past Cinelli cork tape installs.
BTW, I just noticed that the box the tape came in says "Made in Taiwan" I don't remember where the old stuff was made, but did Cinelli just move production to Taiwan recently....and that might have caused the change in design of the tape?
I checked out Velox, and they do have cork tape. I think I'll give those a try! Thank you for the lead on the Velox tapes. I did not even know they were in the business of making more than just cloth tapes...... Hopefully they are still made in France....

jyl

please report on your experience with the Velox tape!

PhilPub

I'm a big fan of the old Bike Ribbon tape, especially since the white stuff is cleanable. The vinyl is a different feel from cork tape so may not be to your preference. It's less padded than cork, but I've put a couple of wraps of hockey tape underneath to get a bit more feel.