Narhay

I have been using black fizik performance classic on two bikes and it has been fine. I have a roll of white but I havent installed it yet. I am hoping it is easy to clean. I would rate this tape as good but I am not in love.

I have a roll of white ebay padded tape and it leaves something to be desired. Impossible to clean and looks bulky. Slippery in the rain.

I tried newbaums cotton tape and I need something with more padding. It looks the part but I dont want to have to use padded gloves to go for a ride.

What are you using?

CV-6 

My favorite is Cinelli cork gel and I still wear padded gloves.

deux jambes

Have you considering wrapping Newbaums over a padded wrap?

abshipp 

I like Tressostar cotton, seems to be a bit softer finish than Newbaums.

I've been running a single layer of cotton for a while now. I really like the thin Fizik tape but I have such a bad habit of changing things around on my handlebars and cotton makes things both easier and makes me feel less guilty

Once I know that my Trek is exactly how I want it I will probably splurge on some nicer padded tape.

scarlson 

Cheap ebay tape, the kind without adhesive. Direct from China or from City of Industry CA, a roll in any color, even Splash, won't cost you more than $8. Blindfolded, I don't think I could tell the difference between it and Cinelli "cork".

robertj298 

I've heard that you can wrap an old inner tube then wrap the cloth tape over top of it .

non-fixie 

When it needs to look period-correct I prefer cotton, like Tressostar:



When comfort is more important, I like to use this cheap padded faux suede stuff. Works especially well with aero set-ups. And you can wrap it top-down. Comes in black and a rather nice light brown:

dweenk

My LBS has or had some old Cateye cotton tape in black; so i have used that on a few bikes.

I bought some 1" herringbone cotton tape on Amazon a while back. It was too wide to wrap around bends without bunching in the tight curves, but I can still use bits of it as padding under real tape (my neighbor who makes quilts likes it as a boundary, so she now has the rest of the large roll). So then I bought a 50 yd. roll of 3/4" bias ply cotton tape in beige. I am about to give it a try soon.

Salamandrine 

Fizik Superlight mostly. The performance stuff looks too busy and modern. Superlight looks much like Ambrosio Bikeribbon, though the edges aren't quite as nicely tapered. Plain cotton tape on my old Masi and Peugeot.


Are you trying to do something period? If so, what period? The only padded tape around in the 70s IIRC was the Bikeribbon. There was Bailey's rubber tape, but that was before my time. Also, Grab-On grips were quite popular. There was a thin racing version. May still be available.


C&V didn't really look like L'Eroica. Imagine that but with a lot more long hair and ponytails, Skid Lids, Grab-Ons, and white basketball socks with stripes.

Classtime 

Tressostar for anything up to early 80s. Newbaums is a bit rough as was mentioned above. And Bike Ribbon Professional for the rest. Both pretty inexpensive. I was a Fizik user until they stopped tapering the edges on their thin stuff. It won't lay flat anymore.
Fwiw, My solo road rides are gloveless.

Narhay

I am more than happy to use modern tape on the bikes as long as it looks and feels good.

I am using the Ebay cork and it is so-so.

steelbikeguy

I've been doing more cloth tape lately... usually Tressostar.
Here's my attempt at a Harlequin wrap. Much harder to make it look good than I expected!



Steve in Peoria

ButchA

A few years ago, I changed the tape on my C&V '85 Fuji Del Rey. REI sold some imitation cork handlebar tape that looked awesome.

Salamandrine 

Is that Fizik "soft touch" tape? I like that stuff too. It doesn't seem to be sold in light brown this side of the pond though. I'll have to look for a European source.

Faux suede tape was a thing in the 70s. People have forgotten about it. Maybe they blocked it out of their minds, along with Skid Lids.

non-fixie 

It's this stuff. I don't know how it holds up on the long run, but so far I'm liking it.

Chombi1 

Cinelli cork tape was my "go-to" tape for all my bikes since the late 80's, but I had to stop using the stuff when they moved production to Taiwan and they did not thin down the edges of the tapes as much as they did when they made them in Italy and resulted in a lumpy bumpy look and feel when you wrap them on your bars.
I've been using other cork tapes now like tapes from SOMA and Selle Italia. They have good edge tapers on them so they look and feel smooth on the bars. I still couldn't figure out why Cinelli changed their design on their cork tapes.
on my older C&V bikes (70's to early 80's), I only use Newbaum's cloth tape. Really good stuff and they give you more than enough of it to cover the biggest bars.

ascherer 

There's some variety of Fizik that I like on my Mercian. Its kinda thin, grippy, seems to be pretty tough. I got a good deal a few years back on some brown and tan Brooks leather, and it's a great wrap, perhaps my favorite. The current wraps on my Pro and my wife's Lotus is the Brooks faux-leather in black (have to keep those "colourways" aligned!) It's a touch thicker that I'd like but not enough to bother me. I'm not too interested in returning to cotton, I used to just shred the stuff and I like the padding of newer wraps.

Salamandrine 

Thanks! Haven't heard of that brand. I'll keep an eye out for it.

FWIW Fizik fake suede lasts a fairly long time, about the same as the regular stuff. I did make the mistake of getting white fake suede once. It looked great for about 2 rides. After that it was too grubby even for me.

randyjawa 

Sadly, or not depending on one's point of view, I am pretty much stuck with cloth tape. Gloves? You bet! Anyway, for the older steeds, which I prefer, cloth seems to fit the bicycle properly...


However, for years and still on my newer rider, I go for cheap rubber cork (I guess) that feels just fine to me...

sced

Me too. It works great. I bought 4x in different colors about 2 months ago for $1.99 per with shipping but now it's $4.99. Apparently shipping from China has gone way up. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bicycle-Han...r=553874971869

3speedslow

Hot, so G D HOT! I am working an 85 Centurian Ironman frame up to be PC orange like that. What colour did you use?

steelbikeguy

It was intended to match a buddy's Waterford. I think they called it burnt orange or some such thing. My painter was using Dupont Imron, which isn't too common anymore (I think). He had some Imron that was a very close match to the Waterford. Here's a shot of a sample tube painted in the Imron.... the Imron color code is on the tube.




It's been a good color, and makes a good contrast to the vegetation...



OTOH, I've had a lot of trouble getting touch-up paint. Even when I went to a local auto paint shop, the bottle that they mixed up for me looked fine in the bottle, but ended up a weird shade when I actually used it.

And as a historical note, the best known orange bike belonged to Him.....



I wonder if he remembers the color code for that orange??

Steve in Peoria

gugie 

Been doing that for nearly 30 years now.

It doesn't give you any extra cushion, but it does build up the diameter of the bar at zero cost (I've always got a lot of tubes that are goners). I find that handlebars are too skinny, and they dig into my hands. Building up the diameter more closely matches my palms.

tkamd73 

Newbaums 2 layers, Benotto 3 layers, Fizik, and my favorite Charge U Bend, but you can’t get the latter anymore.
Tim

cinco

Cotton, Celo, Bike Ribbon, and occasionally leather.