Germany_chris

I don't wear gloves either so I ride with leather bar tape to deal with hand sweat.

SurferRosa

daviddavieboy

I do understand their point. As I am older I find myself raising my bars a bit , The days of slamming my stem are gone in favor of flipping the stem up. On good days I can still ride ride long distances in the drops and on others toodle around on the top of the bars or hoods. As far as tape goes I bought a couple rolls of this for different bikes https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07...0?ie=UTF8&th=1

It seems to be very similar to an expensive tape I looked at in a shop (Supacaz Tape). It is very comfortable to me and VERY grippy on the hands even when wet. I only have a couple thousand miles on one bike so I am not sure how long it will last but so far I am very pleased. On my vintage bikes with cotton tape the only way I can ride more than a couple hours is if I ride with gloves.

Maelochs

As fro the protection factor of gloves .... as @Homebrew01 said, hands are not for breaking falls. Put out your hands and if your palms survive, you might break your wrists instead.

Each to his own, of course.

I forgot my gloves on a ride this summer and decided i was too far out to turn back to get them. Much to my amazement, the world didn't end and I finished the ride. Since them gloves are optional.

I realize it is all personal. Some folks wear knee- and elbow pads.

I don't care about the carefree days of yore when we jumped on and off bikes so casually .... I did some photo work a couple weekends ago, hopping on and off my bike frequently in cargo shorts (to carry extra gear in a handy way.) I frequently got hung up on the saddle and almost fell over when mounting and dismounting.

Laugh at the fat man in the spandex leotard, ...... you would also laugh at the fat man in cargo shorts who fell over in the street. The only difference is not falling ..... so spandex wins.

Smaug1

Best advice I got on bar tape was to get gel pads and not worry so much about the tape itself.

cweb99

Raw dog it
if you crash and rip your gloves that’s a $20-$30 replacement
if you crash and tip your hands that’s some alcohol and wound will heal in 1-2weeks
that said I have PRO handle bar tape with some bar phat. Works great

rsbob 

No stats on this but just wondering if people who ride without gloves tend to eventually suffer more hand related issues, specifically ‘cyclists palsy’ due to lack of additional cushioning. Time will tell.

Shadco 

No gloves above 50F SILCA Nastro Piloti for me, I like nice stuff.

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rsbob 

To deviate a bit: Looking at the pic above with the tether, who has had their Garmin eject from the bracket? I have hit some serious bumps on road and trail and never experienced it.

Shadco 

My Boss for one, it got run over too Edge 1020.

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RB1-luvr

the tether is a neat idea.

pdlamb

Never lost a Garmin to device eject, even when I found it dangling halfway through a ride because it wasn't quite mounted correctly.

Nevertheless, I tried putting the tether on my latest Edge Touring. Just in case, you know, I run over a big rock on the gravel bike. Well, it seems as secure as the previous models, but it's a bit of a hassle to loop the tether before mounting or unloop when removing the unit from the bars. Every. Single. Time.

Koyote

Agreed. But reflexes.

Maelochs

Putting out one's hands in a fall might be a reflex .... but riding a bike is learned counter-intuitive activity. One can learn not to behave with base instincts. One can learn better instinctual reactions.

Have you ever been in a car as a passenger and pressed the floorboard when the driver needed to brake in an emergency? Why not cover your face, curl in a ball? Pressing the floorboard ("sympathetic pseudo-braking"?) is a learned behavior entirely,,, very rarely seen in monkeys or chimps, I'd imagine, though I can't link to any studies.

Instincts an be learned and unlearned.

tomato coupe

Yep, you have to unlearn the reflex to extend your arm, and learn to tuck and roll. I was happy to discover I still do it when I went down a couple of years ago, whereas a friend extended his arm and broke his collarbone on impact.

tomato coupe

It's hard to imagine a Garmin coming out of its mount -- it's a pretty secure attachment.

LarrySellerz

My most recent tape job was on this MTB that I rescued/stole and then bought when confronted. I used Teflon tape, but they have been cheaping out on the product for years and making it thinner, I think I’m going to replace it with the grey “oil and gas” Teflon tape because it’s a bit thicker. I’m happy with how it’s performing all things considered. I have an affinity for Teflon tape and use it for all sorts of things so it might not work as well for you.

tomato coupe

You're trying too hard ... your posts need to be "organic."

rsbob 

Hack or bodge?

LarrySellerz

the bike is legit. Here it is next to my other bike with unique Donut King and Bloodsplatter decals as proof of ownership.

tomato coupe

No, no, no. You're forcing this. It needs to flow naturally.

Trsnrtr

I ejected a 1000 4-5 years ago.

Back on topic, I quit wearing gloves when I quit racing 30 years ago. No problems with whatever bar tape that I use.

LarrySellerz

Bloodsplatter decals flow naturally

Calsun

I put a tape like tennis grip tape between the stem and the brake lever to increase the diameter of this section and then do a full wrap with bike bar tape. I always wear gloves to protect my hands in the event of a spill. Having sand or glass or gravel forced into the palms of your hands is no fun and can take a long time to heal.

SpedFast

I cut an old innertube into a long strip and wrapped the bar with that before going over the top with bar tape. I've had it on there for a little over a year now and really like the larger feel and shock absorbance it provides. I'm about to re-wrap them and will do the same again. The tennis grip tape seems like a good idea too.