icemilkcoffee 

!!! MAJOR UPDATE !!!
I did some experimentation, and came up with a way to wrap the bar tape which doesn’t cover up any of the indentations in the brifter body.
The key is to start wrapping just behind the brifter clamp, and go outwards towards both top and bottom.

First put a small piece of wrap behind the brifter clamp as usual:

Now place the bar tape onto here, diagonally slanted like this:


You probably want to have 1/3 of the tape for the lower run and 2/3 for the upper.
Now start wrapping both towards the top and bottom
Top:

Bottom:


Finished product:
Note that none of the indents are covered:







original post:

I was putting these Claris R2030 brifters on my bike and I notice that there are a bunch of protrusions on the inside of the brifter hoods:


they are supposed to go into corresponding indents on the brifter body. But as you can see - many of these indents are covered up by the bar tape. I already re-wrapped the tape to avoid the larger indents but numerous smaller ones remain covered up.
What are you supposedly to do here? I ended up slicing off some of the protrusions with a knife but I don’t think that is what Shimano meant for you to do.

Koyote

Don't wrap so far up the base of the STI unit. The tape only needs to go up far enough so that the hood covers the edge.

Camilo

+1 Simply don't cover the indentations on the shifters with the tape.

icemilkcoffee 

How do you do the figure-8 bar wrapping, without covering up those locations?

curbtender

Tape usually comes with two short sections that you wrap from side to side.

Rogerogeroge

Most sets of bar tape come with two strips that you stick around the bend, temporarily held by the adhesive, then overlap it with your regular tape. No need to 'figure eight' it. Don't worry about covering up the smaller holes towards the rear where the indents offset.

mstateglfr 

One option is to use the little 3" stripes of tape that come with the rolls and don't figure 8.

curbtender

6:40...

icemilkcoffee 

I actually use the technique he recommends in 8:11 (the non-figure-8 figure-8), but it most certainly does cover up some holes. Basically you are pulling up a bar tape's width worth of tape over the brifter body so I am not seeing how you can avoid covering some indents.

icemilkcoffee 

So you guys don't reverse direction between the drops and the tops? Is that whole figure-8 thing out of fashion now?

curbtender

With vinyl or cloth but padded tape is too thick.

cxwrench

I 'figure 8' every bar I wrap. I start pulling out on the drop, figure 8 at the SHIFTER, end up pulling forward on the tops. The only tape that is a problem is the 2 thicker sizes of Lizard Skins DSP, the 3.2mm and 4.5mm.

urbanknight

And if the tape doesn't come with them, you can usually cut 3" off each roll and still have plenty.

FWIW I have covered up the indentations unintentionally before and didn't even notice it after putting the hoods back in place and riding. Not a big deal unless it's bothering you for some reason.

icemilkcoffee 

I made an update to the first post- I found a way to wrap the bar which doesn’t cover the indentations, and also reverses the overlap for the drops so that it follows the same pattern as the hoods.

SurferRosa

And cotton; it folds over on itself if you do the figure 8.

The Chemist

I was today years old when I realized you could do this. I always 'figure eight' it, but I often have trouble getting it so that the bar is perfectly wrapped. I will be definitely using this method the next time I have to wrap my bars.