koolerb

What tape are you pros using to terminate handlebar wraps? The tape that comes with a the bar tape is awful. Usually unwraps before the first ride. I've been using electrical tape but that's not much better. I just did bar tape last night on a recently purchased used bike that looks to have been bike shop maintained the tape was unbelievable. I had to cut it off.

Barry2 

Self Fusing Silicon Tape Great stuff.

Barry

EDIT: Just noticed that the Black in my link is only in a large quantity. There are many others available if you search on Self Fusing Tape.

PhilFo 

I use waxed cotton or waxed leather lace for either book binding or sewing leather.

bboy314

ESI silicone finishing tape is my favorite. Good quality electrical tape works fine if you don’t stretch it for the final wrap.

roadcrankr

3M electrical tape. Comes in many colors. Handy for all sorts of projects. Avoid the cheap stuff.

Iride01 

Self fusing silicone tape is available at the big box building supply stores and other hardware stores in many colors. When used correctly it's wonderful. But like learning how to wrap your bars, it takes a few attempts and some understanding to get it right.

I still mostly go for 3m electrical tape which also comes in many colors. 3m tape seems to stay put and the adhesive doesn't seem to get gummy like some of the cheap brands do.

If you plan ahead and remember to put it on before you put the STI's, bar tape and everything else on your handlebars, heat shrinkable tubing works very well. And it also comes in many colors, but you'll have to look online to find them for anything but black and maybe red which I have seen in big enough diameter at my local big box building supply. Amazon might be great for this in small quantity and free shipping for the few times you might wrap bars and need it. Or McMasterCarr, Grainger and etc.

wheelreason

This^. It comes in a bunch of colors, and half width too.

RCMoeur 

The Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Super 33 black and colored 35 tape is good stuff. Ah, for the days when I thought paying $2.79 per roll was highway robbery. After an unfortunate incident 14 years ago involving a rear bike carrier failure at 65 mph and a strong chain, I ended up wrapping an entire frame in 3M 35 tape.

smd4

Electrical tape is perfectly fine, but next time I wrap the bars I’m gonna try the self fusing silicone.

veganbikes

I use electrical tape and haven't had an issue. Silcone tape would also work well.

sweeks

Self-fusing silicone tape is very nice. I used regular electrical tape to hold the bar wrap in place, giving me time to properly deploy the silicone tape.

Self-fusing silicone tape to finish the ends of the wrap.

Kontact

With modern bar tape, you can also skip end tape altogether.

_ForceD_

Personally, I almost always wrap top-down. No adhesive tape needed. Ends get trimmed with excess stuffed into the bar ends, and held by the bar end plugs.

Dan

RCMoeur 

Back in the days of Benotto or Hunt-Wilde transparent tape, or Velox cloth tape, that was the way we all did it, as the overlap pattern didn't matter. And my first few padded-tape wraps were like this, until someone pointed out that starting at the stem results in the open side being "against the grain" for someone using the "top of the hoods" hand position. Depending on the tape, this can result in the tape flipping up or disintegrating prematurely. So I switched to starting at bar ends, which resolved the pattern, but then had to deal with the "how to you finish it?" issue noted above.

Eric F 

Electrical tape. Stretch it good on the first wrap, slightly looser on the second, and just enough tension to conform to the tape-bar transition on the third. Terminate under the bar.

However, I’m open to something better. I’m going to check out the silicone stuff.

Kontact

'Stretching it good' is usually the reason it creeps or unwinds. Stretch the tape just enough to get edges to overlap, then go to minimum tension.

Even cheap tape will last awhile if you do it that way.

gearbasher

I use heat shrink tubing (comes in different colors). You just have to remember to put the pieces on the bars before installing the brake levers.

70sSanO

I bought some 1/2” wide multi-color electrical tape at Home Depot. I like the narrower look. So far it has worked well. Might use a different color next wrap.

John

rm -rf

I cut a half inch wide strip of Gorilla Tape to secure the cut end, extending halfway around the bars. Then a full wrap 3M electrical tape, with a very slight stretch so the sides of the 3M tape look good. That's easy and effective for me. Gorilla tape doesn't creep like regular electrical tape. And I use a small piece of Gorilla tape to secure the starting end at the handlebar plug area, then I can start pulling on the bar tape tension right away -- easy.

(looking at the bar tops with a flashlight now, I can make out the texture of the gorilla tape through the 3M wrap. But I never notice that in "real life".)

It's the thicker, better 3M "Super 33+" tape. And the mini sized "Gorilla Tape To Go", 1 inch by 10 yards. I cut a strip in half lengthwise for this.

GCBM

I second the self fusing. Although you might have to run a couple times to get your "stretching" down so you see a nice wrap and ending.

grumpus

I was going to suggest that as an alternative, but who wants to take the levers off to wrap the bars? Someone, apparently.😀

gearbasher

I hate wrapping bars. So, 90% of the time I'm rewrapping bars is because I need to rebuild the ergo levers. Yes, I have the filthiest bar wrap on the planet.

grumpus

Remember Tressorex? That stuff could get really grubby, and then we'd cover the worn dirty tape with more tape.

gkamieneski

I’m guessing those sticking (no pun ending) with electrical tape have yet to try the silicone self fusing tape. Best to secure the wrap with one turn of any type of tape then use the silicone tape as a finishing tape.

3alarmer

...many of the best taping jobs I've encountered begin with an underlayment of two sided tape, from 3M. The adhesive on both sides helps secure the overlying bar tape in place, so it doesn't slip around in use. The other thing I've seen used a lot is some sort of gel foam padding, used on the tops or other areas you want extra cushion, used under the corked bar tape, as another underlayer. I finish with the various colors of the heavy duty 3M electrical stuff. I like to be able to remove and rewrap the bar tape, because sometimes there's some mechanical issue that requires it. I bought a bike once that had finish wrapping of a delightful twine rope work pattern weave, which was then shellacked in place. It's impractical if you need to change out anything like the lever positioning or the stem.