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How many feet of bar tape do YOU use?

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How many feet of bar tape do YOU use?

Old 11-18-22, 11:33 AM
  #1  
Reynolds 531 
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How many feet of bar tape do YOU use?

Somafab having 30% black friday sale by the way.

How many feet do you use? Do you "protape" (top down?)

Inquiring mind(s) want to know.
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Old 11-18-22, 11:40 AM
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They are not taking 30% off the amount of tape that they provide, are they? I'm good at stretching tape, but I don't know if I am that good.
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Old 11-18-22, 11:41 AM
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BFisher
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I don't know. The only time I have none left to spare is with Velox Tressostar.

Cotton - top down
Cork/vinyl - bottom up
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Old 11-18-22, 11:46 AM
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I use whatever is in the box, I wrap from bar end up, cutting off a few excess inches. My drop bars are all 46mm width.
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Old 11-18-22, 11:47 AM
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Originally Posted by BFisher
I don't know. The only time I have none left to spare is with Velox Tressostar.

Cotton - top down
Cork/vinyl - bottom up
Tressostar is 8.7 feet, Newbaums is 10 feet per roll

the math check out!
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Old 11-18-22, 11:58 AM
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Originally Posted by Reynolds 531
Tressostar is 8.7 feet...
Roll to roll, I'm not so sure of that. I've had some that were definitely shorter than others. Wrap one side with maybe a few centimeters to spare, another roll on the other side of the same bar and have to redo it with minimal overlap to get full coverage. Been there.
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Old 11-18-22, 12:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Reynolds 531
Tressostar is 8.7 feet, Newbaums is 10 feet per roll

the math check out!
I just wrapped my Araya Top Down with Newbaums. Being pretty narrow tapes, the Newbaums need to be longer. I used all of mine save a few inches.
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Old 11-18-22, 12:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Reynolds 531
Newbaums is 10 feet per roll.
Then I guess I use almost 20'.
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Old 11-18-22, 12:15 PM
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repechage
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Depends on the bar width and shape.

a length that wraps Cinelli #64, 38 cm wide won't cover #66-42
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Old 11-18-22, 02:42 PM
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Just did Cinelli 40-64 and used all but 4' of the Newbaum. One role per side.
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Old 11-18-22, 03:04 PM
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I've never run short of bar tape, no matter what brand I've used. Always have enough left over to cut diagonally to match the wrap. Bottom to top, always for me.
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Old 11-18-22, 04:04 PM
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I wrap top down and always seems there is enough tape on the roll.

Sometimes I do two tone just for fun . One roll of blue and one roll of black! The blue is padded cotton.
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Old 11-18-22, 04:23 PM
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Funny, I was just doing some googling looking for an average length of tape needed to wrap average bars thinking I'd stock up on some tape with the Soma sale..... and I found nothing. Yeah, yeah, different widths, drop, reach, etc, etc will all affect how much tape you need, but ain't there some general rule of thumb? The regular Newbaum's comes in 10' rolls, the padded comes in 7' rolls.... The Soma site says 'Order TWO ROLLS to finish most drop bars' for the regular, 10' stuff..... So is a 7' padded roll likely to come up short?
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Old 11-18-22, 04:33 PM
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With the Tressostar I always found myself having to re-wrap a few times in order to make it all the way. Later I heard if you get it wet, it behaves a little better.
Newbaum's I usually have a couple inches left over, and no headaches.
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Old 11-19-22, 04:58 AM
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I like to wrap thick (lots of over-lap) when I am using cotton or vinyl, so I sometimes need more than two rolls to finish the job. I start at the top, because if I need to glue another 8" on, I want that to be at the bottom of the drops, not on the deck. When I use leather or fake cork, I don't have to wrap as heavily, so I usually make it all the way to the bar ends with enough left to cover the brake lever clamps.
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Old 11-19-22, 05:19 AM
  #16  
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I hate top down and the exposed trailing edge. Digs into my hands. Bottom up is so silky smooth.
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Old 11-19-22, 06:49 AM
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Charles Lathe
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Tressostar is kind of short for me so I need a little more that two rolls. Newbaums is long enough that two rolls suffices, but with not much left over. I wrap from the top down and from the bottom up and meet, of course, at the brake lever. So I guess that puts me between 17.4 and 20 feet according to Reynolds 531 post. The past two times I wrapped my bars, I shellacked them and I like that.
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