This is why I like silicone bar tape: didn't get the spacing right? Unwind and rewrap. Need to replace your brake housing? Unwind and rewrap.
Will near Boston, a notoriously mediocre bar-taper despite much practice On Wednesday, June 10, 2026 at 2:58:02 PM UTC-4 Ted Durant wrote: > On Tuesday, June 9, 2026 at 3:05:46 PM UTC-5 George Schick wrote: > > Let's say that you've purchased a couple of rolls of bar tape for your > bike. You begin wrapping at the plug end of the bar on one side, around > the brake lever handle, and on toward the stem and *whoops* you come up > short. Or, you come up long with lots of extra tape left over by spacing > too far apart. Given the length of bar to be wrapped and the amount of > tape available is there a standard rule-of-thumb for wrapping the bars with > an estimate of even spacing so that one doesn't run short or with too much > extra? > > > You might come up short if you're wrapping a really wide bar, like Noodle > 46's, and your spacing is tight, but generally on drop bars one roll should > fit each side. Also, it depends on whose tape, of course, some are longer > rolls than others. In general, I always have leftover bits. Sometimes I'll > use a bunch of leftover bits to make a mixed-color wrap for fun or > temporary purposes. > > When I wrap drop bars I do separate wraps of the tops and bottoms, both > ending up at the brake lever. If the brake lever allows for it, I wrap > with the clamp in place but the brake lever removed, then the brake lever > holds the tape ends in place. Otherwise, the tape goes up the side of the > lever body and the brake hood covers it up. > > For spacing, I go for 1/4-1/3 overlap on the straight parts. I use the > angles of the weave (in cotton tape) to judge it. On the curves, it's 1/2 > overlap on the inside of the curve and just a smidge of overlap on the > outside. If you are using tape that doesn't have adhesive on it, you may > need more overlap. > > Also, FWIW, I have started wrapping the entire bar with electricians tape > to hold cables in place. Newbaum's comes off of electricians tape way > easier than it does off raw aluminum, making fresh wrap a much less time > consuming job. > > Ted Durant > Milwaukee WI USA > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/029981e5-3bf8-4ec9-8e5a-0cdd8e86effan%40googlegroups.com.
