I'm pretty new to drop bars & bar tape and made a bit of a mess wrapping the tape to start with.
The first video I watched was a Park one which said to wrap the tape clockwise on the driveside, anticlockwise on the non-driveside and to go around the shifters in a figure of 8. Fair enough.
I watched another which also did the clockwise on the driveside etc. approach but mentioned that most pro-mechanics would tell you to do it the other way (no idea why) and suggested avoiding the figure of 8 as thicker, modern tapes generate too much bulk.
I settled on a Bike Radar article - clockwise driveside etc. with its own way of working around the shifters and thought I'd be sorted.
I noticed though, that at the top of the article they'd embedded a short DIY tape wrapping video which bizarrely reverses the direction of wrap & simply maintains the direction of wrap past the shifters & along the top of the bar, contrary to what they state in the text.
In fact the only thing that seems to remain consistent amongst techniques is starting at the bottom of the bar and working up.
So, for a recreational rider who's not going to put massive torque through his bar tape, does technique actually matter at all if I can get it looking reasonably tidy?
Go for what's neatest and easiest, if it's well wrapped then it shouldn't make any real difference. Remember that you can give it a another go with bar tape, it's not a single chance of getting it correct.
Fwiw I think I did the direction reverse at the hoods, tape going outwards on the drops then inwards on the tops
Yes, getting the bar wrap right does help to keep it in the right position - bar tape unravelling mid-ride is pretty annoying. I always go inside-out at the bottom, figure 8 around the levers which then reverses the direction for the top part. Wrapping the bars with electrical tape first means you can reposition the tape as many times as you like, plus it’s a lot easier to change when the time comes. Worth the extra effort to get the same number of turns each side as well as even spacing - you’re going to be spending a lot of time focused on the bars - may as well get it looking good.
Yes, getting the bar wrap right does help to keep it in the right position
That was very much the drive of the Park Tools video, so why all the variation in suggested techniques.
I've started doing the *shock horror* starting from the middle and working out, rather than starting at the bar ends and working in. It's loads easier, you can undo it if you need to quite easily, and seems to last just fine.
Here's my way to do it and given some of the comments I received this is "the wrong way to do it" but 🤷♂️
I just can't get my head around starting by the stem and working towards the drops at all.
That was very much the drive of the Park Tools video, so why all the variation in suggested techniques.
There the "right" way and there are easier ways.
Personally I start with a strip over the lever clamps slightly angled so the tape itself will cross it (TBH this is just aesthetic, if you don't then you just see the bars under the levers) then wind from the ends, aiming to just carry on past the levers.
If you start in the middle (or wrap the wrong way) then your grip will tend to peel it off. Pro mechanics tend to work that way because it's much quicker and easier, which is important when you have 11 lots of yellow bar tape to wrap or take off and replace with black after a stage. Fine if it only needs to last a day and your sponsor is supplying crates of fresh tape each day.
I followed the Park one to the letter, even with sticky tape under the tape on the bits that might hit the deck. Worked really well and am very happy with the results. The first ever one I did just by tucking and winding was a disaster!
I always do mine the park way with the figure 8, it does take a bit of practice to get the hang of it but it’s a rewarding thing once you get the hang of it.
The secrets not the technique but picking the right bar tape, you want something you can keep a bit of tension on it when you wrap , a good tape won’t even need a sticky back strip to hold it on , good quality Leccy tape does work well for the finishing but the last tape I had was supplied with really nice finishing tape.
I’m currently rocking Supacaz that I get in the sales as it’s crazy pricey £30+ but cheap and nasty tapes are not always your friend 🙂
Figure 8 give a really nice finish on the back of the drop
Thanks.
I'm terribly cack-handed with this sort of stuff and find it surprisingly difficult to follow the figure of eight move on videos (I've ended up just continuing the wrap). I can see that I'm going to have to practice a bit.
I've actually find quite a nice diagrammatic tutorial which looks like it might be a bit easier to follow for a simpleton like me - https://www.condorcycles.com/blogs/journal/39615937-how-to-wrap-bar-tape-perfectly
So, for a recreational rider who's not going to put massive torque through his bar tape, does technique actually matter at all if I can get it looking reasonably tidy?
It matters if your poor wrapping technique means that your bar-tape unwraps itself while you're riding and flaps around like the bindings on a distressed Egyptian mummy. The aesthetics may not matter in themselves, but if you do the job properly, get the tension, direction and overlap right, it's more likely to stay in place.
I find the Supacaz YouTube bar-wrapping vid easy to follow if you're having trouble wrapping around the levers, but there are loads of alternatives out there.
You don't need the cheat strip behind the lever if you use the right technique
It matters more when you have weird shaped / aero bars when sometimes the "right" way is actually not.
Example here:
(scroll to 13'20" for the bar wrapping part)
What you can guarantee with bar wrapping is that every mechanic does it slightly differently and every one of them claims that their way is The One True Way.
It'll vary slightly with the tape too. Thick extra padded tape is more of a pain to do properly because it's less stretchy.
If it matters, then I don't mind persevering and learning the correct technique. My confusion remains however that there are plenty of "How To" articles & video espousing different approaches (including the Bike Radar one where the article text and article video are completely different) while often saying why the other fella's approach isn't great.
You don't need the cheat strip behind the lever if you use the right technique
yep no cheat strip on my pic, I actually think it’s makes it harder, if they’ve been a bit stingy with the tape and you cut a piece off for that cheat.
I’d also have a practice if your using a sticky backed tape without taking off the backing to get an idea of how it’s going to spread over the bars and where your planning it to end on the bars, I have bars which go more flatter/wider along the top and take more tape.
But it’s wot BadlyWiredDog says your intent is to wrap it so the forces you generate whilst holding onto the bar tape aren’t forcing it to come undone but force it to tighten more, which is why it all gets a bit weird on the direction switching of the tape both the sides and tops and which side.
if you hop on the bike and grab the drop bars you’ll notice right arm naturally twists the tape clockwise and left arm twists the tape anti-clockwise. Get the direction of your wrap wrong and just holding the bars is undoing the tape.
it’s the same with holding on top bar your likely to naturally going to be pulling it back and down towards you so want that to be tightening,which is why there’s that direction reverse on the top.
My confusion remains however that there are plenty of "How To" articles & video espousing different approaches (including the Bike Radar one where the article text and article video are completely different) while often saying why the other fella's approach isn't great.
Yep, this is pretty standard.
If you really want to go down a rabbit hole of bike mechanics proclaiming that their particular way is The Right One, go and look at wheelbuilding. The amount of pseudo-science bullshit and "it must be done this way, all other ways are WRONG!" makes wrapping bar tape look easy!
For most home mechanics, unless you've got a fleet of drop-bar bikes, wrapping bar tape is a once-a-year event at most so by the time it comes to do it again, most people have forgotten how they did it last time.
If it matters, then I don't mind persevering and learning the correct technique.
I think most of us learn it because we like multiple bikes and are too stingy to drop them in to to a LBS to pay £x per bike or like tinkering/bike assemblering, it’s like being able to true your wheels or do tubeless , you can just do it whenever without having to book anything/go anywhere and the labour cost is your time.
A good mech can probably it way quicker as they do it everyday but a beer in one hand and tape in the other on a quiet evening in whilst the SO is watching Strictly or some other mind numbing TV.
Figure of 8 is nice, if you can remember the mirror image. The small cheat strip gives better closure at the sides. Modern shifters have longer covers to hide the small part that is not covered with figure of 8. Tape is so good that it won’t slip. But hey it wrong and you’ll have no symmetric tops.
You don't need the cheat strip behind the lever if you use the right technique
...sadly, you do if your tape is too short! I went from Cinelli cork (classic, not too thick, long, figure-eights easily) to 3mm thick Fizik Tacky Bondcush, which comes with cheater strips. But: it comes with cheater strips because it's not long enough to figure-eight (on my 440 Ritchey Butano bars). It's also probably not a good idea to figure-eight it because it is so thick/squishy. I get that they've done it for a reason, but I wish I had a choice.
(I discovered this when I figure-eighted it and just ran out of tape. Went back to the instructions, and now I have dirty cheater tape).
And as everybody's said: it's worth doing the mirror-imaged, in-direction-of-torque wrap because it does not take a lot of torque at all to slowly start removing tension and bringing lumps/unwraps into your tape. The videos from Calvin at Park Tool, and Simon's GMBN one are my go-tos. (I have found that if in doubt, just do what Calvin tells you, is good guidance in the workshop).
LBS charged pittance for wrapping, so always got them to do it. They closed a few years back. Old bar tape still ok, but got new bars so decided to have a bash myself.
I used that park tools vid. it runs through different methods of getting round the brifters. I went with their recommended 3rd one.
First one I didnt get the overlap quite right on 1 or 2 turns on the curved drops. second was better. See how long they last. Cinelli gel cork so not pricey. Might add some gel pads next time too.
3rd method on park tools video for me. Used to have to rewatch while doing it but finally done enough that the method has stuck.
I've been using the condor cycles method listed up there with some success. The diagrams just work for me.
As for the clockwise/anticlickwise thing, my winter bike has one of each per drop (I was not having a good day) and both have taken their abuse well.
There's always disagreement on this so I'll chip in : ) The Condor diagrams are wrapping the wrong direction imo. The tape at the bottom on the DS starts by wrapping clockwise so out of the saddle efforts from the drops when your RH pulls up and across on the DS bar can loosen the tape, and the wind along the tops (#4 part in the fig 8 diagram) wraps opposite to your grip torque if you climb on the tops. The method works but start anti-CW at the bottom and it works better ime. But if it's done with tension and evenly fitted it'll be ok enough wrapped either way.
The other important bit is the cut and finish on the tops and how matched they are, that's where you can tell a good job.
