 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Does anyone use road bar tape on their mountain bike. I'm guessing this is the reserve of racers but I'm intrigued. Saw a photo of it being used on a pros bike.
It should work, mud/wear shouldn't be an issue as we all use bar tape in CX and gravel riding.
The advantage would be weight and being able to get a high thickness by double or triple wrapping.
Lots of people do on multi-position bars like Jones H-bars, although not normally on all the parts of the bars. My H-bars have ESI silicon grips at the end of the bars and bar tape on the rest.
The bar tape is comfy enough but for the really rough stuff it's not padded enough, doubling it up increases padding but also makes the grip bigger which can make it harder to hold on to. I would take the few grams extra of silicon grips over the reduced comfort of just bar tape.
edit- I am on a rigid bike though, people with suspension might not mind
Just use ESi grips in the thickness / diameter you want, weigh nothing, look good and are dead comfy
Although it would wear okay it wouldn't wear as well as a grip. It is not as solid as a grip (tape around the end bar plug holding in other end). It looks a bit silly.
Ive used it before, it works just fine if you get some good stuff.
But it doesnt last very long, but then i have sandpaper hands and get through bar tape on my drop bar bikes too.
It's also not exactly cheap, you can get decent grips for the same price or less.
And ESI grips are still better in every way.