Another vote for Komoot. I find it great for cycling in London - it plots a direct yet quiet route. My reason for going mudguardless on a gravel bike is that trails and mudguards don't mix. But I also use my gravel bike for commuting so therefore Log In Register. Support road. Help us to make it better. Brooks Leather handlebar tape 7.
First Published Jul 7, High quality bar tape that looks good and lasts for ever, but not the comfiest. What the road. Verdict High quality bar tape that looks good and lasts for ever, but not the comfiest. Make and model: Brooks Leather handlebar tape. Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product? Rate the product for quality of construction:.
Rate the product for performance:. Rate the product for durability:. Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:. Rate the product for value:. Tell us what you particularly liked about the product The look and the durability.
We aren't sure. Cloth bias-woven cloth tape was the norm from the late '70s well into the '80s. It is particularly associated with French bicycles, and the major brand, Velox, is French. This tape is adhesive-backed, and is applied pretty much the same as padded plastic. It is usually sold in single rolls. It isn't all that stretchy, so you may need to apply a LOT of tension to keep it from wrinkling where it rounds bends in the handlebars. It tends to be narrow, somewhat compensating for the lack of stretchiness, as does the bias weave.
It is convenient to wrap, because the roll holds together as you wrap the tape. Rivendell Bicycle Works has a Web page and video showing installation of cloth tape and securing the end with twine; see links at the end of this page..
Rivet Cycle Works and Brooks of England, which make leather saddles, also make leather handlebar tape which winds onto the handlebar like plastic or cloth tape. There are other brands as well, and a type that is sewn onto the handlebars. Leather tape is permeable to water and often perforated.
It is more expensive than other types. Thin, non-adhesive plastic tape is best applied from the center of the bar towards the ends. The starting end is covered by the overlap near the stem, and the finishing ends are tucked into the ends of the handlebars and secured by the plugs. This is the only type of tape that should be applied from the center outwards toward the ends. The first eight characteristics are obvious from looking at tape and handling it. The last three are not so obvious, but they can be important.
First things first: make sure that the brake and shift levers are the correct ones, installed where you want them and working correctly. When the tape is off the handlebar is a good time to clean the brake-lever hoods. Use detergent, water: and a scrub brush: rubber can expand as it soaks up petroleum-based solvents. With modern brake levers, the brake cables run along the upper section of the handlebar, under the tape. The handlebar may have an indented groove at the front between the brake levers for aero brake cables.
Some handlebars also have a groove at the rear for shift cables. If no cable will be running in the groove, it is best to fill the groove with a narrow strip from an old inner tube or excess handlebar tape, so that the groove does not leave a flat spot as you wind tape over it.
It is important to secure the cables snugly so that they don't move when the tape is installed or the brakes are applied. We usually do this with plastic electrician's tape. Test applying the brakes before securing the cables to be sure that the cable housing is fuly seated in the levers. A test ride without tape on the handlebars is a luxury available to the home mechanic; a shop mechanic must usually rely on experience. Wear gloves with padded palms for the test ride.
Handlebar prepared for taping, brake cables secured with electrician's tape. The handlebar shown is on a bicycle with a Sachs 3 x 7 hybrid-gearing hub, which I John Allen am shifting with a Sachs trigger control and a Shimano bar-end shifter. Cables from some brake-lever shifters exit toward the space in front of the handlebar and get in the way of a handlebar bag, one of several reasons I John Allen prefer bar-end shifters. The bar-end shifter's cable exits under the handlebar. The cable may be routed under the handlebar tape for a short distance, and held in place with electrician's tape where it will come out from under the handlebar tape.
Shimano provides a plastic sheath that goes under the handlebar tape and allows the cable housing to be slipped out-- especially helpful with stiff, failure-prone index-compatible cable housing. Now let's look at trigger shifters. A Sturmey-Archer trigger's clamp bolt passes through the body, so it can be mounted with the lever facing up or down.
A Sachs trigger shifter, as on the handlebar shown, must be mounted with the lever facing up if on the left side, or down on the right side, so its clamp bolt doesn't dig into the palm of the hand. With other hardware, you might discover an issue like this only with a test ride. The cable routing shown is direct. If the lever faces down, the cable can be routed under the handlebar tape, at the cost of some added friction. Sachs and Sturmey-Archer trigger shifters are not interchangeable, as they pull different amounts of cable.
How important can it be to check lever position -- can I reach the lever of the Sachs trigger shifter from above? The photo shows that I can, with my middle finger by reaching under the brake lever. It's much more convenient than it looks! Generally, handlebar tape should be started at the ends of the bars, winding toward the middle.
The reason for this is the direction of the overlap, specifically in the area of the "corners" the upper, forward bend of the handlebar. If you start at the ends of the bar, the layers overlap one another like the shingles of a roof, with the upper edge of the tape protected by the next winding up from it. If you start from the middle and work toward the ends, the upper edges of the tape are exposed, and hand pressure will tend to roll them down and away from the handlebar.
The exception to this is thin plastic tape , which is usually immune to this sort of failure, if installed with sufficient tension. Whether you start from the middle or from the ends, make sure to start in the same way on both sides. Sheldon generally started from the underside of the bar with the tape feeding outwards. You can do it the other way too, but make sure you follow the same pattern on both sides if you want the job to look professional. People could debate the winding direction endlessly, like chain lubrication , because there is no perfect solution -- tape will eventually fray or loosen, either way.
I John Allen have given the issue of winding direction more thought-- maybe too much, and it is a nerdy discussion so I have placed it at the end of this article. The tape has a little bit of stretch, making it easy to achieve a nice, tight finish. Continue wrapping until you come to the first joint.
Dan had marked out where his headlight and GPS mount would sit and stopped short of that before sealing off the ends with several wraps of black insulating tape. Do the same on the other side of your handlebars, using the second roll, then stand back and admire. Not that I need to tell anyone to do the admiring bit.
Fitting the tape is easy and took about 15 minutes including my interruptions for pictures and questions. However, we are planning five weeks away and that will indeed be a decent test. Remember: try to wrap evening with not too much overlap. Once you reach the bulge of the handlebar or you feel you have only one more rotation left, hold the tape and trim away the excess with a long diagonal cut. Use the finishing tape supplied in the box or electrical tape to secure the end. Repeat for the left hand side of the bar.
Remember you are wrapping from the inside of the bar outwards. This will be an anti-clockwise motion. Toggle navigation. Login Register. Home How to wrap bar tape perfectly How to wrap bar tape perfectly. Tags: How to Guides.
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