Handlebar tape direction of application.

[TheCyclingRooster]

Hi to you all out there. After many many years of applying handlebar tape from the bottom and winding over and into the frame and then ending up with the finishing strip of plastic on the top and where the hands often fall whilst riding relaxed on the tops - I am pondering starting on the tops for a cleaner and more secure finish and closing at the bottom with the bar-end plugs.
I always use a tubular foam under-padding because a more comfortable grip - large hands don't like skinny bars.
My notion is to start on top and wind the tape over and down towards the front wheel.

What are the Pro's & Con's of either/both approaches.

Potentially there are four different approaches to the bar-tape covering issue.

From what I can see,the cycle trade use the long and tried method as per my own long used/copied method,indeed since 1959 on my very first dropped-bar road bike - a 1937 Hetrchins Vibrant Track Frame.

 

[mickle]

Blasphemy!! There is only one direction - from the bottom.

 

[ufkacbln]

Both?

 

[midlife]

Start from the bottom and there is less fraying in the tops because of the direction but you have to sticky tape it in the top

Start at the top and the edges are exposed uppermost but you secure it with the plugs so there is no sticky tape.

Horses for courses but number one gets my vote

Shaun

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Both?

Neat but I can see why patience gets named in the credits. (I'd have liked to have seen the end result.)

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

Blasphemy!! There is only one direction - from the bottom.

Hi mickle. Blasphemy my Bare Bars !!!!! and in any event, do you start and wind inward and over or inward and under ?

Surely riding/grip style has a great deal to do with direction of wind and especially whether from top to bottom or bottom to top.

The video is interesting but typical Yanks OTT. After finishing that Work of Art would you really want to risk cocking it up with a sideways slide and pints of blood from a mega spread of Road Rash ?

I would be more inclined to hang it on the wall above the open fire and relax with some Classical Music and a couple of Scotches.

 

[jazzkat]

Going from the top down raises the potential (I am led to beleive) that the weight on the bars pulls the tape in the 'wrong' direction, loosening rather than tightening the wrap. I've always done it from the bottom up so I have no direct experience of this happening.
I have, however, had a go at that Harlequin wrap, it looks good but it takes a bit of time to get right.

 

[zacklaws]

To find out which way to wrap your tape, find out which way you twist your hands on the bars when climbing hills or how you twist or pull on the bars when sprinting, then wrap the tape in the same direction. For a normal rider its usually left side of the bar, clockwise and the right side, anticlockwise, but the odd rider can have the opposite twisting action which on a normal wrapped bar would have a loosening action on the tape.

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

Going from the top down raises the potential (I am led to beleive) that the weight on the bars pulls the tape in the 'wrong' direction, loosening rather than tightening the wrap. I've always done it from the bottom up so I have no direct experience of this happening.
I have, however, had a go at that Harlequin wrap, it looks good but it takes a bit of time to get right.

Hi jazzkat. Surely the notion of loosening the tape will depend upon how tightly it is applied - in the first place.
After-all when the tape is started at the bottom and wound inwardly- up and over and around the levers,the top before the finishing stips are applied can end up going either way bepending on the run-out from the levers. Mine always finish by winding over and out from the back of the bars as opposed to winding over and inward from the front.

I have never experienced loosening between the finishing strips and the levers ,nor have I ever had the tape on the lowers come adrift

 

[simongt]

The harlequin tape looks very pretty - if you want to spend all that effort - ! Notice he's using ordinary canvas tape; would it work with the newer padded tapes I wonder, all that wrapping and unwrapping to achieve the effect - ? Agree with Zacklaws though; start at the bottom of each bar and wrap in a outward direction, as that's how I pull on my bars, and end up @ the top with finishing tape.

 

[biggs682]

top outwards for me

 

[huwsparky]

I changed mine last week and stated at the bottom. However, it came from the shop from new the opposite.

 

[raleighnut]

Top outwards is nicknamed 'The Raleigh Wrap' guess which one I use, but it only really works with thin tape like the cloth tape I use. I find it best but always wear padded gloves these days.

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

Top outwards is nicknamed 'The Raleigh Wrap' guess which one I use, but it only really works with thin tape like the cloth tape I use. I find it best but always wear padded gloves these days.

Hi rn. Yes it is self explanatory. I can fully understand the regular cloth tape not causing problems but if the "Cork" type is on tight enough then surely that will not give rise to loosening off either. The only things that I wear on my hands are my leather padded palm crocheted backs - 1960's track mitts.

 

[raleighnut]

Hi rn. Yes it is self explanatory. I can fully understand the regular cloth tape not causing problems but if the "Cork" type is on tight enough then surely that will not give rise to loosening off either. The only things that I wear on my hands are my leather padded palm crocheted backs - 1960's track mitts.

The trouble with a thicker padded bar tape is that you cannot get the bar end plugs in to stop the tape unravelling.