Leather Bar Tape

[Ahneida Ride]

I am a bit curious ....

I may have an opportunity to market high quality waterproof Leather
bar tape. It's Top AAA cowhide.

It there an interest in such a Product ?

I have Brooks on my bike. but Brooks is NOT impervious to water and
can't accept much abuse. This stuff can and it has a nice tacky feel.

Thanks for the feedback ...

[dave thompson]

I am a bit curious ....

I may have an opportunity to market high quality waterproof Leather
bar tape. It's Top AAA cowhide.

It there an interest in such a Product ?

I have Brooks on my bike. but Brooks is NOT impervious to water and
can't accept much abuse. This stuff can and it has a nice tacky feel.

Thanks for the feedback ...
Personally I like leather bar tape and bar covers. However, I think there is a only small market for leather bar tape of any kind, mainly because of the price point; $50 +/-. Your product would have to offer a superior advantage, as well as a superior or different look to overcome the inertia that Brooks (big name) and Fujitoshi (small name) have built up.

Your biggest project will be to find the arena(s) where you can market your item.

[SoCalSteve]

I am a bit curious ....

I may have an opportunity to market high quality waterproof Leather
bar tape. It's Top AAA cowhide.

It there an interest in such a Product ?

I have Brooks on my bike. but Brooks is NOT impervious to water and
can't accept much abuse. This stuff can and it has a nice tacky feel.

Thanks for the feedback ...

My experience is that the Brooks bar tape is pretty fragile stuff. Its faded a great deal and just has not held up as I would have thought a $50.00 piece of leather should have.

I'd be interested if indeed it held up better than the Brooks and the price point was the same.

I've gone back to $10.95 Cinelli cork tape. Feels good, last a long time and no big deal if it rips, tears, gets dirty, whatever...

Good luck!

Steve

[musgravecycles]

I've wanted to try the Honey Brooks, but forum pals have warned of the lack of durability. At that price point it's enough to keep me away. Cinelli Cork is great stuff at a very reasonable price.

FWIW I'm sure that Douglas has mentioned on several occasions that the Fujitoshi stuff is much more durable than the Brooks. I may yet give it a try...

[CNY rider]

Dude are you going to accept frn's or am I going to have to break out the bullion to try this new tape? ;)

[dbrk]

For my tastes the Brooks tape lays too thick and like all the various cork tapes (perhaps not Fizik), too spongey. I find the Fujitoshi far superior---this being about a three year experiment's conclusion but ymmv. The Fujitoshi lays nearly as right as the cotton Viva, which is superior to the Tressostar. I prefer an extremely positive feel on my handlebars and if you use reasonable tires (not super hard, skinny race tires) I find that there's plenty of comfort. Leather wrap, like the stuff that Velo-Orange sells, is really swell. My Mariposas (some of them) are also leather wrapped (rather than tape)---Tim Hinton from Mariposa used tennis racket handle wrap, I think---perfect. All of the leathers, wrap or tape, that I use survive wet conditions, they just need to dry out after getting drenched. Think: that wet TdFL ride---all the bikes and saddles are fine and we were _wet_.

dbrk

[Ahneida Ride]

I have not tried the Fujitoshi or Selle An-Atomica Tape.
Velo Orange is Sew up. The Price is right ! I have some but never installed it.

IMHO, Brooks leaves something to be desired, especially for 70 frn.
It's a bit too fragile, and my Brooks tape started turning white after the wet TdfL. I don't believe that Brooks is top AAA cowhide.
For 70 frn, I expect better.

Hmmm..... And then Brooks lacks cool color choices.

An expensive tape should stand up to repetitive abuse, repel water and
still maintain a nice tactile touch. It should last !

And yes I will accept frn. I have little choice. How much frn is good tape
worth?

[SoCalSteve]

I have not tried the Fujitoshi or Selle An-Atomica Tape.
Velo Orange is Sew up. The Price is right ! I have some but never installed it.

IMHO, Brooks leaves something to be desired, especially for 70 frn.
It's a bit too fragile, and my Brooks tape started turning white after the wet TdfL. I don't believe that Brooks is top AAA cowhide.
For 70 frn, I expect better.

Hmmm..... And then Brooks lacks cool color choices.

An expensive tape should stand up to repetitive abuse, repel water and
still maintain a nice tactile touch. It should last !

And yes I will accept frn. I have little choice. How much frn is good tape
worth?

If it really does last and does not fade, I'd pay $50.00, but, I'd only use it on a maybe a couple of my bikes...I still like the Cinelli cork tape.

Honey and black would be my two choices of colors.

Steve

[cs124]

...fifty bucks...especially if it came in RED.

[dave thompson]

I have not tried the Fujitoshi or Selle An-Atomica Tape.
Velo Orange is Sew up. The Price is right ! I have some but never installed it.

IMHO, Brooks leaves something to be desired, especially for 70 frn.
It's a bit too fragile, and my Brooks tape started turning white after the wet TdfL. I don't believe that Brooks is top AAA cowhide.
For 70 frn, I expect better.

Hmmm..... And then Brooks lacks cool color choices.

An expensive tape should stand up to repetitive abuse, repel water and
still maintain a nice tactile touch. It should last !

And yes I will accept frn. I have little choice. How much frn is good tape
worth?
Do you have some of the tape to sell? Sell a few examples here and solicit comments. Put some on your bike and post pics.

If the tape is as good as you say and in the Brooks/Fujitoshi price range ($50-ish) I would buy some.

[Andreas]

but Brooks is NOT impervious to water and
can't accept much abuse

The same is true for their saddles. Slowly I am getting sick of replacing the saddle every year when it is worn out.
With sun, rain, snow and salt, Temps from -20F (don't ride when it is colder) to 100F the leather is just not happy. After about 10K miles I am sitting on the rivets.
And yep, I do put a cover on during winter and when it is raining. Still.

So for my commutes I am back to using a Rolls. Will see how it holds up.

For handlebar tape, cotton. It's thin, immune to cold and heat (as opposed to leather), sturdy (as opposed to cork). If it does wear out, I just put another thin layer over the old one.

Greets.

[musgravecycles]

The same is true for their saddles. Slowly I am getting sick of replacing the saddle every year when it is worn out.
With sun, rain, snow and salt, Temps from -20F (don't ride when it is colder) to 100F the leather is just not happy. After about 10K miles I am sitting on the rivets.
And yep, I do put a cover on during winter and when it is raining. Still.


Where do you live, in the amazon? Which model are you talking about?

I regularly see bikes come in for service that are wearing 15-20 yr-old Brooks/Ideals with in come cases 50k miles on them. Granted these guys take good care of them, but that seems awfully fast to wear out bro...

[Andreas]

Where do you live, in the amazon? Which model are you talking about?

I regularly see bikes come in for service that are wearing 15-20 yr-old Brooks/Ideals with in come cases 50k miles on them. Granted these guys take good care of them, but that seems awfully fast to wear out bro...

Don't live in NC :D
Didn't know that the amazon gets to -20F...
Live in NH.

I wore out two B-17s over the last three years. Since I have switched to a Professional (B-17 is too wide for me anyway) and the leather is thicker. And a Rolls on my commute/long-distance fixie.
I am sure there are 20 year old Brooks out there. Around here, we have snow and salt on the road for about 4-5 months of the year. I ride year round. Fenders - yes, saddle cover - yes. They just don't last that long. BTW, I am not the only one in NE who has made that experience with Brooks saddles.
I take pretty good care of the saddle, wipe it dry, proofide. But in winter it goes from cold (-20 to 20F) into a warm office (70F) and back to cold every day. Can't leave it outside, don't like digging it out... I think it dislikes temperature swings.

[Ahneida Ride]

Thanks for all the feeback ....
70 frn for Brooks is a bit too expensive for this quality.
I too would love great tape for 50 frn ....

One that lasts, is water repellent, comes in colors and has a nice
tactile feel.

I'll see what I can do.

How about the width of the bar tape? .....
my guess is 1 and 1/8 inches ....

[musgravecycles]

I wore out two B-17s over the last three years. Since I have switched to a Professional (B-17 is too wide for me anyway) and the leather is thicker. And a Rolls on my commute/long-distance fixie.
I am sure there are 20 year old Brooks out there. Around here, we have snow and salt on the road for about 4-5 months of the year. I ride year round. Fenders - yes, saddle cover - yes. They just don't last that long. BTW, I am not the only one in NE who has made that experience with Brooks saddles.

No worries mate, it was a bit tongue-n-cheek. :banana:

I just moved to NC, the shop where I worked until very recently was in Michigan. Same deal, lots'o salt and wetness with guys who ride year-round.

I think the difference with yours is the extreme temp swings several times a day, I'm sure my guys are once a day, and bike stays in garage (not 70 deg) rest of the time...

[SoCalSteve]

No worries mate, it was a bit tongue-n-cheek. :banana:

I just moved to NC, the shop where I worked until very recently was in Michigan. Same deal, lots'o salt and wetness with guys who ride year-round.

I think the difference with yours is the extreme temp swings several times a day, I'm sure my guys are once a day, and bike stays in garage (not 70 deg) rest of the time...

In the Brooks maintenance literature it specifically tells you not to heat up (dry) a saddle after its gotten wet. I am sure the extreme tempature changes do not help either.

That makes total sense as you are dealing with leather. Even with Proofhide, etc...

I can see my Brooks saddles lasting 20+ years as I live in sunny SoCal, they never get wet and the temperatures never vary that much.

[Ahneida Ride]

I've got my B67 wet numerous times. I just let it dry slowly and
then re-Proofide it

Just replaced the B67 with a Honey B17 Ti at the suggestion of SoCalSal,
DBRK and Smiley and others ... THANKS !!!

Thanks Steve for your gracious reviews ..