Cotton Tape on Modern Bikes?

[DRietz]

Anyone have opinions on the matter? Classy? Too retro? Comfy? etc...

Pictures?

[cat6]

not too comfy...i went through a phase of cloth and shellac. looks damn good, and shellac'd cloth will outlast cork.

i personally like the way it looks more than cork, but i won't use it anymore on any bike i plan on riding more than 30 miles with. some people will argue that padded gloves are enough...not for me.

give it a shot, you can get cotton wrap for $10, and some shellac from the hardware store. easy removal w/denatured alcohol.

[DRietz]

I figured that possibly double wrapping the bars would still give a good look with a bit more comfort...

[jimsantos]

I have cloth tape on my track bikes, and am quite happy with it.

As for road, I had cloth on my Ciocc which went well with the vintage build, but did tend to numb my hands on longer rides.

Double wrapping certainly helps with comfort. I know folks who just keep putting more and more layers as the tape shows wear. After 3-4 layers its quite comparable to foam/cork/gel, and should last a good bit longer.

Also heard that Fizik gel inserts or an old innertube under the tape adds a good amount of cushion, though I haven't tried either myself.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5223/5633742940_030717a98b_z.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/5199478467_2f8809db98_z.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4521770054_c2f6b74768_z.jpg

[FastVegan]

A good friend only uses cloth tape, he buys black hockey tape and uses it on all his bikes, track, TT road and cross. I used his bike for a cx race and hated the tape. I think the bigest problem is you can feel the cable housing, even with groved bars.

It looks cool, what ever that is worth.

[fiamme red]

I like Newbaum's cotton handlebar tape. A bit of a pain to wrap, but so far it's been durable for me, and it looks great. Maybe I should try shellac sometime.

I've had numbness in my ring finger and pinky after long brevets in the past, but I did a 600km brevet a few weeks ago on bars wrapped with only one layer of Newbaum's, and my hands were perfectly fine.

[keevon]

I have really big hands - like, XL or XXL size gloves.

With that in mind, I find that cotton tape typically makes the bars feel too skinny. I need the extra girth that padded tape offers to help the bars fill out my hands.

Aesthetically, I have no issue with cotton tape on any bike. Although you might find something like Bontrager Grippy Tape to be more functional than cotton: it's thin, wraps easily, holds up well, and offers good grip wet or dry.

[bicycletricycle]

i think it feels nice.

http://i975.photobucket.com/albums/ae236/bicycletricycle/IMG_0326.jpg

[mgd]

cotton over the cheapo, thin cork tape is nice.

you can definitely get used to thin, hard feel of just cloth, but it's different, and possibly not ideal for all.

i've noticed that cotton over bar pads or over thick cork like cinelli is too weird looking for me. feels a little funny, too.

[SteveFrench]

Hmmm, I hadn't considered this option yet for my current steel bike build. Thanks DRietz for starting this topic. Can someone explain to me how the shellac is applied? Do you just wrap the bars and then "paint" it with shellac? And what purpose exactly does the shellac serve? Apologies for my lack of knowledge. Thanks!

[Ken Robb]

I have both kinds of tape: one is cloth. They both work for me but I like my bars at or slightly above saddle height so I have little weight on my hands. Before I figured out that big saddle-to-bar drop was NOT the position for me my hands would often go numb no matter what combination of gloves and padded tape I tried.

[cat6]

http://velo-orange.blogspot.com/2009/01/shellac-and-bar-tape-guide.html

[pbbob]

cotton tape feels thick compared to the benotto tape I grew up with.
retaped my peg with black cotton tape today.

[DRietz]

Hmmm, I hadn't considered this option yet for my current steel bike build. Thanks DRietz for starting this topic. Can someone explain to me how the shellac is applied? Do you just wrap the bars and then "paint" it with shellac? And what purpose exactly does the shellac serve? Apologies for my lack of knowledge. Thanks!

I like applying the shellac with an old paint brush, and you have the technique down already.

The shellac acts as both a protectant and an accentual piece.