Wrapping bars - When did we switch techniques?

[Clancy]

Originally Posted by Seramount

when I got my first 'real' bike (ca. 1975), used cloth tape, always did top-down. stuff didn't last very long, so wasn't a big deal to change it often.

the Specialized Allez Epic I bought in 1992 came from the shop with some kind of high-gloss bar tape wrapped from the top-down. whatever it was, it lasted a looooong time...like a decade or more.

now that I use Fizik tape, always go bottom-to-top and finish with the self-fusing stuff...it's really nice.

this Is exactly as I remember! For awhile there, based on comments, I thought I was losing my mind.

As to comments about wrapping bars this way or that way and having hand pressure push or roll the tape - I’ve always found that is caused by a poor fit, not necessarily the way the tape is wrapped.