Any tips on bar tape winding?

[Iwasgoodonce]

Right. Have been preparing myself for this and events went something like this:

1. Decided that today is the day.
2. Managed to locate the hide of a freshly sacraficed oxen.
3. Stripped naked, (not pretty) and sat in a waterfall high in the mountains wrapped in the oxen skin for 12 hours.
4. Meditated for a further 12 hours.
5. Approached the bike in a zen like state of concentration.
6. Followed instructions to the letter. This was easy as my mind and soul were so clear.
7. K*&ked it up so badly you wouldn't believe it if you saw it.
8. Had a 'two year old' style tantrum.
9. Bruised toes kicking large immoveable object.
10.Rang Fred Williams Cycles and, crying a bit ask them to do it.

 

[BenR]

I always tape from the bar ends inwards, this means that when you slide your hands forward on the bars you are going off the edges of the tape.

 

[CAS]

6. Followed instructions to the letter. This was easy as my mind and soul were so clear.
7. K*&ked it up so badly you wouldn't believe it if you saw it.
8. .

Sorry to hear that! - perhaps we could have a trade off? - you could sort out some of my dodgy gear set ups in return for a bar tape winding demo!

 

[Agency_Scum]

Or you could go for the comfy approach and use two tapes...

Everyone calls my Longstaff tourer " Denis the Menace. "

 

[CAS]

Wow! - can't compete with that. Do you just start them off together and alternate turns? I plan to put new bar tape on one of my bikes after Easter - might give it a go. Presumably you use fairly thin tapes or it would bulk up the bars too much?

 

[REKIBorter]

Youtube is your friend in all bar tape matters. There are lots of tutorials showing many techniques, look at a few and take the best bits of each method. That's how I did it, my first effort is very pleasing and still going strong to this day. Best tip was to put a line of Pritstik glue on the outside of the lower bar and rear of the top bar.

 

[Agency_Scum]

@Cas,
yes you can mate! You just need to make as many cock-ups as I have. My favourite was climbing Park Street hill when the bar tape snapped and unravelled....

...faster than matron's knicker elastic!

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

Thanks for the offers of advice. I'm just inept. The shop did a very nice job for £5. I know that is a fiver I could have saved, but at £8 a throw wasted the damn stuff was not going to save me any dosh. I'm a failure.

 

[Agency_Scum]

Find a nice bike shop ( sounds like you already have ). Bring choccy hobnobs and ask them to give you knackered handlebars and their manky old tapes. Now practice to your heart's content. Bet you never thought of doing that?

 

[GarethPJ]

It's always worth test fitting the tape without removing the backing tape. Use a bit of insulating tape to tack it at your starting point and have a few goes until you are happy with the finished article. Then you should be a lot more confident when you do it for real and avoid such cock ups as running out of tape before you get to the end.