When did bar tape move from cotton to 'cork'?

[Nicktid]

Hi All,
I am restoring a 1978 ARGOS and I am at the fun stage of assembling the bike, having had the frame resprayed.
My question is what type of bar tape to use.
Obviously I can use old school cotton tape but I was wondering at what point the more modern 'cork' type tape became available.
I guess the earlier 'splash' type colours were some of the first to be used but does anyone know when the change from cotton tape occured?

Thanks,
Nick.

 

[Johnsqual]

Hey,

Between cotton tape and modern cork, there were two types:
Benotto 'cello' bar tape, which is very thin plastic tape. It is
shiny, can (in theory) be attached without adhesive, and looks
quite classy. However, it has no shock absorbing qualities at all.

In the later 1970's-mid 1980's, bike ribbon tape was used. Bike ribbon
tape has a foam backing and a vinyl (?) surface thar gives a sort of fake leather appearance.
It is more shock absorbing than either cloth or Benotto tape.

I think either of these would be suitable for a 1978 bike, depends on
your preferences. Benotto tape can be found on e-bay or at bike jumbles.
Chain Reaction cycles still seems to stock bike ribbon type stuff at a reasonable price.

Good luck,

Johnny

 

[foz]

I don't think cork appeared until the early 90's. A quick check of older professional racing photos should help work out more or less which year it became popular

 

[Midlife]

I worked in a bike shop until 1978........ Most people used Tressostar bar tape

The only other type readily available was the shiny non-adhesive plastic tape usually found on Raleigh's LOL

Shaun

 

[bobbinogs]

Fizik Microtex is quite a good cheat if you cannot get anything authentic. Not too thick but a little comforting in a nice perforated (synthetic) leather.

 

[Citoyen du monde]

Hi All,
I am restoring a 1978 ARGOS and I am at the fun stage of assembling the bike, having had the frame resprayed.
My question is what type of bar tape to use.
Obviously I can use old school cotton tape but I was wondering at what point the more modern 'cork' type tape became available.
I guess the earlier 'splash' type colours were some of the first to be used but does anyone know when the change from cotton tape occured?

Thanks,
Nick.

Johnsqual got it almost perfect. For high end bikes, they had cloth or Benotto style cellotape for most of the 70's. Both carried on well into the 80's. I believe the first time we saw the padded Bike Ribbon was in 1979-80. Cinelli cork tape came out in about 1985-6.

 

[Spokesmann]

I worked in a bike shop until 1978........ Most people used Tressostar bar tape

The only other type readily available was the shiny non-adhesive plastic tape usually found on Raleigh's LOL

Shaun

That old shiny stuff lost any grip after a while!

Personally I still prefer cloth tape to anything else.

 

[Nicktid]

Thank you all for your informed replies.

Cheers,
Nick.

 

[Midlife]

Yep spokesman. It lost it's grip LOL People leaned their bikes against a wall and rtipped the non-adhesive plastic tape, it then unwound and trailed behind the bike flapping in the wind... Bluemells did one

The two cotton tape camps were divided as to where you finished the tape. The older camp started at the top of the bars and finished at the bar plug, the problem was that the edge of the tape was at the top and rolled / frayed. The young upstarts started at the bar plug and went towards the top of the bars which needed additional adhesive tape to keep it at the top but at least it didn't fray.

In any case we changed it 4-5 times per season and for special events

Shaun

 

[mattsccm]

I used Benotto tape on my Raleigh in about '85 as that was all there was about that wasn't cotton.
I still like Bikeribbon as it looks nice and diesn'r hold the dirt.