PRO Sport Comfort Tape, Black

Product Information

Brooks Leather bar tape caters perfectly for those seeking a retro feel or a bar tape that matches their faithful Brooks saddle. Handlebar tape is primarily designed to enhance comfort and grip. This is particularly useful in wet weather or long rides. It can also reduce the risk of blisters. While this is bar tape’s main purpose, the bright colours available can be used to increase visibility and personalise the look of your bike. Fabric Bar Tape If you're old school, you can still buy Velox cloth rim tape for just two quid per side and there's still some uncushioned Benotto tape out there too. Keep up the tension: Once you've started your wrap you'll need to keep an even tension on the tape to ensure a clean and secure wrap. This is when tape choice can help, with some tapes offering more stretch than others.

Bar tapes are made from a fairly wide range of materials, with lots of variation in the details; it's the materials and how they're used that determines how the tape will feel under your hands. Bar tape can be made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate) foam (EVA), polyurethane (PU), polyester microfibre, silicone, or leather, often blended and bonded to get the feel the designers are aiming for. Brooks Cambium Rubber Tape, for example, has a polyurethane coating over a polyester and EVA mixture, while cork tape combines tiny bits of cork with an EVA matrix (an idea claimed by Antonio Colombo of Cinelli). You might also run across the abbreviation TNT which stands for the Italian Tessuto Non Tessuto. That indicates there's a nonwoven fabric somewhere in the mix and not that your handlebar tape is in any danger of exploding. Kinesis’s 4 Seasons tape may look pretty ordinary but there’s plenty of detail here that make it worthy of this best handlebar tape guide. La Spirale still makes Bike Ribbon in their small factory in Carate Brianza, north of Milan where Ermanno and Rosita's son Stefano is now at the helm. The guys at CyclingTips did a nice interview with him a few years ago. Tester Steph writes: “Made from a synthetic and natural cork mix with 2.8mm of padding and gel on the inner side, it is very comfortable and easy on the hands. I noticed the grip immediately without gloves on, and felt that even in wet conditions it would work extremely well. I usually ride with gloves, but went without just to give it a fair chance to shine. The grip was beyond excellent, even in damper weather. The gel underlay seemed to absorb any bumps I may have felt otherwise, and if coupled with gloves your hands would barely suffer.

When it comes to wrapping, some synthetic bar tapes are high-stretch, making it easier to wrap the tape around brake levers and hoods. The length of bar tape can also impact wrapping. If you are wrapping particularly wide bars, say on a gravel bike, then you will have less material to play with. The thread that pulls all those situations together is rough roads and long days. Having the best bar tape can be a surprisingly big upgrade in those situations. The right gravel specific bar tape will last a long time, provide tons of cushion, and feel good on your hands. It doesn't hurt that there's tonnes of options for style to match the best gravel handlebars and the best gravel bikes. Also, this is an upgrade that won't break the bank. You're spoilt for choice when it comes to bar tape, but this is as nice as any I've used - comfortable, super-grippy and reusable. Lovely bar tape from Tortec. Recommended.

This is an easy to apply tape that won't break the bank and well worth considering for longer rides. If you’re inordinately fond of cleaning your bike, you can get Power Touch tape in white for just 12 quid from Chain Reaction. No bar tape guide is complete without a traditional cork offering. If you’re of a certain age there’s a good chance that cork tape is all you knew for many years, after it superseded cotton and vinyl in both performance and comfort after its invention in 1983. In this instance we’ve gone for SRAM’s Supercork.

To do its job well, handlebar tape has to be comfortable, hard-wearing and grippy, and it doesn't hurt if it looks good. We've wrapped scores of handlebars and ridden thousands of miles or Tarmac and gravel to bring you the best bar tapes you can buy.

New handlebar tape is a sure-fire way to give your bike a new lease of life. Dave Caudery/Immediate Media He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history. If you're commuting all-year-round, and want a basic bar tape that will stand the test of time, you might want to look to leather tape for its durability. While its price is comparable to some of the most expensive tapes, so it the performance and for those of you who are happy to pay for it then it is a good investment.”Your handlebar tape is the essential interface between your bike and part of your body that's full of nerve endings, sensitive tendons and small bones: your hands. It needs to provide both cushioning to reduce the road buzz a bit, and a grippy surface for your hands to hang on to in all weathers. Tester David writes: “Prologo is best known for its large range of saddles but also produces a range of bar tape, so if you're using a Prologo seat you can match the bar tape on your bike. There's nothing better than matched saddle and bar tape if you care about the appearance of your bicycle, and the grip and cushioning this tape provides makes it a good choice even if you’re not going for looks. If you prioritise style over everything, then the best bar tape for you might be cotton or leather, since it offers a retro aesthetic.

The tape is perforated to provide some texture and ventilation and offers a firm bar feel. If you prefer more padding it would be worth pairing with some gel pads or a softer bar tape underneath. As with all leather products, this bar tape is very hard-wearing and should last a lot longer than synthetic counterparts, plus as it ages the bar tape will develop a patina giving your bike a pleasant weathered look. Two colour matched rubber bar ends plugs and adhesive cloth strips are included with the tape to finish it off.The best aspect of the tape is the diamond texture serves to increase grip. This makes it an ideal choice for any readers who happily ride without gloves, as even when you've got a bit sweaty there is still good grip on the handlebars. Your hands feel very secure with gloves too. It's also really good in the rain, as it simply serves up more grip than most regular bar tape. Bike Ribbon uses pretty much all the materials and finishes mentioned above and makes bar tape for a lot of other brands. It's a good bet that many of the tapes above started life in Carate Brianza. Like many other tape makers they've also recently introduced silicone tapes. If you're a serial tinkerer when it comes to your bike setup, you might find that you need to unwrap your bar tape to move your shifters or replace brake and gear cables. Watch the gap: As you wrap, always stay alert for any gaps in the tape. Not only is this unsightly and unprofessional it could also lead to a less than secure finish.