Bar tape needs redoing?
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Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby uad782 » Wed Mar 15, 2017 7:52 pm
Sorry for such a simple question but have only ridden flat bar bikes for the last 25 years with my new Salsa Fargo being my first foray into drop bars.
I went for a ride in the rain the other day and noticed my bar tape unravelling from the end of the bar. It got up to about the middle of the drops. I was surprised this happened but do note that I tend to twist my hands on the tape a bit. The rain was torrential and the bar tape got soaked.
I have tried quickly tightening from the drops down without success. It seems I have to put the tape under the bit above it - as ifI am going backwards.
Is there any trick to doing this? Do I need to wait until the tape is dry? I have had a quick look at some youtube vids but they all start at the top.
Thanks
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby Duck! » Wed Mar 15, 2017 8:08 pm
If the wrap has loosened too badly you may need to fully unwind it & redo from the start.
PS: That's one hell of a bar angle you have! Can you even reach the brake levers from the drops?
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby Dodgy-Knee » Wed Mar 15, 2017 8:38 pm
As for your bar tape - the underside of new bar tape has a sticky strip that stops the tape from coming loose ... it basically sticks to itself as you wind it on... getting it soaked may have reduced the stickiness. I cant quite make out where the tape started unwinding... did it unwind from the end of the bars? If it did, check to see if you still have the bar tape plug that holds the free end inside the hollow bar ... you'll need this part to keep it from coming out. If it started unwinding from the middle of the bar or from where your hand grabs the tape, this might be due to my earlier point (no sticky backing).
The best solution is to unwind the tape completely and re-wrap the bar starting from the bar end and working your way up to the stem... bar tape is something that gets changed reasonably often (depending on how fussy you are) so it would be good to know how to do it.
If you just unwind the tape to where it has started unwinding and then re-wrap it back down to the end of the bar, you'll be working backwards and you'll have to tuck the new wrap under the old wrap ... hard to explain but you'll know what I mean if you try it ... better to start at the end and work towards the top in one go.
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby Mulger bill » Wed Mar 15, 2017 8:50 pm
Three tricks I've learnt:
Wrap so that the natural action of your hands on the bars acts to tighten the tape, this means that the tape wraps outward from the bottom of the bar to the lever and then reverses as it passes the lever to wrap front to back.
Do a dry run first without exposing the adhesive strip to help you get a feel for the tension and overlaps.
Pull the tape tight constantly as you go and don't let it slack off.
This is probably the best video I've found.
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby uad782 » Wed Mar 15, 2017 9:39 pm
With regards the bar angle it is the way it is meant to be. These are not standard drops but " wood chipper" bars made by Salsa. If you look at the Salsa Fargo pictures on the Salsa website you will get a better idea. Having said that they could be rotated a very small amount.
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby ironhanglider » Wed Mar 15, 2017 9:57 pm
Also back in the 80's the correct place to put brake levers was to have the tip of them in line with the underside of the drops as measured by strapping a ruler to the bottom of the bars. This went out the window with STI (with longer levers) in the 90's.
Cheers,
Cameron
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby P!N20 » Thu Mar 16, 2017 9:54 am
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby Duck! » Thu Mar 16, 2017 1:56 pm
Slick though it looks with no finishing tape, the problem with top-down wrapping is that your hands are pushing against the overlapping edges, so the tape is more prone to curling, tearing or being generally roughed up. Bottom-up wrapping has the overlapped edges running the same way as hand pressure, so it stays in place a lot better unless it's crap tape with poor stickiness, which allows it to creep.Mulger bill wrote:Top down or bottom up is a choice thing. Top down is more "pro" as a good wrap won't need finishing tape.
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby hamishm » Thu Mar 16, 2017 5:41 pm
I followed that and found that the tape on the drops unwound pretty quick, and my mechanic re-did it in the opposite direction. Either the video is wrong or I'm an idiot (but they don't actually make it terribly clear which direction to wrap the drops...).Mulger bill wrote:This is probably the best video I've found.
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby Mulger bill » Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:43 pm
Agreed, I've never wrapped top down. The better the tape, the longer it lasts. I only recently redid my commuter after about 6 years (DiPell leather) and it's still good enough to go on the pursuit bars on my beater FG.Duck! wrote:Slick though it looks with no finishing tape, the problem with top-down wrapping is that your hands are pushing against the overlapping edges, so the tape is more prone to curling, tearing or being generally roughed up. Bottom-up wrapping has the overlapped edges running the same way as hand pressure, so it stays in place a lot better unless it's crap tape with poor stickiness, which allows it to creep.Mulger bill wrote:Top down or bottom up is a choice thing. Top down is more "pro" as a good wrap won't need finishing tape.
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby Mulger bill » Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:49 pm
Below the lever, wrap outward. Above, wrap inward. Most importantly, keep it tight. Plenty of tension as you apply and don't let it go until you're done.hamishm wrote:I followed that and found that the tape on the drops unwound pretty quick, and my mechanic re-did it in the opposite direction. Either the video is wrong or I'm an idiot (but they don't actually make it terribly clear which direction to wrap the drops...).Mulger bill wrote:This is probably the best video I've found.
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby Duck! » Thu Mar 16, 2017 9:33 pm
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby uad782 » Thu Mar 16, 2017 10:27 pm
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby Thoglette » Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:18 am
Duck is right, once again.Duck! wrote:and wrap a couple of turns of leckie tape to finish - the supplied stuff usually doesn't stick!
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby hamishm » Fri Mar 17, 2017 11:24 am
Ah, so I did follow the video correctly. It turned out rubbish though and came unwound quickly. The mechanic at my LBS rewrapped it all inwards, which incidentally is how I wrapped my other bike a couple of years back and it's held up well.Mulger bill wrote:Below the lever, wrap outward. Above, wrap inward. Most importantly, keep it tight. Plenty of tension as you apply and don't let it go until you're done.hamishm wrote:I followed that and found that the tape on the drops unwound pretty quick, and my mechanic re-did it in the opposite direction. Either the video is wrong or I'm an idiot (but they don't actually make it terribly clear which direction to wrap the drops...).Mulger bill wrote:This is probably the best video I've found.
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby uad782 » Fri Feb 02, 2018 7:44 pm
People often talk of wrapping towards or away from the centre of the bike. I am not really sure what this means as at some point either direction is wrapping toward to centre of the bike.
Like Parktool says I tend to rotate my hands outwards when riding.
Any comments appreciated.
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Re: Bar tape needs redoing?
Postby P!N20 » Fri Feb 02, 2018 9:43 pm
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