Cheap bar tape?

I personally use pvc electrical tape. looks great and is cheap.

Brian Watson said:

I have a bunch of old bikes that I like to play with - swap parts here and there etc. Problem
is, every time I want to change the stem, bars or levers on a road bike I am up for $20 for new
bar tape.

Anyone know where I can get a big role of old fashion cloth tape that I can use?

Thanks,

Brian

"Arpit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I personally use pvc electrical tape. looks great and is cheap.

Pretty slippery though, especially if you've got the sweats on. I love my Cinellli bar tape - it's
not cheap but it's heaps better than the cheap, shiny [censored] that was on my older bikes.

hippy

Perhaps you could look in one of those haberdashery(?) shops, i.e. Spotlight. For a roll of material that you could wind on and while you are there look for some glue to adhere it with.

powinc

Brian Watson <[email hidden]> wrote:
: I have a bunch of old bikes that I like to play with - swap parts here and there etc. Problem
: is, every time I want to change the stem, bars or levers on a road bike I am up for $20 for new
: bar tape.

: Anyone know where I can get a big role of old fashion cloth tape that I can use?

Check out the online sellers, ie, Phantom, Deanwoods, Cecilwalker, etc. The cheapest I've seen is
$10. I once checked out the tape used for hockey sticks and tennis racquets - seems it would be even
more expensive than the best name brand bike stuff.

Electrical tape has no padding at all although it is cheap.

Cheerz, Lynzz

"Brian Watson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I have a bunch of old bikes that I like to play with - swap parts here and there etc. Problem
is, every time I want to change the stem, bars or levers on a road bike I am up for $20 for new
bar tape.

Anyone know where I can get a big role of old fashion cloth tape that I can use?

I wrapped my bars in double sided sticky tape (hardware store) then with plain cloth tape
(Spotlight). Good enough.

Cheers

AW

Lindsay Rowlands said:

Electrical tape has no padding at all although it is cheap.

After a while it starts to break down / shrink and all the sticky stuff comes out the sides and onto
your hands. On the bright side - I guess your hands would never slip off the bars.

I like foam tubing personally, but it's probably comparable in price to bar tape. You can get the
nice stuff they use on fishing rods. If you want the dirt-cheap side, you can also get hot water
pipe insulation, but it tends to be too thick.

-kt

--
Kingsley Turner, (mailto: [email hidden]) maddogsbreakfast.commaddogsbreakfast.comOpen ↗ - Travel
Tales: The good, bad, and down-right ugly

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like I am off to spotlight!

Brian

"Alan Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Brian Watson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I have a bunch of old bikes that I like to play with - swap parts here

and

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

there etc. Problem is, every time I want to change the stem, bars or

levers

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

on a road bike I am up for $20 for new bar tape.

Anyone know where I can get a big role of old fashion cloth tape that I

can

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

use?

I wrapped my bars in double sided sticky tape (hardware store) then with plain cloth tape
(Spotlight). Good enough.

Cheers

AW

kingsley wrote:

....snip.....

Quoted message said:

I like foam tubing personally, but it's probably comparable in price to bar tape. You can get the
nice stuff they use on fishing rods. If you want the dirt-cheap side, you can also get hot water
pipe insulation, but it tends to be too thick.

My LBS has some foam tube (pink card labelled, 4 lengths for drop bars) for <$20. You would only
need a few packets for playing mix and match at best. Use soap and water to apply and soapy water in
syringe to loosen/remove.

Or cheap roles of cloth tape for experimentation, then quality when you are happy.

wholesalers are getting cheaper all the time for this kind of stuff we have around 4 colours of
generic cork tape by Velo at $13 a set but then most stuff is cheaper here in the West . Drop us a
line & we'll post it Australiawide for that price. www.idealcycles.com

Brian Watson said:

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like I am off to spotlight!

Brian

"Alan Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Brian Watson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I have a bunch of old bikes that I like to play with - swap parts here

and

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

there etc. Problem is, every time I want to change the stem, bars or

levers

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

on a road bike I am up for $20 for new bar tape.

Anyone know where I can get a big role of old fashion cloth tape that I

can

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

use?

I wrapped my bars in double sided sticky tape (hardware store) then with plain cloth tape
(Spotlight). Good enough.

Cheers

AW

Thanks for the "offer", but for the difference between $13 (plus postage?) and $20 I would rather
try maintaining what is left of the relationship I have with my LBS since I discovered eBay!

I have no problem paying him $20 for the real thing if it is to get a bit of use. What I was
after was something cheap to use (maybe only for a week or two) on my experiments. Cloth tape
from Spotlight (or some other curtain type shop) sounds perfect and thanks again to those who
suggested it.

Brian.

"kolo iinet.net.au>" <""ideal\"@NOSPAM> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

wholesalers are getting cheaper all the time for this kind of stuff we have around 4 colours of
generic cork tape by Velo at $13 a set but then most stuff is cheaper here in the West . Drop us a
line & we'll post it Australiawide for that price. www.idealcycles.com

Brian Watson said:

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like I am off to spotlight!

Brian

"Alan Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Brian Watson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

>I have a bunch of old bikes that I like to play with - swap parts here

and

Quoted message said:

>there etc. Problem is, every time I want to change the stem, bars or

levers

Quoted message said:

>on a road bike I am up for $20 for new bar tape.
>
>Anyone know where I can get a big role of old fashion cloth tape that I

can

Quoted message said:

>use?

I wrapped my bars in double sided sticky tape (hardware store) then with plain cloth tape
(Spotlight). Good enough.

Cheers

AW

Brian

If you are going to use cloth tape, you may also try some cloth glue which would come off pretty easily afterwards with metho or acetone.

Still a cheap alternative to $15-20 a pop for half decent bar tape.

powinc

"Brian Watson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have a bunch of old bikes that I like to play with - swap parts here and there etc. Problem is,
every time I want to change the stem, bars or

levers

Quoted message said:

on a road bike I am up for $20 for new bar tape.

Anyone know where I can get a big role of old fashion cloth tape that I

can

Quoted message said:

use?

You could also possibly try rim tape - I picked up Zefal cloth rim tape for $3 a roll from Phantom
Cycles. May work OK.

Tim