Let me know when Benotto is back in business.

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Made of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). Same stuff as Adidas Boost. *Should* be pretty great.

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I just ordered the Nastro Piloti!

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Made me think that some great aero pads could be made from taking old pair of Adidas Boosts, cutting out the pad shapes, and then gluing them to the mounts. Would probably feel amazing. TPU is simply incredible stuff.

I'm intrigued but the colored logo on the tape looks terrible - impossible to make it look symmetrical on the bars - that would bug the sh*t out of me. Can't they just do an all black?

Yes, we make both, the PILOTI is only solid colors and the FIORE comes only with contrasting print..
https://silca.cc/...oducts/nastro-piloti

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
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How thick/heavy is it?

Right but the thicknesses are different between the two: the Fiore being thicker = more appealing.

Wrap some inner tube onto the bars before adding the final bar tape?

Great opportunity to ask what is more appealing about thicker tape to you? When we started this, the conventional wisdom was that we had to do 3.2mm tape because of the 'comfort' and subsequent testing showed that it really wasn't more comfortable during riding as most tapes squish down under the weight of your hand and then don't rebound sufficiently to provide much of any cushioning.. so to the test machine the dynamic behavior of 2mm and 3.2mm are roughly the same even though the 3.2 gives you that super cush feeling when you first grab it.

Nobody in our testing pointed to girth of the bars as a desired outcome of thicker tapes, though I would imagine that if you had big hands this would be a point of preference..

We did have athletes and testers who wouldn't wrap the wings of their bars with tape for aero reasons, so seems like thinner tape is preferred for aero..

Honestly, I've been riding with the 1.85 on one side and the 2.5 on the other for 4 months and can't really tell a difference. My hypothesis is that with the high rebound foams the dynamic differences relative to thickness are much harder to discern as the rebound rate is relative to frequency more than tape thickness.

Either way, would be interested to hear and understand preferences here. We approached this category completely from the outside and as usually happens when you do that we sort of blew a lot of the conventional wisdom out of the water.. of course we also then did add a thicker version of the tape as having just one thin model was probably too much for the market to bear at one time!!

Josh

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
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But most importantly, does it poke inside the bar well to create a neat finish?

Yes, we spent ~20x more money on the custom butterfly piece and the expanding aluminum end plugs because I'm super uptight about bar wrapping!
It will wrap as perfectly as you are willing to wrap it.
J

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
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I think that’s the interesting point of your product: same cushy feeling, less fatigue with thinner tape. As I read the specs, the fiore is thicker - for longer riding and the piloti for “racing” (thinner).

More comfort and shock absorption with less tape sounds ideal. My only gripe is aesthetics:-)

I’ve always gone as thin as possible and not wrapped the flat/aero part of the tops. On the rare occasion, I’ve snapped the tape while wrapping it as tight as possible.

Also I’m okay buying $10 bar tape so I’m probably not your target market anyway.

Seems pretty similar to supacaz. Honestly I'm surprised it doesn't cost more. If not the new silca, who will be the first to push bar tape into the $60 range?

Looks like a cool and well designed bar tape, I would love to try it.

I would need the Fiore, but any chance that the Fiore will ever come in just solid colors? Black or white even would be fine. Because, with any color, that contrasting logo would not work at all for me.

Greg @ dsw

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Pathlete, noted and I hear you :-)

OhioRoadie, totally get you as well, I get that this is expensive, just as not everybody is into 4% Vaporfly not everybody will be in for NASTRO. Honestly, we were shocked at the price points some of the stuff on the market is going for, there are tapes at our price point that have neither the level of foam, nor the butterfly, both huge cost drivers and yet are selling at same or higher. Unfortunately this is a category that has historically been driven far more by brand and distribution horsepower than by product.. we hope to change that ;-)

Josh

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
http://www.marginalgainspodcast.cc

Everyone has their own personal taste, but I think the logo on the thicker tape looks like something that would be on a little girls bike. Will you be producing more than just white, black, & red tape?

Drool.

The Fiore looks a lot like Supacaz (the pattern and graphics). I like the way Piloti looks, and I've always been a fan of thinner tape. If I needed new bar tape, I'd grab some.

The thinner tape looks great in the pics.

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You will never, in your life, have a chance like this again.
If I were you, I would not pass this up. I would not let this go by...this is rare.
Come on...what harm??

$60+ bar tape already exists. It's quite common with leather wrap.

On my gravel/road/cross bike, I want the protective cushioning on the flats of the drop bar for comfort on washboard gravel and rough roads. Not squishy...protective, like MTB grips.

On my tri-bike, grip trumps all since my bullhorn is "flat" and my brake levers don't do much for safely keeping my wet hands from sliding off the front of the bars should I hit a bump (I've done that once and superman-ed my way into a ditch).

I'm thinking that the thicker it is, the more fatiguing it will be. Similar to the test done on shoe midsole material, where the runner actually planted their foot harder with the thicker midsole, maybe one would grip the bars harder in general to get the "planted" feeling with the bars with thicker tape. I know that I prefer the old Benotto stuff because it's basically just me and the bars. Nothing interfering. I've heard a lot of people say things about how slick it gets when wet, but I've never had a problem -- drop bar MTB, gravel bike, roadie.

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

https://triomultisport.com/
http://www.mjolnircycles.com/

OhioRoadie, totally get you as well, I get that this is expensive, just as not everybody is into 4% Vaporfly not everybody will be in for NASTRO. Honestly, we were shocked at the price points some of the stuff on the market is going for, there are tapes at our price point that have neither the level of foam, nor the butterfly, both huge cost drivers and yet are selling at same or higher. Unfortunately this is a category that has historically been driven far more by brand and distribution horsepower than by product.. we hope to change that ;-)


Josh,

I applaud what you are doing here.

Contact points with the bike are key - saddles, shoes/pedals/cleats, and handlebars/bar-tape. These are all, more important than people realize - get 3 hours into a ride, and you'll understand!

Some of this is HIGHLY individual. I get that. What saddle works for me, can be a torture rack for someone else.

I've always been very picky about bar tape - the feel (particularly 3+ hours into a ride), the way it wraps, the texture, how it works in the wet, how long it can stay clean ( I like white tape on my bars always) etc . . .

You seem to have mailed all the key check boxes with your new tape. I'm looking forward to checking it out.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Cool. I like my bar tape low key as well, but i also appreciate the nod to marginal gains with the logo.

On the tape thickness topic... why not just do a tighter wrap of the solid version if you dislike the logo but want more diameter/padding? Mind you, for marginal gains aero reasons, I have that choice because i do not tape the tops of my road bike bars (too much time in the tops and you are losing!!!).

At the moment i am using Tessa tape on my road bike. Basically a very light wiring harness tape that has zero padding, but feels damn soft on the hands. Starts to get fuzzy quickly, but three rolls is 5$ or so. Saves me a key 60g on my weight weenie road bike. And with everything being carbon, i have yet to miss the padding. Mind you, it is a bit skinny in the sprints, but i am usually more focused on the feeling that i am about to pop anyway...

I only glanced at the blog, but in a gp4000s2 style, i am thinking the patterns in the tape will help promote airflow attachment.

I am a big fan of the marginal gains concept.

Heck, i just got a silca digital pump... and the body is an airfoil!!! Maybe a nod to past ventures... and maybe to make it harder to blow over on a windy day. Love the details.

We got a bunch of Supacaz tape in the shop I help at and it looked cool. Our mechanic wrapped a customers bars and mentioned it did not stretch so was a bit more work, but I got to say, it is really awesome! Amazing tacky feel with cushion.....I'm getting one on my machines for sure.

Even Benotto Celotape is $15-20 (on eBay). I remember when it was $3 a roll.

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Does the white stay white ? I don’t know how but some brands do much better at staying white than others.

Yes, the outer ply of the tape is a non-foamed TPU which is essentially non-porous, so nothing to hold the dirt. A SILCA gear wipe will make even year old tape white again, and because TPU is 5-10x more durable than most foams, you should get a lot more life out of it than previous generations of tape.

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
http://www.marginalgainspodcast.cc

Maybe someone asked it already but how slippery is the tape when wet or drenched in sweat?

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blog

Stevej, Yes, with the TPU we can tune it in about 1000+ ways. The tape when dry is quite sticky/tacky and has ~90% of dry grip when wet/sweaty compared to with ~30-60% for most self skinning foam tapes (and ~10-15% for cello tape for all you Benotto lovers out there!!)

Thanks
J

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
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I'm convinced from our testing that it isn't the thickness but rather the damping and losses associated that are the problem. Cello tape and cotton both give you a super connected feeling to the bike, but the direct vibration transfer can be a problem. Sort of like running barefoot.. it can/will work for some people, but those will be very few.

Our initial hypothesis was that just like with new low damping/high rebound foams in running shoes, you can get away with a thinner/lighter tape that still had that 'planted' feeling while also offering good wet/dry grip. The result is a tape that has fast enough spring back that it can absorb ~1mm amplitude vibrations up to a couple of hz frequency, and it's those vibrations which can prove to be extremely fatiguing to the body as a whole.

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
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Any plans to make aerobar pads from this kind of foam?

Not by us, but I would imagine the companies that have molds in place to make aerobar pads must be considering it.

The foam is easily 2-3x the cost of EVA and other existing foams, but at the same time, I know from previous experience that the foam is a fraction of the pad price compared to the velcro and some of the other elements. Also unsure about the difficulties of laminating or 'facing' the foam with fabric.. so I'll leave that to somebody else to figure out as well!!

BryanD had asked the same question, and it is a good one, in theory, having a more optimized foam in the interface between rider and bike can only be a good thing for both comfort and efficiency.

Josh

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
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Josh

As a Silca poster boy from way back, I think what you are doing and the tech you are pushing out is absolutely fantastic. You have done an amazing job....

Now about tape. Having just heard your latest podcast on contact points and tape in particular, here are my thoughts....

I think that the thickness is dependent on the application... (duh !). I agree with your thoughts on normal drops about thin tape. But for one of my specific applications - aero extensions on my track pursuit bike, I like it a bit different. I want thicker - larger diameter bars - that are not necessarily 'cushy', but 'firm' and big enough that i can get a good handful. I don't have a death grip, but I've found that if I try and get that same firm grip on the stock aero extensions ( small diameter) I really get hand fatigue, and they tend to 'flop around' a lot.

So, I will be ordering the thicker tape shortly !

Dbeitel

Thanks Dbeitel,

You make great points which are interesting to consider. I think the reality of the contact points discussions are that our understanding is still evolving and honestly we probably actually know very little about a lot of this.

We saw this during our research, smaller, larger, size relative to hand size? All questions that seem to have very personal and varied answers.. same thing with firmness of the foams as well as the stickiness of the top coating in the tape.

This makes for some of the most frustrating data because so much of what you get is related to opinion that can't really be broken down much further than 'doesn't feel good to me' or 'I don't like it' or sometimes even worse, when somebody really likes something you get 'it's just right' with so many follow up questions being answered something like "it just is..'

Anyway, will be interested to hear your thoughts
J

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
http://www.marginalgainspodcast.cc

I got my Red Nastro Piloti tape on Monday! It looks awesome and it's super sticky feeling. The real test will be with sweat on my hands. I'll install it this weekend and take some photos.

BikeRumor is covering the tape https://bikerumor.com/...ith-nastro-bar-tape/

and Silca also has a sale going on! https://silca.cc/collections/sample-sale

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Wrapped my aerobars with the new Silca tape. First ride was on Tuesday. I really like the tape. I used Zipp CX tape before and it was too thick but the grip was better than Lizard Skins. I used the Max grip and the race car tire look is really cool. The tape was tacky, felt great, and looks nice. I'll be curious how it performs with really sweaty hands or rain but so far I like it. Have you bought any yet? I think this tape is better than Lizard Skins.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Hey Josh,

Who is the registered rep/importer to Canada? Also when you ship direct internationally do you use USPS?

Fed ex and UPS or anything shipping via private courier is painful and full of hidden fees/brokerage....to the point where I don’t buy anything from the US unless it’s USPS shipped.

Thanks,
Maurice

Maurice,
Where in Canada are you located? I can help find you a shop if you'd like, or if you prefer, we do only use USPS to Canada from our website as we understand the challenges with the other carriers!!

Best
Josh

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
http://www.marginalgainspodcast.cc

Thanks for posting that! That helped me save $10 on a multi-tool that I needed anyway.