What’s your opinion on the best bar tape for your extensions?
Thinner?
Fabric?
Sticky?
Brand?
Whatchu got
Silca options… https://silca.cc/collections/bar-tape-1
Also the Supacaz tape is very tacky and does not get slippery when wet so it’s a good option as well.
What’s your opinion on the best bar tape for your extensions?
Thinner?
Fabric?
Sticky?
Brand?
Whatchu got
I was literally JUST about to create a thread asking this same question. There are a couple in the archives, but they’re extremely outdated.
I really like (and currently use) Fizik 2mm tacky microtex, but I’m looking for other options, for either extensions or bars. In general, the best reviewed traditional contenders are generally Supacaz, SRAM and Fizik. But I’ve seen people using tennis/racquet tape, skateboard tape (basically sandpaper), hockey stick tape, among a few others. So big bump on this thread.
Sandpaper Tape
.
I don’t put bar tape on the aero bars of any of the bikes that I sell.
What’s your opinion on the best bar tape for your extensions?
Thinner?
Fabric?
Sticky?
Brand?
Whatchu got
On the extensions? None.
Tennis racket tape.
Silca and Otion make grippy stickers that are great. I highly advise against skateboard tape. It exfoliates a lot more than I found comfortable… Why not use something that cost like $10 more and is made for the job?
Silca, Supacaz, and Enve tape are similar and all great. Very comfortable and stay grippy when wet.
Tennis racket tape.
x2. i haven’t taped extensions in a long time, but when i did, some version of tennis/squash/racket tape was the go-to option. the perception (?) was that it was quite low-profile/thin, but cheap, easy to work with, and dealt with sweat well.
side note: i’m a cheapskate and it hurts me to advocate this, but i recently installed zipp service course cx tape on my drop bars and . . . man, it’s really nice.
I don’t put bar tape on the aero bars of any of the bikes that I sell.
+1. What is tape on the extensions doing for you? I concluded a few years ago I don’t grip the extensions in a way that tape provides any additional comfort or grip support. Maybe others are different?
Exactly why I asked. To see what people use. I dont have anything on right now
Silca and Otion make grippy stickers that are great. I highly advise against skateboard tape. It exfoliates a lot more than I found comfortable… Why not use something that cost like $10 more and is made for the job?
Silca, Supacaz, and Enve tape are similar and all great. Very comfortable and stay grippy when wet.
Here’s the Silca “stickers” https://silca.cc/collections/bar-tape-1/products/nastro-aero-bar-tape
I have some but have not used it yet. I also got their bar tape that was voted best tape by one of the major magazines but also have not finished building the new bike. I have the Supacaz oil slick on my road bike and love it. Very cushy and really non slip. I had the fade version but can’t recommend that as the tape peeled up where the change in colors happened.
Sandpaper Tape
+1 this stuff is great. I use it on the base bar as well
Silca options… https://silca.cc/collections/bar-tape-1
For Road Bike for years and years I used the Fizik Microtex bar tape - it had just the right amount of padding, and best feel for me when riding with cycling gloves. Big plus - I’ve always used white bar tape, and it never got dirty because it would wipe clean with a damp cloth and a sprintz of Simple Green! It would look brand new at the end of a cycling season!
Then the Silca Tape came along - and it was a game changer. Same overall feel and advantages as the Fizik, but with this just extra bit of vibration dampening that I really liked. Sold!
I love how Josh P and the team at Silca come up with these little things like that that do truly change the game in cycling!
Silca options… https://silca.cc/collections/bar-tape-1
For Road Bike for years and years I used the Fizik Microtex bar tape - it had just the right amount of padding, and best feel for me when riding with cycling gloves. Big plus - I’ve always used white bar tape, and it never got dirty because it would wipe clean with a damp cloth and a sprintz of Simple Green! It would look brand new at the end of a cycling season!
Then the Silca Tape came along - and it was a game changer. Same overall feel and advantages as the Fizik, but with this just extra bit of vibration dampening that I really liked. Sold!
I love how Josh P and the team at Silca come up with these little things like that that do truly change the game in cycling!
Agreed Fleck! Josh has me addicted to a LOT of his products. Great quality stuff, for sure!
I don’t put bar tape on the aero bars of any of the bikes that I sell.
+1. What is tape on the extensions doing for you? I concluded a few years ago I don’t grip the extensions in a way that tape provides any additional comfort or grip support. Maybe others are different?
it provides a little bit of grip and ergonomic/feel improvement, with probably no measurable aero or weight penalty. Silca is CEO’d by the king of marginal gains, and they decided it was a good idea to make a bar tape product specifically for aerobars. sure, theirs is a minimalistic and sleeker approach compared to standard bar tape. but it seems pointless to me to go with no tape whatsoever if there is no meaningful or measurable aero/weight penalty, and there are options like grip tape and silca’s tape out there.
to the OP, I like S-wrap roubaix tape right now. Not just for aerobars, but just in general. I’ve found it isn’t slippery when wet and I like the feel of it. It isn’t super tacky or sticky, but provides good grip and I like the feel of it.
Exactly why I asked. To see what people use. I dont have anything on right now
I agree that in some cases none is required.
For me - I currently use the 2-button Di2 shifters on my extensions, which have the wire exiting the shifters external to the extensions. After a couple inches it re-enters the extension via a small hole. If I don’t use any tape the wire is kind of dangling there.
So for now, I use lizard skins on the last few inches of the extensions, and on the base bar as well. Love the feel/grip. But I am interested in looking into some of the lower profile heat shrink stuff off amazon.
Sandpaper Tape
+1 this stuff is great. I use it on the base bar as well
When using this, are you just putting like one strip of it on the top side of the base bar handles? Or wrapping it like traditional tape?? Which width?
Thx!
something really thin. Lizard Skin makes .5 and .8 mm baseball (and maybe something similar for lacrosse and hockey) tape. I prefer the .5–just about perfect.
I don’t put bar tape on the aero bars of any of the bikes that I sell.
+1. What is tape on the extensions doing for you? I concluded a few years ago I don’t grip the extensions in a way that tape provides any additional comfort or grip support. Maybe others are different?
Its not a grip thing for me personally. But, my hands get sweaty and I also like the feeling of resting them against a thin tape rather than just the extensions themselves.