Handlebar
Tape

Made from vibration absorbing compounds, handlebar tape provides a comfortable and controlled grip for drop bars, making a massive difference to the overall feel of your ride. Bar tape is easy to fit and in most cases comes supplied complete with bar end plugs. As you can shop for tape in a variety of colours, replacing your handlebar tape also offers cyclists an additional opportunity to show off their personality.

Handlebars on road bikes, especially those with drop handlebars - have long been covered in tape by riders. In fact, it’s pretty difficult to find a road bike with drop handlebars which has not been covered in tape at some point.

Handlebar tape to be effective, has to fulfil a couple of different purposes. Tape has to be grippy enough to be gripped with sweaty hands, as well as grippy enough to be gripped by freezing cold hands in the rain. Tape also has to be tough enough to last for a decent amount of time between applications, and it needs to look good enough so as not to ruin the style of the bike.

Unsurprisingly, there is now an incredible range of handlebar tape available - which meets all of the above requirements, whilst being a brilliant way to customise the appearance of your road bike. Traditionally, handlebar tape was made from cork or perforated leather - which provided a pretty impressive amount of shock absorption. Although today, most bar tapes are constructed from incredibly tough synthetic materials, with a foam or gel inner - which provides both comfort and excellent levels of shock absorption.

One of the big variables with handlebar tape is the thickness of the tape, and it’s personal preference which dictates the level of thickness that many prefer. Personally, we prefer thicker tape, which eliminates much of the general ‘buzz’ of road use pretty well. Those racing however, will prefer a thinner tape which provides more feedback, and quicker and more efficient turns. Handlebar Tape works really well when used with cycling gloves.

You can view our full range of handlebar tape on this page, including brands like Supacaz, and as always - please do just get in touch if you have any questions at all about the collection.