To keep your hands feeling comfortable and secure while you're riding your bike, you need to maintain properly taped handlebars. Handlebar tape provides padding and comfort, but even more importantly it gives your hands traction so they don't slip while riding. Handlebar tape is available in a variety of materials, colors and patterns. Changing handlebar tape is an easy and fun way to accessorize your bicycle and to keep it looking new and well-maintained.
Step 1
Prepare your handlebar for taping. Flip up the brake hoods, the rubber pieces covering your brakes. Remove the bar plugs from the handlebar ends and unwrap the old tape. Clean the area to ensure your new tape will fully adhere to the handlebar.
Step 2
Secure your brake lines. Tape your brake lines to the handlebar's front side with electrical tape.
Step 3
Apply the extra 3-inch segments at the ends of tape to the sides and bottom of the brake clamps.
Step 4
Make your first wrap around the end of the bar. Leave about half the tape overhanging the handlebar edge. Wrap your handlebar so that the left and right sides are mirror images of each other: If you wrap the right side clockwise, you should wrap the left side counter-clockwise.
Step 5
Continue wrapping the bar, removing the handlebar tape's adhesive backing. Overlap approximately one third of the tape as you wind it around.
Step 6
Wrap around the brake clamp. Tape as close to the brake lever as possible. Wrap the handlebar tape around the clamp's back end and over the top and back onto the handlebar.
Step 7
Stop wrapping about an inch from your handlebar stem.
Step 8
Cut the remaining tape away and seal the end of the tape with a piece of electrical tape that overlaps the handlebar tape.
Step 9
Put in your bar plug. Push the overlapping tape from your first wrap inside your handlebar tube and then seal it with your bar plug.
Tips and Warnings
- Keep tension in the tape throughout the wrapping process so the tape doesn't shift and form gaps over time. Once you start wrapping, do not stop until you complete that side of the handlebar.
Things You'll Need
- Handlebar tape
- Electrical tape
- Sharp blade
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