Handlebar tape as grips

[RealSaltBlake]

Has anyone used pedal bike handlebar tape or tennis racket tape for their grips? If so, how well did it work or not work?

 

[edukaycheon]

Personally I haven't, but I can't imagine it working well. If you're talking about cork tape I would feel a little iffy about putting it on the grips, it would get dirty, start to flake off, and need to be replaced regularly. The more rubbery tape like Fizik tape would be okay, but I don't know if it would be as grippy as I'd like it to be. I think a few bikes on BikeExif have been done up with leather tape, which looks nice but I don't know if I'd want it on a daily runner personally.

 

[hillsy]

Probably no reason why it wouldn't work - as long as you could anchor the ends effectively. But I would think it would be a bit thin (especially on the left if you just wrap it around the bar).


Maybe wrap it over an old grip for the left and just the bare throttle tube on the right??


Motorcycle grips are pretty cheap nowadays anyway - probably cheaper than grip tape (gotta love China and eBay).

 

[Barnburner]

I like the idea of wrapping a quality tape (like Brooks) around an existing grip. Here's a Ducati from Spirit of the Seventies that uses the tape on the bars and on the seat.

 

[Big R]

Barnburner, that reminds me:

You guys might want to ask a golf shop about grip wraps for golf clubs. Most golf grips are the "slide on tube type", but they do make strips like what was just pictured above.

 

[socalmike_cb72]

I bought a couple sets of adhesive cushion tape made for tennis racquets. Just a few bucks and they worked really well.

Brooks looks pretty sharp, didn't know they had leather strips out there like that. Just don't feel like spending $100 today. Oh well

 

[RealSaltBlake]

I like the idea of wrapping it around another grip. If I try it, I'll have to give a write up on how it works.

 

[VonYinzer]

Troy runs tape like that on "Willow" and has had zero issues with it.

 

[Dingo]

I once saw a bike with hockey stick tape as grips.

 

[620dark]

I have a piece of heater hose zip tied onto the left clip on of the CBR900 until the project gets a little farther along...I bet something like that would be a good base to wrap grip tape around, perhaps?

 

[TurdFurguson]

Ive got cork handlebar tape on my CB100 and it works great, more comfortable than the titty cushion grips on my 550. The one thing to note is that you need to 'build up' the bar on your left side since your throttle is a larger diameter. I did this with about 10 rows of electrical tape and havent had an issue.