About the 2.0 Tacky Hybrid bar tape—the half-textured/half-smooth version from Extraum—
the other day when I wrapped it on a handlebar type that finishes wrapping just past the lever bracket,
a customer suggested
that if I wrapped it with the textured side basically uncut (except for the final diagonal cut),
it would essentially be all textured, so
I wrapped it that way.
Even on drop bars with wing-section upbars,
there are cases where I wrap the bar tape all the way to the end (alongside the stem),
but on bars like PRO or FSA where
just past the bracket is slightly stepped down by the bar tape thickness,
if I finish wrapping cleanly at the step,
the bar tape and upbar section align roughly flush,
so normally I don't wrap all the way to the end.
The left and right bar tapes aren't mirror images—
they include two pieces in the same orientation (→here),
so the seam on one side inevitably looks like this.
If I make the top and bottom of the bracket the boundary, I can hide it better.
This is a different project,
but this is the remaining length when wrapping a 3T Rotundo 460mm width (outer to outer) with textured tape on the drops.
With textured on the drops and smooth on the bottom,
I'm not just switching at the top and bottom of the bracket,
the roughly four wraps behind the bracket
I'm wrapping quite thickly to account for wear from gloves.
If it looked like the bar tape length might not be enough,
I'd give up on wrapping thick here and conserve length,
but that wasn't necessary.
Moreover, I'm cutting this much of the smooth side at the start of wrapping
so that the lower smooth section's length
switches at the bracket section.
For the same handlebar model, this cut length is basically the same regardless of width (※),
※For exceptions where the same model has different drop dimensions by handlebar width (→here)
↑The printing cuts off, so this is genuinely the very end.
The other day, on a Deda Zero 100 Alloy 380mm (outer to outer)—an extremely narrow handlebar—I wrapped 〇GK's (first letter omitted for discretion) BT-06 ultra-thin bar tape all the way to the end,
and it was ridiculously tight—there wasn't even room for one more wrap.
The Zero 100's upbar is more elliptical than wing-section,
and the brake and shift outers aren't internal; they run along under the upbar,
so without electronic shifting the conditions get tight
(this example had mechanical shifting too).
I did wrap the area behind the bracket slightly thick as a precaution,
but if it was clearly short, I'd give up on that too.
I haven't actually tried it, but
with the previous Rotundo 460mm width,
it's clear that no matter how stingy I got with overlaps, it wouldn't have been enough.
This is yet another project.
A customer wrapped it themselves, but
because they didn't cut and adjust the end length,
the drop bars are extremely thick,
and even then it's still too long, so
the lower smooth section sticks out above the bracket.
How long is this thing. Well, long is better than short anyway.
Apart from that, switching this bar tape finish cleanly at the top and bottom of the bracket
is actually pretty difficult, and honestly,
looking at wraps done by people other than me,
clean examples are few and far between.
the other day when I wrapped it on a handlebar type that finishes wrapping just past the lever bracket,
a customer suggested
that if I wrapped it with the textured side basically uncut (except for the final diagonal cut),
it would essentially be all textured, so
I wrapped it that way.
Even on drop bars with wing-section upbars,
there are cases where I wrap the bar tape all the way to the end (alongside the stem),
but on bars like PRO or FSA where
just past the bracket is slightly stepped down by the bar tape thickness,
if I finish wrapping cleanly at the step,
the bar tape and upbar section align roughly flush,
so normally I don't wrap all the way to the end.
The left and right bar tapes aren't mirror images—
they include two pieces in the same orientation (→here),
so the seam on one side inevitably looks like this.
If I make the top and bottom of the bracket the boundary, I can hide it better.
This is a different project,
but this is the remaining length when wrapping a 3T Rotundo 460mm width (outer to outer) with textured tape on the drops.
With textured on the drops and smooth on the bottom,
I'm not just switching at the top and bottom of the bracket,
the roughly four wraps behind the bracket
I'm wrapping quite thickly to account for wear from gloves.
If it looked like the bar tape length might not be enough,
I'd give up on wrapping thick here and conserve length,
but that wasn't necessary.
Moreover, I'm cutting this much of the smooth side at the start of wrapping
so that the lower smooth section's length
switches at the bracket section.
For the same handlebar model, this cut length is basically the same regardless of width (※),
※For exceptions where the same model has different drop dimensions by handlebar width (→here)
↑The printing cuts off, so this is genuinely the very end.
The other day, on a Deda Zero 100 Alloy 380mm (outer to outer)—an extremely narrow handlebar—I wrapped 〇GK's (first letter omitted for discretion) BT-06 ultra-thin bar tape all the way to the end,
and it was ridiculously tight—there wasn't even room for one more wrap.
The Zero 100's upbar is more elliptical than wing-section,
and the brake and shift outers aren't internal; they run along under the upbar,
so without electronic shifting the conditions get tight
(this example had mechanical shifting too).
I did wrap the area behind the bracket slightly thick as a precaution,
but if it was clearly short, I'd give up on that too.
I haven't actually tried it, but
with the previous Rotundo 460mm width,
it's clear that no matter how stingy I got with overlaps, it wouldn't have been enough.
This is yet another project.
A customer wrapped it themselves, but
because they didn't cut and adjust the end length,
the drop bars are extremely thick,
and even then it's still too long, so
the lower smooth section sticks out above the bracket.
How long is this thing. Well, long is better than short anyway.
Apart from that, switching this bar tape finish cleanly at the top and bottom of the bracket
is actually pretty difficult, and honestly,
looking at wraps done by people other than me,
clean examples are few and far between.