How to Tape a Bike Handlebar

Road-bike handlebars are wrapped with soft, rubber-like tape to provide your hands cushion. It also provides grip and is used as a fashion statement. Handlebar tape wears out and needs to be replaced. Wrapping your bars with new tape might seem complicated but it's not. Its fun to put new tape on, and you can customize by adding a different color or texture.

Things You'll Need

  • New bar wrap
  • End plugs
  • Utility knife
  • Electrical tape
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Instructions

    • 1

      Peel back the rubber brake lever hoods. That's the rubber coating around where the brake levers join onto your handlebars. Check to see whether your brake cables have come loose from the handlebars --- they are held on only with tape. If they are loose, tape them to the handlebars with electrical tape.

    • 2

      Peel the sticky backing back from the tape. Place the end of the tape underneath the end of the handlebar. Leave the end of the tape hanging 1/2 inch off the end of the bar to tuck into the end of the bar later.

    • 3

      Begin wrapping the tape around the handlebars, it should go clockwise on the right side, and counterclockwise on the left. Overlap each rotation just enough so that the sticky glue on the back of the tape makes contact with the bare metal on the bars. Pull on the tape evenly as you wrap, but not hard enough to stretch the tape. Pull off the paper on the tape to expose the sticky glue as you go.

    • 4

      Wrap around the brake lever clamp when you get to it. Overlap the brake clamp slightly diagonally on both sides to cover underneath the bar. When you get past the clamp, resume wrapping perpendicular to the bar.

    • 5

      Stop wrapping when you get within 1/2-inch of where the handlebar is clamped onto the stem. Cut the tape off cleanly with the utility knife. Secure the new tape by wrapping it with electrical tape, overlapping it by 1 inch.

    • 6

      Fold the loose ends into the hole in the end of the handlebars. And put the end-cap back on to secure the tape to the end of the bar.