How to Tape a Handlebar

The handlebars on your bike are important for steering and if your hands keep slipping off the bars, then you'll have problems riding. This is particularly important with racing bikes because a good portion of your weight is hanging on the handlebars to reduce drag on your body. Taping the handlebar correctly takes about 15 minutes to do and then you'll have a good looking, slip-free handlebars.

Things You'll Need

  • Razor
  • Electrical tape
  • Handlebar tape kit
  • Bar plugs
  • Rubber mallet
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Instructions

    • 1

      Set your bicycle's kickstand so it won't move. Pull back the rubber trim at the base of the brake handles with your hands so that it peels up over the base of the brake handles and reveals the tape underneath. Peel off the existing tape using your hands or a razor blade if necessary.

    • 2

      Verify that the brake cables on the handlebars are run across the front of the bars and held in place using electrical tape. Secure them with electrical tape if not, making sure the path of the cables meet in the middle of the bars.

    • 3

      Take out the 3-inch strips included in the handlebar tape kit. Peel off the protective backing on the tape, then hold it behind the brake handle base so that half of the tape is on each side of the bar. Pull the tape up towards the top of the brake handle base so that it covers the sides of the brake handle and the backside of the handlebar. Repeat on the other side of the handlebar.

    • 4

      Peel off a 6-inch long strip of the protective backing from the back of the tape from the handlebar tape kit. Secure the end of the tape to the end of one side of the handlebars, leaving approximately half the width of the tape over the end of the handlebar. Wrap the tape clockwise on the right side of the bike, or counterclockwise on the left side, peeling off the adhesive backing in the process. Make sure that the tape overlaps each previous layer approximately 50 percent, with the adhesive strip on the tape always on the metal of the handlebars.

    • 5

      Continue to wrap the tape around the bars until you get to the brake levers. Overlap the ends of the brake levers slightly so there is no gap in the finish taped product. Stop wrapping the bars when the tape is approximately one inch from the handlebar end. Cut off the end of the tape with the razor. Wrap the end of the handlebar tape with the electrical tape.

    • 6

      Fold over the excess tape on the handlebar ends into the hole in the handlebar. Install a handlebar plug into the end, tapping it in place using the rubber mallet.

    • 7

      Repeat steps four, five and six on the remaining side of the handlebars. Peel back the rubber trim on the base of the brake handles so that it folds over the tape.