Putting Handlebar Tape on Drop Bars

For this you will need some bar tape, electrical tape or the tape that it comes with, and the bar ends.

Start off by putting your bar end in so it is straight, but don’t put it all the way in. Leave a little bit of a gap. When beginning to put the bar tape on, leave a little bit of excess hanging over the end of the handlebar. This way, once you wrap the bar tape around you can fold it in and secure it by pushing the bar end in all the way to secure the excess tape. Make sure no excess is hanging out.

Leave a small gap between bar end and handlebar to begin

Now, you should be ready to start rolling the tape around the handlebars. You’ll notice the underside of the handlebar tape has a sticky surface. When wrapping, you want to align the middle of the bar tape with the end of the sticky tape. Do your best to create even gaps with the tape while wrapping and to make sure you pull it tight while wrapping.

Sticky surface on underside of handlebar tape

If you have brakes on your drop bars. You can use a small bit of the bar tape to put over the top of the brake to help evenly wrap around. However, on a fixed gear, like in the video, there are no brakes and this isn’t needed.

Secure handlebar tape with electrical tape

Once you reach the end of wrapping the handlebar, use the tape that comes with it or electrical tape to secure the end of the handlebar tape to the handlebars. Don’t hesitate to add more than is given to ensure that it is secured.