First time wrapping bar tape 😱

[mdohr07]

I heard it was difficult, especially the first time - or the first few times. I watched some tutorials beforehand in which one guy suggested to do it with a bike stand. Or if you don't have a bike stand, have someone hold the bicycle for you. And if neither is an option: "good luck". So... my case was the latter 😅

Was it difficult? Well...only the parts around the hoods. So damn difficult. I had to redo it several times. I ended up entirely removing my work so far from the right handlebar and doing it all over again. That was because initially I wanted to do a "reverse wrap". That means to start on the top bar towards the hoods and ending at the drops. Which is not the common way, but to me it made more sense. Especially because I wanted the distance between the bar tape (left and right on the top bar) to be even (which is why I marked it with that pink tape).


 

But when I kept having problems I thought maybe after all starting in the drops is easier and so I started over again. In the end I did manage with the "common" practice. Don't know if it's because of that or just luck or something though.

After that the left side was easier. I still struggled with the tricky part there but I was done faster and without redoing a lot. This is how it turned out:

I can be a bit perfectionistic so I am not a 100% satisfied. I see mistakes I made where it doesn't look as pretty as I would like it to. But I tell myself that nobody is going to see it unless someone creepily came up to check out my bike up close 😆

I just hope it's gonna stay for a decent amount of time. I am a bit worried if it's gonna come off soon-ish because I had to rewrap it kinda often.

Overall though I am happy with the new bar tape because I did want a different one. Actually I wanted something with pink. I was really looking forward to that! But then the tape of my choice was not available on Amazon anymore (just the pink one!) and in other online stores it was significantly more expensive 😔

And here is some good mood music:

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