Clean bar tape?

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RyanW

The abominable Bikeman
Location
Ashford, Kent
Loving my new bike, only problem is the now dirty bar tape (its white....) Apart from wearing gloves (which i find uncomfortable) what are my options in terms of cleaning it, or will it be better just to replace it with a more sensible colour like red?


Ryan
 

Mark_Robson

Senior Member
I use white spirit (sparingly) for the oil marks and foam upholstery cleaner for the dirt. It comes up looking like new every time. ;)
 

kyuss

Veteran
Location
Edinburgh
WD40 works quite well. As does nearly any kitchen cleaner. Cillit Bang bleach stuff if really good.

But wear gloves. Not to keep your tape clean but to save your hands. Sounds like you just need to find a comfortable pair rather than dismiss them altogether. Seriously, if you ever come off you'll spend 2 weeks picking bits of gravel out the palm of your infected hand and be thinking twice about how uncomfortable gloves are. I talk from experience.
 
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RyanW

RyanW

The abominable Bikeman
Location
Ashford, Kent
kyuss said:
WD40 works quite well. As does nearly any kitchen cleaner. Cillit Bang bleach stuff if really good.

But wear gloves. Not to keep your tape clean but to save your hands. Sounds like you just need to find a comfortable pair rather than dismiss them altogether. Seriously, if you ever come off you'll spend 2 weeks picking bits of gravel out the palm of your infected hand and be thinking twice about how uncomfortable gloves are. I talk from experience.

:smile:

I didnt think about that, but really how much protection can a pair of lycra padded gloves offer?

or do you suggest getting some MTB / OR type gloves?
 

kyuss

Veteran
Location
Edinburgh
They offer a lot more protection than you'd think. The palms on gloves are fairly tough, most of them being made from clarino/amara or fake leather/suede with good abrassion resistance (that's why motorcyclists wear leathers).

They don't even need to be padded to offer protection. In fact I've recently started wearing a pair of these which have no padding on the palms at all and I'm finding them much more comfortable than the padded track mitts I've used previously. You can get track mitts without padding as well if you prefer fingerless, though the gloves I linked to are cool enough to wear in summer despite the full fingers.

Try some on, there's bound to be a pair out there you find comfortable.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
Agree with Kyuss re gloves. Wasn't wearing any when I had a fall. A right pain picking out all the grit. Was sore for months. On another fall, this time with gloves, gloves got ripped, no damage to hand.
 

zacklaws

Guru
Location
Beverley
I tried WD40 as recommended on this website and found that it removed the adhesive from the bar tape causing it to revolve round the bars as I rode, if I recall it took about a month to stick itself back down again so I am now wary of any form of solvent on my bar tape and just leave it dirty.
 

battered

Guru
I wouldn't use WD40, it's a mixture of petrol and light oil and will lift off adhesive to leave a thin film of oil, not what you want on your bars.

I too would wear gloves, and do, when I was hit by a car they saved my hands at least from further injury. I only ended up with one small cut on my hand, and I'd hit the windscreen hard enough to break it. Admittedly the gloves didn't protect the rest of my body, but that's another tale.
 
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