Leather Bar Tape

[hoopdriver]

I've got Brooks saddles on all my bikes; wouldn't have anything else. One if my saddles is over 20 years old and has gd knows how many thousands of miles on it...

 

[Bodhbh]

A while ago I made my own leather tape from an old leather jacket cut into 3cm wide strips and sown together and the result has been quite good. Only this weekend I was given two leather chairs which were being thrown out in the skip so I scalped the chairs for the skins. Ive got quite a bit of material now to experiment with......

After reading this post I had a look on eBay and there's a fair amount of off-cuts and rolls of leather to choose from. I got a 15m roll of tan leather strip for 12 quid. At that price It's worth a punt at least.

 

[hoopdriver]

After reading this post I had a look on eBay and there's a fair amount of off-cuts and rolls of leather to choose from. I got a 15m roll of tan leather strip for 12 quid. At that price It's worth a punt at least.

Sure is. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Globalti]

Anybody who thinks you can buy anything cheap that's made in Britain is dreaming. Here are some examples from my industry:

Glass perfume bottle 100 ml: UK price: £0.60, China price: $0.10 (i.e about £0.06).
Small sachet filling machine: UK price: £45,000. China price: £10,000

The same scale of difference applies to almost anything. Without Chinese factories most British "manufacturers" would have disappeared years ago.

 

[Jimmy Doug]

Anybody who thinks you can buy anything cheap that's made in Britain is dreaming. Here are some examples from my industry:

Glass perfume bottle 100 ml: UK price: £0.60, China price: $0.10 (i.e about £0.06).
Small sachet filling machine: UK price: £45,000. China price: £10,000

The same scale of difference applies to almost anything. Without Chinese factories most British "manufacturers" would have disappeared years ago.

Maybe most British manufacturers would have disappeared; but what's the point of having British manufacturers if they don't employ any British workers? Besides, I wouldn't call Brooks handlebar tape cheap.

 

[Globalti]

The world is such a small place that in the UK very little is manufactured in small factories by honest artisans labouring over a machine (except perhaps for Brooks saddles). If the item isn't made in China it is assembled here using components made in China - recently I visited a massive television factory in Hungary which employs thousands assembling TVs for Samsung and four other big names, all using the same assembly techniques and the same basic components imported from China with only the cabinet and the name plate to distinguish the makes. We all know that cars are made in the same factories - e.g. Peugeot 107/Citroen C1/Toyota Aygo, same car, different bumpers and badges. What I'm saying is that even big corporations have given up their factories and many consumer goods are contract manufactured in an un-named factory using components sourced to the brand-owner's specification. This is a lot cheaper and more flexible than building your own factory.

 

[Bodhbh]

Sure is. Let me know how it goes.

I have a hunch it is going to look a little homebrewed, which may or may not work depending on the bike. If it's half reasonable I'll post some photos.