There seems to be many ways to wrap bars on a bike and each person has his or her own preference, so I hope I don't offend anyone, but I kind of pride myself in how I wrap my bars as I think it completes the look of the entire bike and a good wrap is equally functional in racing especially here in the South Carolina heat. I've also seen some terrible factory wraps.
Secrets, there are no secrets. Just time and patience. I've used both cloth and vinyl. My technique for cloth tape is what I learned from the list and from attending the last Cirque. Vinyl tape is slightly different. In both cases I start from the bar ends with a little overlap that will be pushed inside the bar by the end plugs. I then wrap towards the stem. Vinyl tape usually has tapered edges and the trick, if there is one, is to get the taper to overlap at just the right point. Correct overlap is also important with cloth tape, but mostly for a uniform looking wrap and to not run short. The older vinyl tapes had perforations along the center of the tape to use as a guide. Then it's a matter of pulling the tape tight, but not too tight as to break it. I use short pieces to cover the brake lever mounts and wrap around them to conceal any exposed portion. When I get to the top, near the stem, I cut the tape so that the end is squared with the bar; this means cutting the end at an angle. I then use a short piece of electrical tape to hold the bar tape in place and then do a wrap with length of colored plastic tape, just wide enough to protrude from the edges of my finishing tape. This also helps to smooth things out so you don't get the wavy or crinkly looking finishing tape. Then I apply the finishing tape and give it a coat or two of shellac to prevent it from loosening up later on.
The adhesives on electrical tape usually turn to a sticky mush after a while, which is why I use the plastic or Mastic decorator's tape and it also comes in several colors.
Like I said, I don't have a real secret and many times I've wrapped one side of my bars only to come up short and have to unwrap them and start over. Usually it's because I got in a hurry somewhere along the line and didn't correctly overlap or pull tight enough, but if done correctly, I usually end up trimming about three or four inches off the end of the tape.
Sadly, the bike world seems to have gone over to cork and really good vinyl bar tape like Bike Ribbon's Ambrosia or Pelten's "Dainy" tape are hard to find nowadays. I really love the Dainy tape as it has a velvet finish and feels good to grip. I have four bikes with it on the bars and would redo my other bikes if I could find more of it.
Fred Durrette
Summerville, SC