[CR]A story about handlebar tape from the old days.

(Example: Framebuilding:Tubing)

Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 07:07:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: "dean 53x13" <dpcowboy54@yahoo.com>
To: Jackson Kokeny <kokojaz@gmail.com>, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <5de30b8c0803182232t6937a8c6udc1595cd1cafe112@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: [CR]A story about handlebar tape from the old days.

Hi everyone....Just to throw a wrench in the works....Having ridden in Europe while pursuing a career (in the 80's), and having been a little bikey in the 60's and 70's while in high school and college....I have something to add here. I used to be very obsessed about handlebar tape. It was THE way to make a statement with your bike, besides keeping it clean (another thing I don't do much of anymore) and before Benotto tape, there were two grades of cloth tape commonly acceptable: Tressorex, the thinner, lighter version of Tressostar, and both were cloth tapes sold either in individual rolls (two per bike) or in a 'shop' roll, which did a bunch of bikes (I think, like 10 or15 or 20). However, when I was growing up as an Army brat, we (our family) were stationed in France, Germany, and Italy, and one of the things I disctinctly remember the team mechanics doing, was unwrapping the handlebars, and re-wrapping, virtually every day. The tape used was almost 2 inches wide, and was thick, woven, and coarse, like Tressostar. It did not have adhesive on it, and the wrenches used some solution to give it a little stickum. They would unwrap it, wash it with bleach, and put it back on. I only saw white, and was always told that white was used because it showed up best in the photographs (usually coming from a press motorcycle in front of the sprint, or bunch). Somehow that stuck in my fertile young mind, and I have always thought that was pretty cool. Dean Patterson Alpine, CA, USA

Jackson Kokeny <kokojaz@gmail.com> wrote: Speaking of excommunication, I'm thinking it's time to replace the tape on the Professional ('74). It has what was once white cloth (Tressoplast?). The bike was in its day a noble racer for my dad and is these days an equally noble century mount for me. Except for tires, it's otherwise unmolested. So: cotton for original appearance (soon to be a dishwater gray) or go Benotto to look sick with the mink/silver paint?

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Dean Patterson Alpine, CA, USA DPCowboy

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