Ultimate Bike Thread....

[herr_oberst]

Another vote for Top Down. I've been doing it that way for a while now

[fanaudical]

Interesting - I have always wrapped top down. I have been using Cinelli tape for a long time and it seems to last forever. I will admit that my bikes with drop bars don't get ridden as often as the others.

Edit: I was in the garage today and was looking at my two bikes with drop bars and thinking about this thread for some reason. I did wrap the bars on the old Peugeot from top-down the last time I did it (which is how I figure I "always" did it for the 30+ years that I've had that bike). My Kona is wrapped from the bottom up (and I don't remember wrapping from the bottom up!); this bike has bar-end shifters and wrapping from top-down would have created problems with the cable routing through the tape. Shows what happens when you go off memory (ouch)...

[gregpark]

+1for top down wrap

[look 171]

Wow, must be something new. I have never, ever wrapped my bars from the top down. Speaking of wrap, I think its time I change out my dirty old tape.

Remember those TTT 220 Gram ultra light bars from the late 90s? I never thought about them failing but now I do.

I tried the integrated flat top bars. It doesn't jive with me, digs into my hand, hurts me so I have the old fashion stem and bar, in carbon of course, Zipp.

[gregpark]

Flat top carbon bars are the by far the most comfortable for me with no wrap where me hands go at rest. Wrapped where my hands are on the brakes

[Zeke]

Top down here. I think I remember new bikes in the bike shop wrapped starting at the top and always a plug or fingertip shifters in the ends of the bars.

Speaking of which, my fork tube is 21mm ID and therefore the common 22.2mm goose neck will not fit. I'd like just a little more rise at my age, just an inch or two. I'm a bit afraid of turning down a 22mm neck even for a half a mm each side. Any ideas?

[look 171]

Milt, you mayb e in luck. Here's an adapter but you need to get a high rise stem to get the handle bar up higher. If there's isn't a one inch stem, a sleeve adapter can be had and they are very easy to find.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMR65261?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

[CurtEgerer]

Found this at an estate sale for $1. Italian Ofmega CX Strada. Just the one arm, no drive side. I'll probably repurpose it somehow.

[CurtEgerer]

RE: handlebar tape. I had always gone from the top down. Until I built my '84 Gitane Team Pro. I went so far overboard researching those bikes that I even found the way they did the wrap. It was from the bottom up and that was to reduce the chance of tape slippage and rolling at the edges from your hand pressure. It wasn't just Gitane, they all did it that way. They also used an end cap that went on the outside of the bar, not a plug that slipped inside. The cap was installed first and the tape was wrapped over it like shown in the pic. Not sure why.

[CurtEgerer]

I did the Alpineer bottom up as well with a cap over the tape. The tape is old-school cloth with adhesive. I guess I've done all my bikes bottom up since the Gitane build.

[look 171]

Curt, I think I used cloth tape twice and the fad was that translucence Benotto tape everyone used. We often used a Cinelli or some plug that had a sticker on it say, Casati that pressed fit into the hole at the bar. Yep, bottom up

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by look 171

Bryon, do you get up in the morning and say to yourself, which bike do I take to the beach today

Something like that






Things to think about.

[look 171]

Siht man, you win.

I bet you only ride two or three of them. The rest have little to no air in the wheels

[sc_rufctr]

[sc_rufctr]

Bottom-up with an early finish.

[sc_rufctr]

Cool bikes that are made in the USA!

Search "Bike Friday".

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Bottom-up with an early finish.

We always went top down.

[sc_rufctr]

[look 171]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Its ok, like my kid would say, another old man bike.

Fast back seat stay, just like a Cinelli and I wouldn't be surprise if its has Cinelli investment cast lugs.

All these guys talk about ride quality and such with these custom frames. Yet most of them jsut sit on the saddle all day never ride it with any anger (I am sure a small number do). I bet it rides very, very similar to a typical 80-90's steel bike. Different size tube making the bike more stiff in a certain area, or using the larger EL-OS compared to SL. Then you get the Ti guys who sear by Ti and nothing else.

I have had a bunch of frames and wheel sets over the years. I will say this, nothing beats Lower pressure tubeless tires. I am still riding 28mm with 55 lbs on 45 or 50 mm wheels (I don't even remember or know what the size is anymore). Tubular on the hand, rides very nicely and they almost sing to you as you get off the saddle on a long drawn out sprint. My favorite is the Critrium Seta on a set of GL 330. Since I haven't ridden them in over 25-30 years, My fat 28mm at 55lbs is still king of comfort over any steel, Ti, or whatever frame.

I must say this, those steel, alum, or Ti frames are still the best looking bikes in my eyes. I really like Independent Fabrication from back then. You get much of them down in your neck of the woods?

[look 171]

I went out and did 170 pretty hard miles, last week. Thinking I would finish strong with the big kids today. Nope, they just get faster and faster. Sometimes I get caught out in the split on the hilly section with the slowpokes because they can't close the gap but I stayed with the breakaway group. It was hard work. I still got dumped one short block from the end to the finish up top.

I need those miles to stay somewhat strong.