Cinelli Special Edition Handlebar Tape

I've not bought any cinelli tape before, but this stuff reminds me of the old rubberised bar tape popular in the 70's & 80's. It's strong, comfortable and comes with an extra couple of strips of gel if you feel the need for that stuff. This is an upgrade from lightweight cork tape that wore out after a season, and, so far it's responded pretty well to the elements. To be honest, I liked the design and bought it for that. Needs a firm hand when being wrapped about the bars otherwise some of the turns feel loose but it's easy to unwind it and reapply. Because it's rubber, there's no need for taping near the stem, just wrap it about itself and proceed to the bar ends where the plug will secure the loose end. Neato mosquito!

I had high hopes for the chubby tape. Put it on my road bike when I changed handlebars, and after the first ride, I was thoroughly disappointed.First complaint... NOT ENOUGH TAPE!!!! If you make it thicker, it's going to take more tape to wrap the bars! I had to stretch it a lot, and wrap a lot less overlapped than I like to, just to get it to make it to roughly where the thicker part of the bar is.Second complaint... If you're going to make a more cushioned tape, then please make it more cushioned. With this tape, I felt like it was thicker, just because the material is less dense. But that also means it compresses more easily. And with the first complaint about there not being enough, when you have tape that compresses more easily, AND you have to stretch it out to get it to fit, AND you have to barely overlap it to get it to fit... you're pretty much defeating the purpose of the whole thing.So if you buy the chubby tape, maybe buy two packs. I think if you used 2 rolls on each side of the handlebar, you very well might end pup with a pretty comfy setup. But you could, and would, have the same result with normal tape too. So, just forget the chubby tape. Just double up on regular tape and you'll be fine. And it'll be cheaper too anyway.

So aesthetically, these look awesome. They match bike well, are a cool design, and have gotten many compliments.The bar plugs dont fit my 31.8mm drops (loose as usual w/ any Cinelli), but they would've looked cool if they did. I like how with the plugs and tape, you get one C logo and one shield logo.These could be trouble for someone who hasn't much experience w/ bar tape installation...it has to be symmetrical, and you must pay attention to which roll will be left or right, depending on what you want to do (ie, keep blue stripes out like mine, or tuck blue in, or do blue stripes on drops/white holes on tops, etc)I'd prefer they were thicker. And tackier. Normally I prefer thick gel cork. These look great though and feel good thus far, I'll update if I have trouble cleaning them. Its worth mentioning that if this were the white cork, theyd be black after a couple hours and usually get one print stain in install process. I'm a mechanic, with dirty hands, but I like white...these didnt stain as easy as cork would.Bar tapes' primary role is to be a good grip. The #2 role is for it to be shock absorbing. And the #3 (#1, honestly for me) is how aesthetically pleasing the tape is. Length, adhesion, ease of install...this is good tape for price. Although it didnt come w/ the two strips to put under the shifters. Wtf?! Could be cause its from the warehouse for $17?

These are real soft and has just the right amount of tackiness, in design & feel so you won't be slippery when going gloveless. You won't have to worry if these gets dirty since it'll blend right in with your scars. Cinelli didn't stop with the tape itself, the bar ends are signature and finishing tape has a thick leather feel to it. Next time you get in a tussle with your fixed geared friends you'll be almost as cool but able to manage the hills better.

I installed these on my girlfriend's bike. We got black with the rainbow color underneath. It is very subtle colors and not very showy unless you're looking close. They fit well. It was my first time wrapping bars and I didn't realize that the black Cinelli labeled tape was for finishing the wrap. It would have looked better than the electrical tape I used. Also there is plenty of extra wrap if you want to cut spacer pieces in order to fill gaps behind the levers (depending on how you decide to wrap your bars).

Great looking tape once you wrap it around your bars successfully. This was my second time wrapping my own bars. I think this time I'll be far more successful. The "splash" cork underneath the perforated top layer lends to a subtle hint of color on your bars that just pops when you pair it with a colorful bike.Pair this with the Planet Cycling bar gel for a comfy ride. I only have one complaint: on each end of the tape, the perforation stops. I think you're supposed to cut off this solid end of the tape and use it as the strip you wrap around the underside of your brifters. There's plenty of tape to get the job done, but including some pre-cut "brifter liners" would be a huge help to those of us who aren't bike mechanics.

It's a caleido tape. It's Cinelli.There's not much to actually say about the handlebar tape since it looks amazing, wraps evenly and easily, and it has the appropriate amount of feel for a Cinelli cork tape. It looks amazing on my bike (black and grey color way) and I feels fantastic. The finishing tape isn't great (I have yet to find a brand that includes any that are actually worth anything) and peels off easily in the heat, but tape itself is fantastic.Great enough to help dull the pain of my divorce and keep me on my bike.Minus one star for the garbage finishing tape though. Be sure to have electrical tape handy.

Just purchased and fitted this leather bar tape. It is the first time I have tried leather, and the results look superb, although there are points of caution when fitting.Firstly, the instructions mention two 'C' pieces to fit behind your brake hoods. My package did not have these, so I cut about 2 inches of each piece of tape, which had implications later for length.I would recommend you do a practice wrap first, with the backing tape on, as once this is removed and the tape wrapped over itself, removing some tape to re-wind causes marks (the leather looks lighter in the areas the adhesive has been on) from the adhesive on the leather. Time will tell if these will disappear.Also, the Cinelli logo is embossed every so often. The desire then, when winding, is to try and get the logo in the same place every wind, but in practice this becomes impossible, so I would not even try to do this from the start, go with the randomness of it as this will be the case by the end of the wrap anyway.Lastly, as I mentioned before, having to cut some of the length for behind the brake hoods meant I really only just had enough, I really could have used that extra length on the main piece of tape, but the result looks OK. The moral of the story here is that there is just enough, ensure you pull it tight as you wrap. I then treated it with Brooks proofide to give it a help at keeping any rain off. This darkens the leather a little, hopefully in time it will match my saddle colour, but it looks great now.My recommendation to Cinelli would be to please, just add a few inches extra to each length.

Possible the best handlebar tape ever made. It oozes class straight out of the box, and I've gotten many compliments from people about it; it's usually the thing people mention most when looking at my bike. I went one step further though and bought some leather dye, mixed it with Brooks Proofide and rubbed in a few liberal coats of the stuff. I did this because the colour was far too light to match my Brooks B17 (brown), and also to make it nice and supple. This made the job of installing it a little easier (though it still took around 3 hours), and it's now a nice dark brown, and will darken even more with age. Did I mention how comfortable it is - this is what separates it from all other leather bar tapes; it's nice and thick which makes it slightly cushioned, and is very grippy even when wet (I use it without gloves). It's without doubt my favourite part on my bike, and probably will be for a very long time. It's insanely expensive, but well worth it - get it if you have the money to burn!

I have tried many different tapes over the years and not really liked any of them too much, and then I found this stuff and love it. I have it on the five bikes I ride now. It wraps well and I just like the feel of it.Unfortunately this is only my opinion and everyone likes different bar tapes for different reasons so all of them are pretty much a try and see thing.

This bar tape is comfortable enough and doesn't get too slippery with sweaty hands. Not the most adhesive though. Came with two fairly long pieces of branded blank finishing tape, again this could be stickier as it's already starting to unstick after a couple of months of use.

No chrome plug ends but instead comes with gloss black. Good tape. Feels like leather. Finishing tape is strong sticky and quite stretchy. First tape ever used. Happy with price just wish it came with plugs as pictured as separately these are about a fiver.