How To Tie-Dye Handlebar Tape

We have an office tradition of wearing tie-dye on Fridays.  Tie-dye Fri-dye.  I may or may not be the only participant.  Anyways, I was looking at our white bar tape the other day and thought a little tie-dye would be a great way to spice it up. 

It's easy enough to do.  You just need a tie-dye kit and white cotton bar tape.  I like our tape for this application.  It's nice and thick so it'll soak up plenty of dye.

I experimented with a few different folds for the tape.  I don't think these ended up making much of a difference.  It's easy enough to wrap a few rubber bands around it right out of the box and get to the dying.  When you've got it all wrapped up, I'd recommend soaking it in water before you dye.  This will help the dyes absorb into the fabric.

Time to dye!  I tried a couple different dye application methods.  Stripes along the rubber bands and soaking the top and bottom of the coil.  Both worked pretty well.  You really need to get in the cracks of the tape to make sure it all gets color.  Unless you want some white.  That's a pretty cool effect too.

Here's the tape on a couple bikes!  I think it turned out pretty darn well.  Just in time for the unseasonably warm weather we're having!

We had some leftover dye from the bar tape so we tied an dyed a few shirts, shoes, and caps!  Great participation in tie-dye Friday today!