If you have an older bike with non- grooved bars this is the tape to use. Keep tension as you pull around the bars and it works great. Stretches around brake lever with a little twisting and patience. Wears very well and fades gradually to give your bike an appreciated appearance. If you are looking for a shiny tape that always looks new, this is not that tape. Good product at a reasonable price.

...because it doesn't fade. I've had new black Newbaums tape fade within a week, whereas Tressostar will last an entire season. It seems more durable too. Yes, it's shorter per roll so you have to be careful and not overlap too much when installing, but it's fine for bars 44cm and narrower. You shouldn't be running crazy wide drop bars anyway, despite what Ultraromance or Grant Peterson are telling you. I'm glad VO is stocking this. American made or not, Newbaums is inferior. This is French and I say support what's left of the French cycling industry while you still can.

This is the classic cloth bar tape to use on a classic bike restoration. The tape unrolls smoothly as there is no spacer between the layers of tape on the roll. The tape conforms easily to curves and has sufficient on the roll to allow for two pieces to be cut off and wrapped over the brake clamp on each side of a 40 cm bar. Wrapped top to bottom, the tape can be lifted and repositioned for making corrections and stretches slightly to conform to bar shape or lever location. It is sufficiently thin to be tuckable in the hollow bar end and still allow the rubber bar plug to seat and be tightened. The tape feels coarse and grippy from new but smooths out slightly over usage. Gloves would likely be a good choice when using it.

I don't actually use this tape on my handlebars, except to finish off the taping job at the ends. I find many other uses for it, including notably that it makes a great wheel rim strip.