Sunday Early Edition

So last night I wrapped my bars using the new bar tape.
The old bar tape was only on there for like a month but after ten miles or so my hands were just taking a beating.
I think my position is not so great, too much pressure on my hands so I've been fooling around with the saddle position a bit.
I noticed that my knees were farther back from the pedals, more so than my old bike.
Not really being a subscriber to Knees Over Pedals, I use it mostly as a guide, not a rule.
Anyways, I'm not squirming around on the saddle as much as before trying to find the sweet spot so I think I'm on the right track.
Back to the bar tape, I was going to try some Cinelli Gel, but it doesn't come in celeste, so I was just going to go with black again. Then I thought if I'm just going to go black, that new Lizard Skins tape looked interesting even if it's expensive.
Then I remembered that I bought some black Specialized Roubaix tape a while back so I was just going to use that.
Then I went to the evilness and searched "gel tape" and found this:



The Planet Bike Comfort Cork is lighter in color than the Cinelli tape, with the same bits of embedded cork:



I like the color match better and the cork bits seem to be part of the tape, unlike the Cinelli tape which when stretched enables some of the bits to fall out.
In some places on the Cinelli tape there were pukas where the little pieces cork decided to pop out.
The other thing I sort of like about the Planet Bike tape is that it's not adhesive backed, it's just two strips of that tacky silicon looking stuff.
I haven't ridden it yet so I don't know if it's going to slip, but it made installing a little easier.
It appears to have the same feel of the Specialized Roubaix tape.
So soft.
So supple.
So smooth.
Mmmmmm.



You get plenty of tape, I could have done almost the full length of the bars with what I had, but then again, my bars are only 40cm.
The plugs are kinda funky though as they have some reflecto dots on them:



For those who ride at night or at dawn or dusk, that may be a good thing, but for me, I just used the old Cinelli plugs.
After all, I'm almost an honorary Italian don't you know.
Looking at the bars now, I can see I'll need to rewrap for I sort of rushed it last night, another reason to like the lack of adhesive backing.
I'm also thinking of fooling with the position of levers, and for that I got myself this:



Park Tools Torx driver.
The locking bolts on the levers are Torx and I got me a folding Torx set, but attacking the bolts from the back was precarious at best.
I just couldn't fold the grip thingys back far enough to get good contact. So I decided to attack the bolt from the front:



This way the engagement is much more positive and I don't have to worry about stripping those pesky bolts.
I don't even want to think about what replacements cost!
So anyways, check that Planet Bike tape out, it's on the inexpensive side, you can get it on Amazon for $14 which is a lot cheaper than the Specialized tape.
It also comes in all kinds of purty colors!
Planet Bike Comfort Gel, Flat Tire recommended.
So far.