I first came across Silic1 bar tape when building up the Culprit project road bike early last year. They sent along a pack of it, and I liked it. Then, I met the founder at Sea Otter this year, who’s the second generation of a family business that’s been making silicone rubber foam for decades. Now, that expertise is being turned into a new, textured bar tape that adds grooves for even more grip. The material is 100% silicone and has a tacky without being sticky feel, and it holds your hands in place extremely well in all conditions and temperatures.
Check out a closeup and more new goods from Barfly, SP Gadgets and Kryptonite, below…
Silic1’s website isn’t up yet, but you can find them on Facebook and reach out to order. The tape is molded as a single piece, not cut into strips from a long sheet, so the edges are solid and shaped to nest into the next wrap smoothly. All in all, pretty good stuff, and available in the colors shown here plus black and white.
The new Barfly Stem Cap may look like a small addition, but it takes big advantage of the brand’s new all-inclusive packaging. That means it comes with computer mounts for Garmin, Polar, Wahoo, Mio/Magellan, Cateye, PowerTap and Bryton, plus a GoPro mount and universal light mount. Expect retail to be around $40.
They’re working on a more capable version of their Air Lever that includes a hex/torx bit sleeve and holes to slip them into at the top of one of the levers. The other lever will keep the CO2 valve head. Look for it to hit the market a little later this summer or early fall, price TBD.
SP Gadgets has a different take on mounts…in that they’ll mount virtually anything almost anywhere on your bike. I almost passed by their booth, thinking it was just another phone case company, but curiosity got the better of me and I’m glad it did. Their system uses a semi-locking design that holds your phone, GoPro or whatever securely in the mount. And they have a lot of mounts – bar top, steerer top, out front, dash mount, stick-on mount, etc.
Head and tail lights use the same twist-on mounting design, and they have saddle and other bags with a mount integrated, making for a super clean and simple install. The headlight shown in the first photo is attached to a GoPro mount holding another twist mount, which is all mounted to the underside of the out-front mount, leaving room for your computer up top but still only having one thing clamped to your handlebar.
For everything else you may want to stick to your bike -like a phone for which they don’t make a case, a Bluetooth speaker, battery pack, etc.- they have universal stick-on mounts that interface with their other parts. Check out the complete collection at SP-Gadgets.com, where they’ve got a whole lot more, including some nifty action cam grips.
Kryptonite locks up this roundup with no new items, but a ton of new colors for existing cable and combination chain locks.
