The Best Handlebar Tape of 2024

A Service Course is a European spa for pro team bikes. They radiate with the sweet aromas of rubber and grease, and the soothing sounds of hissing presta heads, perfectly tuned drivetrains, and exotic accents. While this might not sound exactly like your home workshop, you can still treat your bike to a fresh bar wrap inspired by this bike geek’s paradise at a reasonable price that isn’t typically associated with Zipp’s high-end reputation. 

Zipp’s Service Course Bar Tape is moderately stretchy, ensuring it’s easy to wrap, since no mechanic, pro or amateur, wants to be sweating over such a simple task. It comes in two versions, road with a smoother polyurethane finish, and CX with a textured outer layer for the demands of cyclocross racing. The Road version we tested has a smooth polyurethane surface embossed with the Service Course logo that provides great grip in all conditions and has a nice clean look that we think most riders will appreciate.

The Zipp Service Course road tape delivers excellent grip, cushioning, and control, for the demanding high-mileage and high-speed racer, or casual weekend enthusiast. The Service Course tape lies perfectly flat, complimenting the sleek lines of your carbon fiber aero super bike, or your classic steel all-rounder. We’ve also had the chance to test this tape on some stock gravel builds and it has performed just as well on rough gravel roads thanks to its great blend of grip and cushioning from the foam backing.

Available in classic color options of red, white, and black, Zipp Service Course – Road is a high-performance upgrade for your handlebars that will give you the confidence to attack and push it to the limit. At $27, it is priced lower than many tapes that it outperforms and outlasts. Even if it’s never been to a service course, your bike knows you care when you choose Zipp Service Course Handlebar Tape. 

Utilizing PEBAX foam, similar to that used in the tires of Formula One cars and record-breaking running shoes, Silca’s Nastro Cuscino 2.5mm bar tape damps as well as other bar tapes that are 3.5mm thick, while preserving useful feedback and handlebar control. 

Although the edges of the wrap were thinned and the durometer of the TPU softened in a 2022 update to the original Nastro Cuscino design, the current version still requires a relatively firm grip and attention to detail to achieve optimum results. Thankfully, Silca provides a butterfly-shaped piece that covers the clamp of the brake levers, meaning you won’t need to contort the tape all that much around the tight bend behind the hoods. Silca also included a handsome aluminum end plug with their logo laser etched, for a classy and secure finish at the end of the handlebar.

Once wrapped, Nastro Cuscino is a beautiful addition to the cockpit area, laying flat along the handlebar, and displaying a unique embossed pattern with no branding. Not only does the pattern look great, but it also enhances grip in the most extreme situations, dispatching sweat and rainwater to help you stay safe and in perfect control. Damping is excellent and hits the sweet spot of taking the edge off low and mid-frequency bumps while tuning high-frequency buzz just enough to preserve useful feedback in corners and at high speeds. 

At $50, the Silca Nastro Cuscino is the most expensive tape we tested but does come with a 1-year crash replacement discount, meaning that in the event of a crash, Silca will discount a replacement roll down to $35. We suspect that once you experience the refined ride quality it offers, the cost will be quickly forgotten.

ENVE Handlebar Tape is one of the most technically advanced tapes available and is thoughtfully designed to maximize comfort, control, and style while being easy to wrap and hard-wearing. It’s been around since 2019 and has slowly but surely made its way onto the bars of many riders seeking a balance of all conditions grip and effective cushioning.

Comfort is delivered through a pairing of 3mm thickness along with a silicone backing layer. This tape is ready for the roughest roads and prioritizes cushy comfort over direct feedback making it a good option for all-road and gravel riding as well. While there is some variability in how thick some tape feels relative to its labeled thickness, we can confirm that ENVE Handlebar Tape adds significant girth to the handlebar, and it wraps every bit of 3mm thick. 

Stretch is plentiful, making ENVE Handlebar tape a breeze to wrap around any shaped bar, from a traditional round affair to the most aggressively profiled aero shapes on the market. It’s also quite long at 2,500mm per roll, which means it’s long enough to wrap handlebars up to 50cm. Have bars with aero tops that are meant to be left exposed? If you pull tightly enough, you could potentially get two full bar wraps in one box with ENVE Handlebar Tape. 

ENVE Handlebar Tape features a functional style that uses a deconstructed “ENVE” logo embossed into the tape’s surface to ensure grip in all conditions, especially the wet. While ENVE is adamant that its bar tape isn’t just a fashion accessory for bikes already draped in their carbon parts, ENVE Handlebar tape is undeniably posh when used as such. At $40, it’s a premium bar tape and is available in three safe colors – black, white, and gray.

Fizik Tempo Bondcush 3mm Soft bar tape takes some explaining but is nonetheless a great bar tape that’s gained a loyal following over the years. “Tempo” simply refers to the highest-performing level of bar tape that Fizik offers. “Bondcush” is a layered mid-padding polymer foam that aids the absorption of road buzz. Fizik then bonds this polymer to a Microtex outer layer to create a thick, comfortable, and durable tape, ready to take on all kinds of roads. 

“Soft” denotes Soft Touch, which is a unique surface feel that mimics the feel of silky-smooth felt and adapts perfectly to any weather or moisture condition thrown its way. This is an especially smart choice for bikes that are ridden in rain or extreme heat, as the “soft touch” surface is highly effective at absorbing moisture while retaining a pleasant feel and providing total control. 

The Tempo Bondcush 3mm Soft tape is available in 5 colors, but to our eye looks best in black, since the grain of the Softouch material is oriented in different ways along the spiral wrap, and gives the handlebars a luxurious and classic appearance. Wrapping is fairly straightforward, although this isn’t an especially stretchy tape. It does like to spiral and lay flat, so with moderate grip pressure and generous amounts of overlap, we were able to achieve a tidy wrap with little effort.

When Tempo Bondcush tape is exposed to heavy perspiration, hosing off the handlebars and patting them dry with a towel after your ride will help preserve the edges of the tape. Acids in sweat can cause the edges of Tempo Bondcush to peel and crack if left unchecked for too long. If this tape has an Achilles’ heel, this is it. Because the soft touch material is so absorptive, it needs to be cleaned regularly, otherwise, it will degrade. It should also not be left in direct sunlight for too long, as it can dry out, lose its relaxing feel, and eventually crack.

At $45, the Fizik Tempo Bondcush 3mm Soft is a premium handlebar tape that offers brilliant performance in wet conditions, and a uniquely pleasant feel when dry. If kept clean, it can last thousands of miles and will always bring a pleasant feel to your handlebars from the moment you roll out the door. 

Constructed of polyurethane rubber and shock-damping foam, with a substantial thickness of 3.3mm, Arundel Wraptor Wrap is not as easy to wrap as many other handlebar tapes. Simply put, it doesn’t stretch…like, at all. That said, once we found the correct level of tension during our first pass, Wraptor Wrap became more easily managed, and after that, wrapping the other side of the bar was a breeze. Once muscled into place, it was abundantly clear that the short period of struggle was well worth it, as our handlebar looked positively regal and felt ready for any condition imaginable. 

Arundel offsets the embossed logos on only one edge of the Wraptor Wrap, which means you can orient the overlap of the tape to hide or expose the logos. Unlike most other branding, we love the old-world-inspired typeface of Arundel and feel that on the rich matte polyurethane rubber surface, the embossed text adds a bit of depth and class to the Wraptor Wrap when left exposed. 

On the road, it’s easy to feel why this tape is named after a bird of prey. The grip is unwavering, even in sopping wet conditions, and in dry, Wraptor Wrap offers a supple, effortless grab for perfect control of the bars. To its credit, Wraptor Wrap feels much thinner and more direct than its 3.3mm width would suggest it might. While some other tapes this thick end up blunting road feedback to a fault, Wraptor Wrap filters out the low and mid-frequency vibrations and translates high-frequency buzz into a coherent, palatable stream of usable sensation. 

This is classic bar tape for classy bikes. It’s not particularly light, and it’s also not flimsy disposable junk that’s meant to wear out quickly so it needs to be replaced. Wraptor Wrap will enhance not only the look but also compliment the ride quality of a well-built road machine. At just $27.95, it’s surprisingly inexpensive when compared to many other options that don’t match its performance. Just don’t try to wrap it when you’re tired. 

FSA’s PowerTouch Handlebar Tape is a comfortable, grippy tape that’s all about restoring your bike’s appearance and feel, with minimal fuss. It’s a hybrid cork material but feels far more advanced and comfortable than traditional cork ribbon-style tapes. 

FSA PowerTouch features no built-in branding, so it will look great on any bike, and with eight colors to choose from, you can keep it simple with black or white, or coordinate with your desired color scheme. FSA does include bold brand stickers that can be placed on the front of the top section of the handlebar for a race day vibe.

Wrapping PowerTouch is super-easy, thanks to the gel that is bonded to the underside of each roll. The gel stretches to conform to the handlebar surface, eliminating the need for adhesive. When it’s time to replace PowerTouch, or if it needs to be re-wrapped, it comes off cleanly, without tearing or leaving residue on your bars. 

Out on the road, PowerTouch performed brilliantly, with plenty of damping, and a less bulky feel than expected from a 3mm tape. The subtle dimpled texture provided a secure and comfortable grip during sprints, and helped us keep our hands, wrists, and forearms relaxed on rough sections of road. 

At $33, FSA PowerTouch is a relatively affordable option that competes with tapes that are 20% more expensive and should last just as long, assuming it’s wrapped nicely and kept clean. If your bar tape has seen better days, replace it with FSA Powertouch and enjoy the restorative benefits of this modern high-performance offering.

Staff writer Ron Frazelle claims the Camp and Go Slow Western Rattler Bar Tape is “The. Best. Bar. Tape. Ever.” In fact, he liked it so much that he even included it in his 2023 Editor’s Choice list. That’s incredibly high praise from a man who has ridden A LOT of bikes and used A LOT of different bar tapes in his day.

The Camp and Go Slow Western Rattler is a bit of an outlier compared to most of the other products in this review. This is primarily due to the unique styling with the Western (brown) or Eastern (green) Rattler diamond pattern and the texture of the “woven” nylon blend surface. Beneath the nylon surface is a 1.5mm foam backing, creating a tape that’s 1.9mm thick according to our calipers. It comes in two 3,300mm long rolls, which is more than enough for the widest bars, leaving plenty of extra for creating something like a matching chainstay protector on your handmade frame with a custom build.

The woven nylon surface texture is comfortable and feels great on bare hands and is extra grippy with gloves, and the 1.5mm foam backing offers a light amount of cushioning. It isn’t super stretchy, but it’s still fairly easy to wrap and rewrap numerous times if you need. The woven texture does get dirty from sweat and grime, but it cleans up nicely and easily with soap and water when it needs a refresh. And, based on Ron’s long-term testing, it seems to be one of the most durable options around.

It comes in a nice reusable bag, and while it doesn’t come with finishing tape or end plugs, you probably already have some electrical tape and old plugs at home. At $44, the Camp and Go Slow Western Rattler Bar Tape is on the more expensive side but we feel it’s got the longevity, and the style, to justify the asking price. Coming from a brand with a name like Camp and Go Slow, this bar tape isn’t aimed at racers, instead, it’s meant for those who want to enjoy the ride and have their bike look awesome while doing it.

Cinelli’s Cork Ribbon Handlebar Tape is a traditional bar tape that gives any bike a bit of vintage styling and a traditional feel at the front end. A mix of natural cork and synthetic foam allows Cinelli Cork Ribbon to perform in all conditions, whether it’s absorbing sweat or rain, or insulating against cold.

Due to its seemingly endless stretch, Cinelli Cork Ribbon easily hugs the curves of any handlebar and can be wrapped tightly to provide firm, direct feedback, or more softly to enhance vibration-damping characteristics. The backing is super sticky, so once it’s on the bar, there’s no need to worry about it losing tension. This is by far the easiest tape to wrap in our test group, assuming you get it right the first time. 

Grip is accomplished by friction on the surface of the Cinelli Cork Ribbon, thanks to tiny pores and the texture of the material. It doesn’t have a tacky, grippy feel like more contemporary tape, but rather a rougher, friction feel. It also doesn’t like to lay especially flat, even if it’s wrapped extra tight. Whether the wavy surface is pleasing or not is just a matter of personal taste, but it’s a feature of the Cinelli Cork Ribbon. 

Cinelli Cork Ribbon is available in a variety of classic colors that will complement or contrast any color scheme out there. At just $20, it’s an inexpensive way to rejuvenate your bike for the upcoming season and beyond. 

Lizard Skins DSP Bar Tape is a stretchy, tacky, and hard-wearing tape that’s available in four thicknesses, from super thin 1.8mm, 2.5mm, and 3.2mm, to the chunky 4.6mm version to cater to those with varying needs and preferences. Thinner widths offer super low weight, flatter surface, firmer feel, and ultimate feedback and control, while thicker widths protect hands from rough road surfaces, with a thick, squishy wrap that tunes out road buzz and helps you stay relaxed on long rides. 

We tested the 2.5mm thickness of the DSP Bar Tape which has a tacky and compliant feel, with a subtle cross-hatched texture to increase friction for enhanced grip. We found that the DSP Bar Tape can feel a bit slick in the presence of rain and sweat, but sheds excess moisture well and returns to its super grippy feel quickly. 

Wrapping instructions for DSP state that it should not be stretched, but we disagree with this, based on our experience of wrapping it dozens of times over the years. Despite its slightly delicate and flexible feel, Lizard Skins DSP is hard-wearing tape. We’ve never ripped it by stretching it hard when wrapping, nor seen it rip while installed, even after many thousands of miles of service. To finish the wrap, Lizard Skins now provides solid thread-in handlebar plugs with every roll of DSP Bar Tape.

Lizard Skins DSP Bar Tape is available in a whopping 16 color options, many of which perfectly coordinate with iconic bike brand colors, so you can be sure to find one that suits your aesthetic. At $45, Lizard Skins DSP is one of the most expensive models available but offers a rare blend of low weight, super-comfortable grip, and hard-wearing durability that have made it one of the most popular bar tapes on the market for many years.

Ergon BT Allroad tape is 2.5mm thick and made with EVA foam and an anti-slip polyurethane surface, designed to ensure maximum comfort and control on all roads, paved or not. 

The printed surface pattern not only adds visual depth to the Ergon BT Allroad Tape, but also doubles as a wrapping guide, showing how much overlap is ideal for a firm, neutral, or extra cushy feel. The surface is also designed with a two-way texture, so depending on which direction the tape circles that handlebar, it will feel more or less grippy. Ergon has produced this video that explains how to wrap the BT Allroad to achieve the best results possible. 

BT Allroad also includes four pieces of extra tape that are shaped to fit the drop and forward-curving sections of the handlebars, where extra cushioning is always welcome. We had an easy time wrapping BT Allroad Tape and loved the forest green hue of our test tape. It’s a classy-looking wrap that’s void of any branding and compliments any bike nicely. 

On the road, we found that BT Allroad lived up to its promise of supreme comfort on any surface. All frequencies of vibrations are muted or at least blunted beyond worry. Feedback remains decent, providing enough feedback on road surface conditions to corner and maneuver confidently in any scenario. 

At $37.95, and available in five tasteful color options, Ergon BT Allroad Tape is a premium option that offers enhanced comfort, versatile performance for any type of road riding, and a classy aesthetic that will add style to the cockpit of your road or gravel bike. 

HiFi’s Precision Premium Bar Tape has bold styling that’s sure to turn heads, but its appeal is more than skin-deep. This flashy tape offers a stellar blend of precise control, all-conditions grip, and long-term durability. 

Large HiFi logos are embossed in gold on the otherwise black surface, adding tactile and visual texture to your handlebar. The Precision Premium Bar Tape is fun to wrap, not only because the HiFi logo stacks up nicely as it spirals around the bar, but because this tape lays perfectly flat regardless of how much overlap is applied to each layer. It’s not a super stretchy tape but is pliable enough that you won’t be straining to make it behave. 

The HiFi Premium Bar Tape measures 2mm thick with our calipers and therefore offers a nicely balanced level of cushion with minimal bulk. We also loved how seamless this tape felt along the entire surface of the bar, regardless of hand position. In both wet and dry, with and without gloves, the HiFi Bar Tape performed perfectly and kept us perfectly in tune with the front end of our bike. 

HiFi Precision Handlebar Tape comes with custom locking bar end plugs that finish off the tape job for a super clean and matching look, plus they can be used for future wrapping when it’s time to replace your tape. At $30, this is an affordable tape that is a no-brainer if you’re already running HiFi wheels, but can also be an eye-catching upgrade to any road bike that costs less than many similar options. 

Fizik’s Vento Performance racing series tape is designed in collaboration with professional cyclists and prioritizes feedback, lightweight, low bulk, and an extremely grippy feel. As such, the Vento Microtex Tacky isn’t the cushiest option, instead, the 2mm Microtex material has a focus on pin-sharp handling and control. The tacky finish adds a sticky non-slip surface for a secure hold in all weather conditions, with or without gloves. 

The Vento Microtex Tacky Bar Tape is available in seven Bi-color gradient-fade options that will coordinate with any bike for a race-ready and contemporary look as well as eight solid colors ranging from subdued to super bright. This impressive color range means there’s something to suit every preference and likely match any color theme.

Wrapping the Microtex Tacky Bi-Color bar tape requires care if you want the color gradient sections to match each other. Overlap less, or pull more tightly on one side, and the color gradient will extend closer to the hood, for example. Simply keeping the wrap tidy and flat is easy, however. With a reasonable level of adhesive applied to the backing, it is also easy to remove and re-apply if needed.

Out on the road, we were amazed by how much road feel was transmitted through the Vento Microtex Tacky tape. It wouldn’t be our first choice for the roughest roads, but if the tarmac is clean, the control and confidence at the front of the bike are top-notch when running this tape.  

At $35, the Fizik Vento Microtex Tacky is a mid-price point tape that offers premium styling and performance that few other tapes can match or even approach and is a great choice for those who prioritize precise handling above all else.

Arundel’s Gecko Grip bar tape consists of EVA foam and ventilated polyurethane in a laminated, layered construction. It’s a thinner tape that prioritizes grip and feedback from the road over cushioning on rough surfaces. Gecko Grip easily fends off sweat so it can be wiped clean with a wet rag easily after any ride. By taking the time to gently clean Gecko Grip with water and mild soap, you can prevent it from drying out and help it last as long as possible. It’s a tape that feels dramatically better with just a little bit of care and attention. 

Gecko grip has an interesting texture embossed into the surface, with a continuous grip pattern punctuated with the Arundel script at the edge of the wrap. Placing the script near the edge gives a choice in whether to display the branding or hide it, depending on which way the tape is oriented as it spirals the bar. As mentioned above in our description of the Wrator Wrap, we enjoy the old-world-inspired typeface of Arundel and chose to leave it exposed for what we think is a classy look. 

We found that the ventilated polyurethane surface and dimpled texture provided a grip that we’d describe as natural, comfortable, and balanced, without any excess friction or sticky sensation in both wet and dry conditions. Being one of the thinner tapes we tested, however, it doesn’t provide lots of vibration-dampening, instead, it has a relatively direct feel that’s best for those riders who enjoy a bit of feedback from the front of the bike and tend to ride smoother surfaces most frequently.

Available in 6 classic colors, it’s easy to coordinate Arundel Gecko Grip with most bikes’ color schemes. The affordable price of only $22.95 is also one of the least expensive we tested and lines up with the tremendous value Arundel provides in everything they make. If you’re looking for a reasonably priced tape that provides a better grip than classic cork for a similar cost, check out Arundel Gecko Grip.

Easton makes some of the most comfortable handlebars out there, so it makes perfect sense to apply their expertise in this part of the bike the actual point of contact with the hands. Right out of the box, it’s clear that the mission of Easton Microfiber Tape is to kill off any unwanted road buzz. It’s a supple, thick tape that stretches easily to wrap into a cushy, grippy barrier that pampers your hands on even the roughest road surfaces.

Easton Microfiber is a breeze to wrap because its extreme stretch easily forgives any lapses in focus while looping it around the bar. It can also be overlapped generously to bolster thickness and vibration damping, or with less overlap for a more direct feel. Either way, embossed Easton logos will grace the edges of some spirals, along with a neat dots and dashes pattern across the rest of the surface. Once wrapped, it’s a tidy-looking tape and lays perfectly flat across the entire bar. 

On the road, Easton Microfiber tape delivers all the vibration damping we could ever want, taking the edge of low-frequency hits like potholes and driveway ramps while letting us feel the grain of weathered pavement as we carve through fast twisty sections. The Microfiber surface provides a grippy texture that performs well in a range of conditions both with or without gloves.

At $30, Easton Microfiber Tape is an affordable way to increase the comfort of your road bike. Available in a classic palate of six colors to coordinate well with any bike’s paint scheme, it will also accentuate your style as you roll along in total comfort and control.