Spending a lot of time off-road on your dropbar bike? Are you looking for relief for aching hands? Maybe just a better grip on the bars? Don’t want to resort to gloves? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you probably should check out the new Supple Bar Tape from Wolf Tooth Components.
Similar to the BIG40 tape that’s currently sold by RedMonkey Sports, Supple bar tape is also 40mm wide. The difference is in the thickness with Supple tape measuring twice as thick as the BIG40 at 5mm in the center of the tape.
That thickness is only measured in the middle of the tape as the sides taper off. This allows you to overlap the tape while maintaining a consistent thickness as you wrap. Since it’s made from 100% silicone foam, the tape is naturally grippy with or without gloves. It’s also washable, which is a good feature for a bike that will spend a lot of time in the dirt.
Wolf Tooth have tested the bar tape from Minnesota to Texas in order to cover the spectrum in terms of riding conditions. That led to product changes in terms of durability to create a tape that is wear resistant and retains its soft, grippy feel.
Supple tape is sold in a package of two rolls, each measuring 151.5cm long. On our scale, a single roll without a bar plug weighed in at 104g uncut. If you used every bit of tape, you’re looking at 208g total before adding bar plugs. It’s definitely a bit heavier than the average tape, but if you’re then forced to add extra layers or under-tape padding to make standard tape more comfortable, then the extra weight of the Supple Tape is a moot point.
Available now in black, Wolf Tooth Components states that more colors are in the works. Priced at $39.95, the pack includes two WTC finishing plugs and self-fusing silicone finishing tape.
Learn more at WolfToothComponents.com.
