Brand-X Diamond Pattern Bar Tape

The Diamond Pattern Bar Tape from Brand-X may well be one of the cheapest I've used, but it also happens to be one of the best. As far as the look, feel and comfort goes it's up there with the expensive brands, though there are a couple of little niggles that tend to tally up with that £7 price tag.

A lot of tapes at this price use a cork mixture, which offers decent amounts of shock absorption and grip, but Brand-X has gone for a 'soft touch foam' material which gives it a sort of rubberised feel. In fact it's very similar to Lizard Skin's tape and the Kush from Supercaz, both of which are around five times the price.

What padding the Brand-X does have offers plenty of comfort by deforming without flattening itself against the bar, so you always have something there to take road buzz out. Impressive considering it's only 2.5mm thick.

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I tend not to wear gloves in the summer, and on stiff alloy bikes like my two Kinesis, an Aithien and T2, I often get pins and needles in some fingers, but this hasn't happened once with the Brand-X.

The rubbery feel to the tape also means riding bare-handed in the rain doesn't see you struggling for grip at all.

I do have a couple of little gripes, though. For one thing, it's a little bit on the short side. I usually ride 42cm bars, outer to outer, and with a decent overlap the tape will only just reach the centre bulge of the handlebar. The omission of the small lengths of tape you usually get for wrapping around the levers doesn't help either. On its own, this isn't a major issue - you can keep tweaking the wrapping until it's spot on. Only you can't here, because the adhesive backing separates from the back of the tape as soon as you start to unwrap it, so your first attempt at wrapping the bar has to be spot on.

That aside, the Brand-X scores highly due to the brilliant comfort and expensive look for a mere seven quid. The fitting issues can be got round, and hopefully if you've read this review before fitting it you'll know what to expect and to take extra care.

Verdict

Expensive looking and feeling bar tape, just take care when fitting it