If I had LizardSkins gloves, I would never take them off. – A review on Lizard Skin DSP bar tape

Holy Toledo. I just came back from a really beautiful 40+ mile ride through the rolling hills near Galesburg, IL. — a three-hour train ride west of Chicago, check it out– and I’ve got to say, my hands have never felt better right off the bike! I’m used to riding steel-frame road bikes that generally dampen vibrations from the road, so I’ve never put much thought into particularly high-end bar tape, or even really gloves, for that matter. I’ve been riding gel Bontrager or comparable Pearl Izumi gloves for some time, coupled with cork bar tape, what I’ve always taken to be an industry standard. LizardSkins tape, aside from matching my Lemond’s paint job sickeningly well, is noticeably thicker than standard cork tape, but maintains a tapered profile as it goes on, so that it never bunches the way lower-end tape tends to if wrapped too tightly. Its tacky surface certainly ensures a solid hold on the handlebar, even with gel-padded gloves on, but still offers the vibration-soaking effect of thicker cork tapes. After pounding out several extended climbs, white-knuckled corners, and mile after mile of prairie headwinds, my hands weren’t numb at all– leaving me a much happier, energized post-ride cyclist, one without an excuse not to clean the highway grit out of my drivetrain!

Lizard Skin DSP Dual Color Bar Tape

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5 Comments

  1. Jeffrey
    12 years ago Reply

    Whoa. sweet! I know this is an older post, but hopefully you guys are still monitoring it. Is that where the tape truly changes color? In the pics of the tape rolled up it looks like it’s mostly white and a little bit of red length. This wrapped pic makes it look like it’s about half anf half. is it? That’d be sweet if the color changed below the hoods like that.

  2. Anthony
    12 years ago Reply

    The tape does change colors. There are 4 options available. You can view the DSP tapes here -> http://villagecycle.com/sitesearch.cfm?search=dsp&goSiteSearch.x=0&goSiteSearch.y=0

    After that tape came in and we started using it. I believe 95% of the employees drop bar bikes have it on them. We love the stuff.

  3. Jeffrey
    12 years ago Reply

    Nice Anthony. I’ve heard the white portion of this tape gets grimy REALLY quickly and is nearly impossible to keep clean. What do yall have to say about that? True? False?

  4. Anthony
    12 years ago Reply

    It is white, so it does get dirty. But it does clean off easier than most tapes do. I race cross on the tape with red on the top and white on the drops, and have been quite happy with it.

  5. Jeffrey
    12 years ago Reply

    sweet. cx season just ended this past sunday in my area, so no more racing til october, but I’ll still take it out on some single track and non-super-technical mtb trails in the off season.

    glad to hear it cleans up better than most whites.

    do you use anything special to clean it?

    and yeah, i’d DEFINITELY run the red on the flats and white in the drops, not the other way around. Any special spacing used to get the red below the hoods as in ur pic…or is that just a pretty standard wrap?

    Thanks for all ur help!

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