I think electrical tape is great for things like ELECTRIC WIRE. That's what it's made for, and in that capacity it functions quite well.I am not, however, a fan of using electrical tape to finish taping handlebars. It does NOT stay put. It either unwraps, or slides around. Either way, you end up having to push it back on or rewrap it, and you also end up with the sticky adhesive on your fingers, your bar and your bar tape. Since a better option exists, it is beyond me why bike shops continue to use electrical tape to complete the bar tape job, or why bar tape manufactures continue to include the equivalent of vinyl electrical tape (with a painted logo) with their bar tape. Note that I am NOT including home users who do maybe one or two bar wraps a year at most.
I happened upon this use by accident. After being FED UP with sticky crap on my fingers from electrical tape constantly coming loose, I was actually going to start using DUCT TAPE. Yup, I was going to rely upon repair item #1 (or is it #2 behind vice grips, and WD40 is in there somewhere too I know), but anyway...
I use this tape to complete my bar tape jobs and so should bike shops. It stays in place. Heat doesn't cause it to unwrap like electrical tape does. When you put it on, it stays. No rewrapping, no checking. Just tape and forget. It is also just sticky enough. It sticks fine. If you need to remove some or all of it and redo a job, it's fine. It's adhesive is not left on the thing it stuck to, it stays on the bottom of the tape where it belongs. No sticky ooze spreading about.
Bike shops and bar tape manufactures surely know this stuff exists. It is used to wrap bars in place of cushier forms of bar tape. Instead of wrapping the whole bar in this, just use it to complete the job. Instead of doing two turns of electric tape, do two turns of this. It's prettier, cleaner, and long lasting. Bar tape manufacturers could include two small strips of a color matched cloth tape rather than the pseudo electrical tape they include. I guess it all comes down to cost and logos. It would be hard to put a logo on this stuff, maybe that's why logo imprinted electrical tape is included with bar tape.
Home users: If you rarely do a bar taping job, it makes perfect sense to use what you already have around the house. I would never advocate buying this tape to complete one bar wrap. It's a waste. If you did want to consider purchasing a roll, I'd purchase the black since that will go with most bar tape you'll use.
And if any roadies want to weigh in and say that they've never had a problem with electrical tape on their bars I want to say up front that I am glad you haven't. I have. This has happened on bars I've wrapped, and bars I received wrapped. It's plenty hot and humid in Florida and I have yet to have a bar done with electrical tape (or manufacture supplied logo tape) NOT unwrap. I'd love to think that I'm riding faster than the physical properties of electrical tape can withstand, but that would only be dreaming.
I just found out that Brooks includes this type of tape with their leather wrap.
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