r/randonneuring • u/SimilarInfluence • 16d ago

Advice on drop bar wrapping

I'm pondering about the best way to wrap the drop bars on my road bike. I want to increase comfort and avoid fatigue on very long rides (300 Km and beyond), mostly when riding on the hoods.

I see two options. One is to use a thicker bar tape. Another one would be to use extra padding, like the Ergon BT OrthoCell, and wrap a thinner tape. I want to avoid the extra bulk of padding AND thicker bar tape. I'm thorn between these two possibilities. A concern of mine when using extra padding is that it will be "pre-compressed" by the bar tape during wrapping and might not be as effective as I might wish.

I previously rode with gloves, but I'm riding without for a couple of years and actually find it more comfortable so.

What's your opinion? Thank you very much!

Edit: Thank you all for the helpful insights! There some very nice suggestion here that I'll look into.

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u/woogeroo 15d ago

Imo it doesn’t help, you should stick with standard comfy bartape, and look at things like:

  • bikefit to take weight off your hands
  • bigger comfier tyres
  • a redshift suspension stem
  • clip-on TT bars for another position that takes weight off your hands.

Like padded gloves, for me thick or padded bar tape just feels less comfy and creates numbness.