leather

Selle Italia XP Carbon Fibre body, VANOX rails, 165g.

eBay Item Number: 181048611931

Copy and paste link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181048611931

Ends 27th Dec 2012

Open to offers

There's been a bit of a resurgence in interest in more traditional cycling products, and in particular leather saddles. Some would argue that they never stopped being popular, but nonetheless, there does seem to be an ever increasing amount of choice.

Brooks' leather bar tape has appeal beyond retro builds and classic bikes, thanks to its longevity and good looks, but it's not the comfiest bar tape around, or the cheapest.

At £40 (a bit less if you shop around), you expect some quality tape and that's what you get, crafted from leather and perforated with an adhesive tape backing. There's also some nice cloth strips to replace the more usual insulating tape and some cork bar-end plugs too.

Brooks leather bar tape

Diatech Gran Compe saddle - from rear

Diatech Gran Compe saddle

Diatech Gran Compe saddle - detail

As the song says it's a thin line between love and hate and I have to confess the the Knog Love Hate gloves induce mixed emotions in this tester – probably more joy and pain though than actual love or hate.