Exotic Carbon Look bar tape

Apart from prettifying your bike, handlebar tape has two jobs: it should be comfortable and offer a good grip. This Exotic Carbon Look Bar Tape does neither.

There is some padding but it's dense foam with very little give in it, particularly in the tapered edges, which make up more half the overall width. You have to wrap the handlebar carefully and with plenty of overlap to get any resilience at all. Even then it's fairly unyielding.

> Buy this online here

It's more comfortable than old-school cloth tape and – this is hardly a ringing endorsement – no worse than the OEM tape I've encountered on some cheap road bikes. It's nothing like as good as cork tape.

I had some new cork tape handy as I'd just bought some from Planet X for £2.49. (RRP, if it ever goes for that, is £6.99.) The cork tape is only slightly thicker but the difference in feel is palpable. It has a springiness that the Exotic tape lacks, so it doesn't just compress under your hands. The difference in comfort is enormous.

The outer surface of the Exotic tape has a carbon-effect finish in what feels like shiny vinyl. Grip isn't great in the dry and is worse in the wet. Even cloth tape offers a better grip. Cork tape, meanwhile, is much grippier and feels nicer as well.

> Need to wrap new tape round your handlebar? Here's how

That just leaves prettifying. It does that well enough, and the shiny finish doesn't seem to scuff too easily. If you want to make your bike's handlebar look pimpy, this is an inexpensive way to do it. If you want it to ride nicely, you'll need to look elsewhere.

Verdict

Inexpensive and smart but neither comfortable nor grippy