Cinelli Reflective Glow bar tape

Cinelli make some of the best bar tape around, I've been using their superb Gel tape for years, so perhaps they can be forgiven for this novelty glow in the dark tape.

Presumably the make up of the tape is dictated by the luminous component because this stuff is very firm. It feels like a dense foam and once wrapped a comparative squish test revealed it to be much harder than my usual tape. You can feel this on the road, it just doesn't have the same cushioning effect. The colour isn't all that appealing either, a sort of off-white with a hint of green. It certainly isn't a tape to enhance the looks of a classy machine. My wife took one look and said that it looked as if my bars had been replaced by maggots. Nice!

It took just one ride to get the tape dirty, which is the peril of any light coloured bar tape. You can use WD40, or similar, to clean tape but I tend to find that there are two types of people in the world, those who clean their bar tape and those who don't. I'm in the latter camp because frankly, life is too short. Anyway, the foam make up of this particular tape means that once grot and grime have got into the material, they don't like to come out. In fact, the life span of this tape is likely to be dictated by how long it takes to get unbearably dirty rather than by the time it takes to wear out.

But hey, enough of the dry chin-stroking, this stuff glows in the dark, right? How cool is that! Well, yes, I'm as much of a sucker for anything that glows as anyone so I was quite excited at first. Like most glow in the dark stuff it needs a few minutes under lights to charge up and then gradually runs down. It glows bright green, which is pretty striking, but soon fades and if you're riding under street lights, or with a decent head light, the effect is diminished. It doesn't really work as a safety measure, although the reflective end plugs are neat, and to be honest I'm racking my brain for a practical application, especially as this stuff is pretty expensive. Answers on a virtual postcard please...

Verdict

Novelty value over function. The glow soon fades and it's not that great as a bar tape either.