After having the bars smacked from my hands by a hidden pothole, I'm back to being a fan of grippy tape. That may not sound much but, when wrapped close, it certainly does add up to a chunkier area to grip. I use black bar tape so i dont mind paying someone to do it for me once every 2-3 years when i take my bike in for a service. Expert reviews – In the cycle industry there are loads of really reliable trusted resources for expert reviews.

I've put just over a thousand kilometres into this tape though and the surface is holding up well, even in the spots where I tend to see tape wear first. So to cover all this – with more overlap for more padding – PRO has added 30cm to the standard 2m length. From Wiggle: "Delivering fantastic comfort and grip, the Prime Comfort Handlebar Tape is an ideal handlebar tape for racing and training in all conditions and on any terrain. Extremely hard wearing through the toughest conditions and with easy to re-use sticky silicon gripper backing, that does not leave any residue on the bar, the are easy to install and adjust if needed. It cleans up easily, is well made (if you ignore the finishing tape) and can handle repeated rewrappings.It's expensive and the colour options are very limited, but if you're okay with that it delivers very usefully on its promises.

The PRO-logoed finishing tape is – as always, across all brands – next to useless, not really being wide or stretchy enough to transition from thick tape to the narrower bar, so use good electrical tape (I recommend 3M 33+) for that pro look. The 'smart silicone backing' is not unlike the silicone grip strip found on many jerseys, in that it has an amount of tackiness but isn't actually sticky.Better known for its high-quality saddles, Brooks dips its toe into the world of bar tape with this product made from organic rubber. It works for me (have wrapped several bars like this including double wrapped bars on my gravel bike) and it looks neater, easy enough to do, and maintains tension on the bar tape just fine. This means the cost is deducted from your salary as a non-cash benefit, so you save on tax and national insurance. A veritable bargain if you like a little more road-buzz-smoothing plushness from your handlebar tape. The finishing tape is fancy-looking knurled stuff, and the little extra piece for covering the shifter clamp matches the print of the main roll of tape.

Extremely hard wearing through the toughest conditions and with easy to re-use sticky silicon gripper backing, that does not leave any residue on the bar, the are easy .The Prime Comfort Bar Tape is an excellent way to add a little more comfort to your road bike, while also getting a boost in grip. At first glance shiny tape doesn’t scream grip, however, a gloved (or even slightly sweaty) hand reveals a surprising amount of traction.