Brooks Cambium Rubber Bar Tape

The Brooks Cambium Rubber Bar Tape wraps well, offers a fair amount of protection on rough surfaces, looks good on the bars, and offers a decent amount of grip.

One of the first things you find out when testing bar tape is how easy it is to wrap. This offering from Brooks is, luckily, very simple, with the now standard sticky back protected by waxy paper.

I'm not the most proficient at taping bars, but I found I could get around my slightly awkwardly shaped handlebar pretty easily because, despite the tape having a fair amount of padding, it maintains a level of malleability, so I could get round corners and bends without causing folds and creases.

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Once wrapped, the tape looks good – testament to how easy the tape is to wrap rather than my skills!

Brooks has included all the usual gubbins that modern bar tape comes, with bar ends that fit well, two additional strips for behind the levers, and a fabric finishing tape to put over the ends.

In use, I've found it comfortable over relatively long rides. It has a fair amount of padding, which takes the worst off the most jolting bumps, although you can get tapes that offer a little more.

> How to make your bike more comfortable – check out our 14 tips

It's grippy too; I used it in pretty much every condition and didn't have any issues with grip, even in torrential rain and while wearing full finger gloves.

I put the tape on my around town bike, which has meant it has been leant against walls, locked up outside, and generally thrown about a bit. After all of that there's no sign of particular wear, which suggests durability is going to be good.

It comes in a variety of colours too – you don't have to stick with black. Orange, blue and green are among the six others available.

For the quality of the tape and the decent finishing kit, the rrp of £30 seems reasonable. The Wolf Tooth Supple Lite Bar Tape that Neil looked tested in September is £1 less but doesn't have quite the same quality of bar end plug or texture for grip.

The Prime Comfort Handlebar Tape that Liam reviewed in July is £10 less and has a similar level of grip and cushioning, but not the finishing kit to match this.

Overall, I was really impressed with the Cambium Rubber tape. It's durable, grippy, and very simple to fit. It also looks good and Brooks has provided a high quality finishing kit with plugs that allow you to tuck the tape nicely, combined with finishing tape that looks great on the bar too.

Verdict

Easy to wrap, comfortable and grippy tape