thewashingmachinepost




..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

kinesis 'jo burt' bar tape

jo burt signature bar tape

just last weekend, in my conversation with 'the seat post's, amy righton, i made mention of the more important contact points between bicycle and rider. in the context of that article, saddles were front and foremost, given the nature of the subject du jour. however, it will not have escaped your attentions, that there are another two distinct points of contact, namely the pedals/feet and bars/hands. for the duration of this article, we will confne ourselves to mention of the latter.

jo burt signature bar tape

if you've ever ridden a bicycle devoid of bar tape (only as a kid; honest.), you will perhaps know just what a slidy and uncomfortable journey that entailed. though contemporary carbon and anodised handlebars invariably featured a more tactile surface than the chromed steel bars of yesteryear, they are scarcely the sole surface with which you'd wish to be clinging when the going gets tough(er) and wet(ter). no matter the lightness of traffic in your area, at sometime, you're going to meet drivers without your best interests at heart, quite probably at the same time as you encounter an array of unavoidable potholes.

retaining control of your bicycle at those points in time would be considered something of a bonus.

jo burt signature bar tape

and that, boys and girls, is why we apply bar tape. this particular component, a bit like saddles, inhabits an endless number of variations, from the wafer-thin plastic that resembles the stuff they use to keep card boxes secure, to the thick, gel-filled variety that engenders feelings of wearing two pairs of track mitts. you pays your money, you takes your choice. many of you may favour the variety that effects association with your brand of bicycle, by means of a repetition of embossed lettering reaching from bar end to the stem. you may prefer a plain, sturdy wrap that offers a simple, functional value, while others, like chris distefano, vehemently maintain that it can be any colour you like as long as it's white.

jo burt signature bar tape

jo burt is perhaps best known for being the creator and illustrator of the infamous, mountain biking sheep, mint sauce, a character that has graced the pages of mbuk magazine for over thirty years. more recently, he combined the talents of author and illustrator for rapha's 'longer rides' handbook. but despite his woolly mountain biking alter ego, jo offsets any adherence to the dark-side, with distinct roadie tendencies. as if to confirm that status, he has designed the first in presumably a series of signature bar tapes for kinesis bikes.

jo burt signature bar tape

totally devoid of any sheep whatsoever, jo's bar tape consists of a velvety touch, gel-backed matt wrap, decorated with the author's handwriting in white with occasional bright pink. though his eccentric words of wisdom are many and varied, since the tape arrived at the croft, i have adopted his 'i can stop any time i like, i'm not going to stop' as my riding mantra. i'm afraid that the atlantic-borne, hebridean weather rather precludes his persuasions to 'listen to the whisper in the wind', though there is definite mileage in observing 'show me the sky and a road leading into it'.

hardened roadies of a serious disposition will probably sneer at its idiosyncracies, but those of us in thrall to peter sagan's 'why so serious?', should be eager to festoon the bar tape's magnificence across the steering wheels of our bicycles. no matter the strength of the headwind, the horizontality of the rain, or the 'minus how many degrees?' of the temperature, comfort (in both senses of the word) and inspiration will be, quite literally, at your finger tips.

kinesis 'jo burt' bar tape retails from the kinesis website for £25 per pack. and jo burt has even written the fitting instructions on the back of the box.

jo burt signature series bar tape

thursday 9 july 2020

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................