ENVE Handlebar Tape Review

ENVE Handlebar Tape review £35.00
Quite simply one of the best handlebar tapes

£35 is a lot of money to pay for a tape, but believe me when I say that if you want extra comfort, great grip and a stylish look, ENVE’s could be one of the best upgrades ever for your drop handlebar bike. 

ENVE says it designed a special compound for the tape that provides grip, comfort and elasticity, and lined it with a silicone band that helps reduce vibration. the compound is not listed on the company’s website, but it’s extremely effective in doing everything claimed and as a bonus it’s pretty light at 112g uncut. 

It is also beautiful and 250cm long, so it will adapt well to today’s gravel bars up to 50cm wide. I have tested the same tape on three different bars starting with PNW Coast 48 cm, followed by Deda Gravel 46 cm and now Lauf Smoothie 44 cm with no problems.

The ability to reuse the handlebar tape from one bike to another is a huge benefit for anyone with a lot of bikes, or if you’re changing handlebars or just switching from a summer bike to a season bike. winter. This is especially true considering cost, and it is one of the advantages of modern silicone tapes. Now, after three measurements, I no longer worry about this cost. Tapes can be removed and reused:
Since it’s covered with silicone, there’s no glue, just an adhesive strip to keep it in place when you rewind it. It stays in place when putting on othe bars,

The tape is 3mm thick, so it’s not quite as thick as the 5mm Wolftooth tape tested on road.cc, but what it loses in thickness is made up for by ease of installation, especially around the brake covers, where there is one. It also looks nice with the subtle ENVE logo that rolls around the bar.

It comes with pretty basic branded rubber buttons, no fancy extension system here, but they stayed in place from day one and are easy to remove when changing handlebars.