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review
2024 Redshift Cruise Control Really Long Bar Tape - full bar .JPG£39.99
VERDICT:
Yes, it’s pricey – but you're getting a quality product with loads more tape than normal
Strong and stretchy
Wide and long
Thick
Grippy
Reworkable
Price
Sticks to itself after a while
Weight:
23g
Contact:
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
- Exceptional
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Quite good
- Average
- Not so good
- Poor
- Bad
- Appalling
The Redshift Cruise Control Really Long Bar Tape is arguably the longest bar tape out there, designed to dress up its own-brand Kitchen Sink and Top Shelf bars from end to end. Thick, strong, stretchy and grippy, it will leave your hands smiling long after your wallet has forgotten the price.
> Buy now: Redshift Cruise Control Really Long Bar Tape for £35.76 from Velozone
Each roll of tape is 315cm long – and at 3cm wide, that's plenty much to completely cover the longest of bars. Redshift designed the tape to cover its Kitchen Sink bar that Matt reviewed a few years back, including the out-front hand/bag loop section.
The tape is a comfy 3mm thick in the centre, tapering out to a thin edge that makes wrapping nice and compliant for a tidy finish even around sharp bends. The adhesive is just the right kind of tacky, allowing easy re-wrapping the first time you install it without it ripping or sticking to the bar. That said, the adhesive does get stickier over time. I've worked on bikes that had this tape installed for a year or more – and it shredded itself during removal.
You get two plastic expanding-wedge bar plugs that tighten with a 3mm hex, and while not metal they do feel like quality items.
At 315cm per strip I was able to wrap both sides of Redshift's Top Shelf bar including the mega-fat Cruise Control Top Grips using just one roll. Knowing you're likely to get two wraps – one now, one future – out of the box makes the £44 price easier to swallow.
The other reason you might want so much tape is to double-wrap the tops, for extra comfort or for a larger diameter if you have big hands. With so much spare tape and being so wide, you will have no issues double-wrapping any normal bar the whole way.
The tape's surface is slightly raised with a knurled pattern and subtle logo embossed into one edge of the tape. It feels nice and grippy under bare hands, if you like to ride without gloves.
Verdict
Yes, it's pricey – but you're getting a quality product with loads more tape than normal
> Buy now: Redshift Cruise Control Really Long Bar Tape for £35.76 from Velozone
road.cc test report
Make and model: Redshift Cruise Control Really Long Bar Tape
Size tested: One Size
Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it?
It's for people with very wide or complex bars, or who need to double-up layers of tape.
Redshift says:
"Straining to get every last cm out of your bar tape? With today's wide handlebars you need bar tape that can measure up. The Cruise Control Really Long Bar Tape is long enough to wrap even the widest gravel bar.
Combine with the Kitchen Sink Handlebar and Cruise Control Grips to take things to the next level.
Benefits:
Really long – wrap the widest bars
Did we mention just how long it is? There's enough tape to cover the widest Kitchen Sink Handlebar, with Cruise Control Grips installed, as well as the endurance loop.
Anti-vibration padding
Durable compound maintains grip even when wet
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product
Details:
315cm length (standard tape is 180-200 cm)
3mm thick with specially formulated advanced PU outer
Adhesive backing
Compatibility:
Compatible with drop bar handlebars
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Weight 116g for two full-length rolls with bar plugs
Length 315cm
Width 30mm
Thickness 3mm
Material Closed-cell foam with durable polyurethane outer
Rate the product for quality:
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
8/10
Rate the product for value:
5/10
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Performed very well – goes on easily, looks great, grippy and comfortable.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
The feel of the tape under your hands is spot on – you can ride bare-handed in the wet and not be concerned about slipping.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
The fact the adhesive sets after a while, making re-use of the tape if you need to remove a shifter, or swap bars, unlikely.
How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?
At £40 it's a premium price. The GREPP Woven Handlebar tape is just under £30 delivered, made in Sweden with natural ingredients. It's half the thickness mind, so nowhere near as cushioning.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
It would be excellent but for the price premium, and the fact the adhesive likely renders re-use after a while a non-starter. It is very good, though.
About the tester
Age: 47
I usually ride: Sonder Camino Gravelaxe My best bike is: Nah bro that's it
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: A few times a week I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, general fitness riding, mtb, G-R-A-V-E-L
Living in the Highlands, Mike is constantly finding innovative and usually cold/wet ways to accelerate the degradation of cycling kit. At his happiest in a warm workshop holding an anodised tool of high repute, Mike's been taking bikes apart and (mostly) putting them back together for forty years. With a day job in global IT (he's not completely sure what that means either) and having run a boutique cycle service business on the side for a decade, bikes are his escape into the practical and life-changing for his customers.
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