Do you reckon you need it in CX? I've started riding more MTB trails on the CX bike and am thinking of doing this for comfort. Possibly not such a necessity for CX racing but yeah. Thoughts? Oh and how do you double wrap anyway?

I don't think it's necessary. If you'd like a little more cush without too much extra bulk, try something like Specialized's roubaix tape.

Depends on the size of your hands. I have larger hands and find it easier to grip in winter with double wrap. I do the first wrap down the bar and the second up, this could be the wrong way but it works for me.

Double wrap- feelsgoodman

big fan of double wrap technology

Inner layer cork outer Handlebra leather tape.

best combo ever

_________________
WW Velocipedist Gargantuan

Totally, double wrap or have found goodhorse bar tape to cushion well.

Cheers for the feedback. I'll have to do some playing around and give it a go. I've got a 20km race and an 80km race next year which are mainly fire road/4 wheel drive tracks for the 20km and then 50km of singletrack pretty much for the 80km race so need that comfort I think as no one can advise me on CX suspension forks it would seem - the Suntour NRX series.

Jeez man, please don't go the route of the SR fork.

If you're in the States just get bigger tyres and you're done. Restarting CX after a 10 year hiatus I'm amazed at the tyre choices these days. All the improvements from road & MTB clinchers have been well applied.

If you want a good on-off road tyre don't obsess about tread, except if you're racing into corners. The 33.333333 Jack Brown tyres made by Panaracer for Rivendell. There are 2 versions, 1 with thicker rubber - I think it's brown vs. green lable. Google it, they look awesome. Experiment with 75 - 90 psi in them to see what works. http://www.cyclofiend.com/rbw/preview_jackbrown.html

Also, try Challenge Grifo XSs as well, they're only 350 grams and rock on smooth surfaces but will corner better than the Jack Brown's off road b/c they're designed to do this. http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... -07-34398/

Make sure the darn things fit your bike first if you've not got a CX frame.

Thanks for the feedback Frans. I'm riding a Trek XO2 the red 2009 model with carbon fork, so it's a CX bike. The only reason I was looking at the NRX series Suntours was the fact I used to race downhill bikes over some of the tracks in these races coming up, sections where you hit speeds over 60km/hr+ in places with rocky off camber corners and stuff, even on a cross country hardtail. So yeah that's the reason I was initially looking at forks.

I wouldn't use them in actual CX races, too cumbersome, but for these races that are actually fast MTB races different story.

if you want to try double wrapping just take an innertube you don't want to patch any more and wrap the tops from the brake levers to the stem, then cover that with your normal bar tape.

A free way of trying double wrapping.

I'm a big fan of double wrapping the drop bars on my road bikes. Whole bar, top and bottom. Two layers of cork. I think I wrap from the bottom up for both layers. Besides the extra cushion, the diameter increase is great. I have medium at best size hands and I love the extra diameter of double wrapped bars. Hate the diameter of single wrapped bars.

I've decided to follow your advice and have double wrapped. All good so far, increased diameter and better cushioning. So thanks all for the advice.

Tried double wrapping my road bike with Fizik Microtex when I was on a trip to the north of France/Belgium to ride some of the cobbled sections, thought it worked really well when it was rough, and not too fat for normal riding! Tried it with other, slightly thicker tape and didn't like it as it felt way to big. Guess it comes down to personal preference at the end of the day! Let us know how you get on, will be interested to see how you find it in the races!

Well the first race has come and gone. I didn't race for two reasons: 1. I contracted whooping cough and basically am out for about 2 months whilst I recover! 2. The race was cancelled due to poor weather, there are two 6 river crossings in the race and due the the storm that came through the night before and the day of the race, it was cancelled for the first time in 27 years!

So I'll wait until the cross season starts. It's not too bad so far for the mountainbike trails that I've ridden it on but we'll see how it goes for CX. I may end up switching to something slightly thinner.

Depends on how big your hands are and the type of gloves you use.

Big hands and minimal gloves then I would consider it.

+1