Vibration Isolation Handlebars

Gliding peacefully down a freshly paved road have you ever come across a patch of road that can be described as less than perfect? If you aren't riding along perfectly flat and clean roads, you may be absorbing a great deal of vibrations through your arms and causing yourself unnecessary discomfort.

Using Isolate It Shock Tape, we can greatly reduce these vibrations and have a much smoother ride, no matter what the road throws at us.

To demonstrate this, I brought my bike into a local shop to have a professional apply Isolate It! Shock Tape to my vintage yellow road bike.

Having dealt with the headaches of wrapping my handlebars, I happily went to see David at Spokes Bicycle Company here in Burlington, NC.

Not only does David do an excellent wrap job, he's also an expert at applying Shock Tape. A growing number of his customers are requesting Isolate It Shock Tape on their handlebars and he's come up with a few tips and tricks for getting it done.

You'll only need three items for this ible:

1. A bare handlebar
2. Shock Tape by Isolate It!
3. Handlebar tape of your choice (my choice)
   1. (electrical tape if it does not come with your handlebar tape)

Tools:

1. Scissors (for trimming the tape)

First thing we need to do is strip any old tape off the handlebar. We want a nice clean surface to begin with.

To help with this, a bike repair stand is very helpful for keeping your bike upright and stationary.

*Another good reason to visit a professional if you do not own one yourself.

My preferred method of applying Shock Tape is across the top of each section of my handlebar. This reduces the amount of Shock Tape needed and also keeps the finished handlebar thin and easy to grasp.

For specific pointers on applying the tape along the contours of the handlebar, click through the pictures in this step.

Note: No need to worry if it looks messy, the tape will cover up everything and hide all imperfections.

This step is like wrapping handlebars normally, but with one important difference, the handlebar is thicker.

With the Shock Tape applied we have increased the diameter of the handlebar. This means that we need to be a bit more careful not to wrap too tightly or waste any of our tape.

If you have never wrapped a handlebar, I've linked to a Youtube video that explains the process well.

Take a moment to enjoy the look of a freshly wrapped handlebar and appreciate the fact that your handlebar hides a secret vibration damping, super material, Sorbothane. Plus I love the new more ergonomic shape that it creates on the bars.

Be sure to hit the road, test it out on a bumpy street and let me know how it feels in the comments.