This past weekend I changed the bar tape on my Bike Friday. Last year
I switched from a bland black to zebra tape (frequent readers in these
parts will be familiar with my affection for
things
zebra). I rather like Cinelli's cork tape, though the zebra
pattern isn't always easy to find. In particular, they make a close
variant: instead of black and
white, it's black and a sort of
dull
grey (or gray). I never quite figured out the appeal to
the latter. It looks a bit militaristic, but in a sort of new-agey,
I'm-not-a-really-intimidating-military kind of way.
Anyway, over the weekend, I peeled off the old tape and attached the
gleaming new one. As I was collecting the old tape to trash, I
happened to notice a rather odd pattern. Here's a photograph:
The left is how the tape looks in its (mostly) pristine state. The
right is how it comes to look after a year of constant wear. The
right is also...the spitting image of the black-and-grey tape you'll
find in a store.
And I was enlightened.
As my friend Laurie Heller said, it's like buying jeans that've
already had abuse pre-heaped on them.
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