Brooks Leather Handlebar Tape - Black

In the Brooks tradition, this bar tape is made of natural leather to make it the perfect complement to your Brooks saddle.

Brooks has reintroduced a classic product that may force many cyclists, more familiar with modern alternatives, to reassess the material they rely on for grip and comfort. Leather, a naturally durable and breathable material, has been overtaken by a plethora of man-made fibers and materials in recent years but could be on the verge of a comeback among cycling lovers.

Andrea Meneghelli, brand director at Brooks, explains: "Some good things just never change. One of these is certainly leather, a material used since thousands of years for clothing, shoes, etc because of its unique properties. Sometimes innovation for innovation’s sake sees traditional materials - which are still capable of outperforming newer ones - left behind as fashions change. Today most handlebar tapes are made of plastic, synthetic cork or micro-fibres but Brooks believes that by reintroducing leather it could become the next big thing among discerning cyclists."

The Brooks bike saddle story started way back in 1865, a young man of just 19 years of age was said to have bought 'one of those new-fangled velocipedes' which was fitted with a wooden saddle, this proved excruciating. As luck would have it his father made leather saddles for horses, so the young man known as John Boultbee Brooks set to work in his fathers workshop designing and developing a comfortable saddle from leather. The rest they say is history....

Brooks experience in saddle making goes right back to the beginning - back to the period of solid tyres - and is unequalled by any other house in the world.

That said, they recognise the fact that they cannot rely on their past history alone, so they still build saddles with the same attitude as when they started, 'quality first', both in materials and manufacture. The testament to this is that there are still saddles in active use today, made many many years ago.