Shellac'ing Cloth Handlebar Tape

I've quickly become a fan of shellac on cloth handlebar tape. Not only does it give a nice aesthetic appeal, but it gives grip and feels comfortable. I've also become a fan of matching colors on other parts of a bicycle.

For this project, I had a beautifully reconditioned Vetta saddle commissioned through Lugs (lugschicago.com & lugschicago.blogspot.com). This saddle had a beautiful, deep red color that I wished to match with red cloth handlebar tape.

You can purchase shellac at any hardware store and will come in clear and amber hues. These will give drastically different shades. I sampled both before starting. The clear shellac didn't give me a deep red that I needed, yet the amber shellac gave too deep a color.

Here are the freshly wrapped handlebars before any shellac was applied.

I decided to try a first coat of clear shellac. The first coat will soak in quite a bit of shellac and will lay a nice base for the next coats. A nice thick layer of clear shellac deepened the bright red color, but not quite enough.

I then added a coat of amber to deepen the red. Any subsequent coats will not affect the color as drastically as the first, so I figured I could add amber coats until the desired hue was achieved. One coat of amber was all I needed. I then added a couple more coats of clear shellac to get the grip I wanted.

And finally, the completed build with a perfect color match of saddle and cloth tape, utilizing both clear and amber shellacs.