White Bar Tape

I've said it many times. I will never use white bar tape on my road bike. I am a mechanic. Therefore my hands are always greasy, no matter how many times I wash them with GoJo (citrus/pumice based hand cleaner). The pink grips on my mountain bike are a stretch. I really need to spay them down to bring them back to life.

Back to the white bar tape. I wrapped my handlebars last night. With white. I can explain. Kinda. My old black Cinelli tape was at the end of its life (no longer sporting the cool "C" logos). A customer asked us to replace his white bar tape with fresh black bar tape. I completed the work order. I saved the tape. I now have fresh (o.k. slightly used) white Bontrager tape on my S Works (gasp... the B on the S bike!).

So this brings me to the meat of this post... why is it a faux paux to put say Bontrager (a Trek company) parts on a Specialized or Cannondale and vice-versa. I am now running Bontrager tape and tires on my Specialized and Cannondale respectively. I have long run Specialized tires on my most of my bikes. Yet I know people who refuse to throw a Specialized saddle on a Trek (ok... I might be one of those too if I can find a decent saddle from someone else). But really why?

All of the bikes I ride have a large assortment of mix-matched parts. Most of these parts, regardless of label, come from the same factory. The only people who should really worry about whether or not their bikes have matching parts are the professional riders who get paid to ride certain parts. Then they should make sure their labels match. But for me, a lowly Cat 5 and 3 racer (road and mountain... I know: confusing as hell) who cares? So this is my message to all of you who pay dearly to match brands... get a life. And does anyone know of a saddle that does not say "Specialized" that rides like a Toupe?