Need a method to wrap H-bars with handlebar tape

Question

I've gotten good at wrapping drop bars, using conventional cork tape: You start at the end and work your way up, keeping the tension even and watching the overlap, and it works perfectly for me.

But the H-bars on my Bike Friday have aways been a challenge. They're smaller and more finicky to wrap, but that's just a matter of time and practice. Specifically, getting the intersections at the bar joins to wrap cleanly has always been a problem:

Over time, the tape will invariably loosen because of this.

Can anyone suggest a method for doing this that will stay for longer? Should I wrap the main bars separately from the vertical bars? Is there some special secret way to do this? Or is this just a downside to this kind of bar?

Edit: I wrapped the bars from the top of the barend down to the bottom, then getting the main handlebars. The below picture shows the problem area; note the separate piece of tape.

Answer 1

I'd wrap in two passes: first, from the bottom stubs to the join, just crossing over onto the ends of the main bar. Then tape this up tight, to squash it down. Secondly, I'd wrap from the tops of the bar ends around the joins and all the way up to the stem. The second pass should cover up the tape holding the first bit of wrap.

Maybe something like this (excuse terrible paint skills)?

Answer 2

Then this is what I would try. Call the corners of the T of the H NW NE SE SW.

1. On left side start from inside and wrap going forward on the top of the bar to the T
2. from NE across bottom to SW
3. across top back to NE
4. across bottom to SE
5. across top to NW
6. across bottom to SE
7. one full wrap on South
8. across top to NW
9. wrap to north to bar end

Some combination of crosses with a full wrap on south.
If south is longer than one wrap then I don't think you can do it in one pass.

On 2 you kind of need to deal with where you are. You may need to start with pass over the top.

6,7,8 are the hard one as you have to come back on yourself. That is why you want 6 on the bottom as it will be the ugly one. You may need to move the starting point or wrap the other direction to get 6 on the bottom.

An alternate would be 1 1/2 on 7 then across the bottom to NE

Notice 1 and 3 are over and 2 is under