pvrsykes

My wife and I bought a new bike for each in September. My plan this winter is to place clear tape or similar material on the frame of each bike for frame protection. Does anyone have suggestions what material works best at a reasonable cost <$60 per bike and where to purchase? The bikes are road touring type and I live in Canada.

Moisture

If its a decent quality paint finish, it will last longer than the person riding the bike, even when subjected to adverse conditions
.

Bigbus

They make a special film for that you can find online, but like Moisture mentioned, if it's a good quality paint job and most good bikes come with quality paint then just put a good quality wax on it and spend a little time cleaning it after rides. My old Giant looks good and it's been around a while. I don't wax it, seems excessive for an old bike, but I clean it after every wet ride.

Moisture

I'd be more concerned about the chain, BB and other components getting wet after a wet ride. The frame would be my very last concern. Newer bikes generally aren't as good quality as vintage stuff, but with that being said if you regularly wax your frame it will look brand new for a very long time.

I recommend to not worry about the cosmetics so much. Just go out there and enjoy your bike. Nothing like seeing my bike covered in dirt, mud, and scratches. It consoles me to confirm that I've been thrashing the thing duly.

2_i 

Sounds ridiculous!

Tourist in MSN

Use a good car wax on the bike frame and components before winter comes. If you ride a lot, maybe reapply once or twice before spring.

Do they use very much de-icing chemicals where you live on the roads? If so, your chain will be shot by spring, give it a good wax lube before each ride but plan on replacing it in spring. I do not put many miles on my bikes in winter, so I usually just start in fall with chains that are near the end of their life span and replace in spring.

pvrsykes

Thank you for your replies to my post. I will take your advice in consideration and dial back my intentions of plastic frame protection. The main areas I am concerned about are where the bike carrier clamps down to the frame of the bikes. Keeping the bikes clean and using a quality wax sounds like good advice and much more simple.

Tourist in MSN

If you are driving around with your bikes on a car in winter when you are driving on roads with snow and slush, your bikes will look pretty bad, especially if they use de-icing chemicals.

A lot of the worst of it had already melted before I took the photo. Note how much icy crud built up on the wheels, spokes, etc., that has not melted off yet.



My bike is the yellow one. I am glad I had an internally geared hub instead of a derailleur bike for this trip, the drive train would have been a bigger mess to clean up.

pdlamb

I think the biggest problem you'll have with the finish is leaning the bike up against something and watching it fall down, scraping all the way. Very painful the first time it happens.

You might try careful application of some clear packing tape on the seatstays, top tube, and fork to prevent that scraping. I'm not sure what it would do to any decals, though.

Tourist in MSN

A couple thousand mile trip on a bike rack with a bike I used to have, the rack wore through some paint on the frame. A different bike for a later trip, I wrapped electric tape on the parts of the frame that the bike rack contacted to avoid that, and that bike had a clear coat over the colored paint, the tape peeled the clear coat off of the frame.

If you really wanted to wrap something on the frame, I would recommend avoiding anything with good adhesive. Maybe a kitchen cling wrap like Glad Press N Seal would be better.

JohnJ80

Go to Amazon and search for 3M helicopter tape. It's the stuff they put on the leading edges of helicopter blades to protect them from damage. It applies like a decal and it works great. There are a variety of widths and shapes you can get it in. It's also the same stuff the automotive industry uses to protect from rock chip damage on hoods, doors etc... There are a number of die cut versions that are for protecting chain stays from chain slap, from cables rubbing on head tubes etc.... We just bought it in a roll and applied it to the various tubes.

It's easy to apply - you use a hair dryer to keep it soft and soapy water to apply it like a decal. There are tons of videos on Youtube about how to do it. It's easy if you're patient.

We did this last season on my wife's custom Gunnar frame for her gravel bike and a friend that also bought a Gunnar frame. You can't see the stuff but it is super touch and it will protect the paint in a big way. This bikes gets ridden on a lot of gravel roads and it the tape has done a terrific job of protecting the paint from chips. We applied it on the chain stays, the underside of the down tube and the fork blades. Highly recommend it - wish I'd done it on one of the frames of a bike I'd built.

For what bikes cost these days, and if you care about taking care of your stuff, this is the answer.

Canker

Yeah JohnJ80 just gave you the right info. I used the ISC Racers tape and if you read the reviews they are full of bikers. Now if you have an area of the bike that takes a heavy beating you might want too look at 3m 2228
https://www.amazon.com/3M-Scotch-Moi...5151931&sr=8-5
I use it on my chainstay and under the bottom bracket on my mtn bikes. It is very thick and rubber like but it is a bit messy to take off.

rifraf

Snap - its also the stuff recommended to protect frames when using bike packing frame bags.

Amazon won't be your only available source, but a good start

J.Higgins 

Liked and agreed. Just ride it and take care of it.