Purp

I'm looking for a good tape I can wrap around my frame, anyone who's seen the delivery bikes in NYC will know what I'm talking about, a thin (about 1" wide) vinyl tape that is wrapped around every tube in the frame, sometimes translucent. My heavy kryptonite chain just destroys my paint/frame unguarded.

Is there a good tape I could use for this purpose? Traits I'm looking for:

• Waterproof
• Durable, will not crack
• Bright/Reflective
• No adhesive, or can be removed from the frame without taking the paint with it

I tried using old innertubes and wrapping them around the frame, they were protective, not adhesive, and waterproof; but they've begun to crack and a loose piece of rubber flew off and cost me a new derailer.

I'm thinking something from like these polypropylene tapes from 3M but I'm worried they will be too sticky.

Any ideas?

math is fun

the tapes you linked will be fine on a bicycle finish. They will stick an should come off clean if there is any adhesive left a little bit of mineral spirits will clean it up. If you want something more tape like, mcmaster.com part number 75735A65 <--2 inch wide black electrical tape.

BCRider

A cheap but durable tape is the slightly foggy clear tape sold at sporting stores that have hockey equipment. Players use the clear tape for something and go through it quickly so it's actually pretty cheap to buy. If you do a 50% overwrap on all the tubes with this stuff so there's two layers the frame will look suitably muted and the double layer would provide better protection from both water and abrasion damage. I've never done a full bike with it but I did use it on the drive side chain stays of a couple of bikes for chain slap protection. It stood up well over for the years that I had those bike and looked good when I sold them and moved on. It's just milky enough that it lends a fog to the finish so the original color shows through in a muted way. If you want to cover the names up you'll need to use black electrical tape under the clear hockey tape first.

As for reflective your best bet is to use stickers of ScotchLite in strategic spots. To ensure proper light reflection they would have to go on over top of the clear hockey tape.

I never tried removing it after a few years but the info about the mineral spirits is gold. It does a great job of removing sticker and tape residue and won't hurt the original paint.

jimc101

You want a product called Helicopter tape, you can find it on ebay, made by 3M (part 8663DL), it's clear, thin and adhesive (it's tacky so easily removable with no damage to the finish), and apart from being used to protect rotor blade leading edges, has found a great secondary use in protecting bike frames.