We have 3 options that we use. Wrap a tube around the chainstay like a tennis raquet...ugly, heavy. Buy those neoprene things that velcro on...destroyed immediatly. Or clear tape...loud, doesn't last either.
Anyways, I was riding and ran across a dude who had a MUCH better idea. He's even made a business out of it. You know that soft stuff they put on the standing area of Jet Ski's? Tough, soft, water proof, and comes in lots of colors. Perfect! I said I want some. So I followed him to a windowless van with free candy written on the side. After entering, he locked the door. Actually, that may be a flashback from the Big Stick incident of '92. This guy just brought me to his garage. A MANS garage with WAY too many toys to ever fit a car. I like him already! I snaged a black kit for my Demo, and a camoflage colored kit for my SX Trail. He even offered to install the SX one for me. I never turn down free labor.
I know most of us will just clean our frame and stick this stuff on. And that's cool. Still will work better than anything else out there. But Mr Perfectionist has some other tips that make the install clean and lasting. So after detaching the cables, he cleaned the areas with Alcohol.
Then he held the precut material up to the frame, and cut off any chunks to match my frame, and cable routing bits. He likes to cut in the groves of the material to make it look even cleaner:
Next he likes to break out the heat gun(hair dryer is fine too) to warm up the frame and defender. He says it will make the 3M sticky last longer, and soften up the defender for easier install.
After putting it in place, he rolls a pipe over the stuff...apparently to push out any bubbles. Good thing he's doing this install, cause I would never take the time to do this part. :lol:
The stuff is easy to trim with scissors or razor. He even uses a hole puncher to make a clean hole for the screw holes on my down tube.
I was wondering what the defender, and the frame would look like after a year. He has several bikes in the garage that have been running the defender for longer than that. The material barely looks touched. And I peeled back the corner to see how hard it would be to remove. And to check that it didn't try to take paint with it. All looked good to me!
So my frame is finally protected! He even used orange zip ties on my cables to accent the camo material. Wasn't sure about that...but he was right. The stuff looks good...and I shouldn't have to ever think about frame protection for as long as I have the bike. Stoked! Highly recommend Frame Defender. Give Derek a buzz for any questions. Good rider, great guy, and a much needed product.
Anyways, I was riding and ran across a dude who had a MUCH better idea. He's even made a business out of it. You know that soft stuff they put on the standing area of Jet Ski's? Tough, soft, water proof, and comes in lots of colors. Perfect! I said I want some. So I followed him to a windowless van with free candy written on the side. After entering, he locked the door. Actually, that may be a flashback from the Big Stick incident of '92. This guy just brought me to his garage. A MANS garage with WAY too many toys to ever fit a car. I like him already! I snaged a black kit for my Demo, and a camoflage colored kit for my SX Trail. He even offered to install the SX one for me. I never turn down free labor.
I know most of us will just clean our frame and stick this stuff on. And that's cool. Still will work better than anything else out there. But Mr Perfectionist has some other tips that make the install clean and lasting. So after detaching the cables, he cleaned the areas with Alcohol.
Then he held the precut material up to the frame, and cut off any chunks to match my frame, and cable routing bits. He likes to cut in the groves of the material to make it look even cleaner:
Next he likes to break out the heat gun(hair dryer is fine too) to warm up the frame and defender. He says it will make the 3M sticky last longer, and soften up the defender for easier install.
After putting it in place, he rolls a pipe over the stuff...apparently to push out any bubbles. Good thing he's doing this install, cause I would never take the time to do this part. :lol:
The stuff is easy to trim with scissors or razor. He even uses a hole puncher to make a clean hole for the screw holes on my down tube.
I was wondering what the defender, and the frame would look like after a year. He has several bikes in the garage that have been running the defender for longer than that. The material barely looks touched. And I peeled back the corner to see how hard it would be to remove. And to check that it didn't try to take paint with it. All looked good to me!
So my frame is finally protected! He even used orange zip ties on my cables to accent the camo material. Wasn't sure about that...but he was right. The stuff looks good...and I shouldn't have to ever think about frame protection for as long as I have the bike. Stoked! Highly recommend Frame Defender. Give Derek a buzz for any questions. Good rider, great guy, and a much needed product.
But I could do without the look of bare chewed up metal, right? Especially when it's preventable by simply sticking this thing on one time. Seems lame to me that manufacturers don't put stuff like this on from the factory. It's not like they don't know it's gonna take thousands of chain lashes per ride...duh.
