Frame protection generally takes the form of special clear tape applied to areas of your bike likely to suffer wear or impacts.
This can be for vanity&#;s sake, guarding against chips and scuffs while helping you preserve your bike&#;s resale value. At the same time, it can also help prevent more severe damage such as that caused by rock strikes or your bike taking a tumble.
Anyone who&#;s heard the thwack of a rock shooting up from the ground to connect with their down tube will understand why you might want to add some extra protection, particularly useful on carbon frames.
Gravel bikes in particular benefit from additional frame protection given the kind of terrain they&#;re aimed at. The same goes for any carbon frame that&#;s likely to be used in the mud or to which you might attach bikepacking bags &#; bag straps are particularly good at wearing through your finish.
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Do I need frame protection for my bike?
Protection serves two purposes. First, it stops scuffs and scratches, like those caused by repeated rubbing or your bike sliding or knocking against something. This kind of wear can also result from your frame being regularly clamped into a work stand or bike rack, or having bags or straps lashed around its tubes.
Secondly, thicker and more absorbent tapes can also prevent structural damage. This sort of impact might result from a rock striking the down tube, an accident like dropping something onto the top tube, or a crash.
Carbon bikes tend to be more at risk of structural damage than aluminium models, whereas steel bikes are almost impervious to the kind of damage frame protection tapes can guard against, although they&#;ll still benefit from protection to their finish in key areas.
How does frame protection for road and gravel bikes work?
Despite being made for the outdoors, many road and gravel bikes aren&#;t really designed for a knockabout life. While the layups of more robust carbon bikes generally include additional layers of fibre designed specifically to disperse surface impacts, racier machines which focus on minimal weight often do without.
So while frames are extremely strong in the directions needed for stiffness, even a relatively small impact can cause a crack. Helping absorb and disperse impacts, frame protection tape can potentially prevent structural damage while helping you shrug off cosmetic damage.
Of course, this style of frame protection isn&#;t anywhere near failsafe. Still, given its popularity among mountain bikers, you can bet it&#;s saved more than a few riders from heartache.
Most frame protection kits use a material similar to 3M&#;s HS &#;helicopter tape&#;. This soft polyurethane tape can be wet-applied to your bike frame and feels almost tacky to the touch.
Visually obvious if you look closely, such kits will add between 40-120g once applied to the frame. Thinner and less obvious-looking styles of tape are also available, although these will offer less in the way of structural protection.
While both types will generally stick to matt paint or raw aluminium, they&#;re usually incompatible with anodized frame finishes.
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6 of the best frame protection kits for bikes
1. Dyedbro All-Road Frame Protection
With specific kits for gravel and all-road bikes, Dyedbro offers a massive range of different protection products.
Available in gloss and matt finishes, plus loads of lairy graphic options, the standard road and gravel kit contains 12 separate pieces covering all the critical tubes on the frame and fork, plus a bunch of extra round patches for any unexpected areas.
Aiming to protect against luggage straps, cable rub, and rock damage, the kit arrives in a neat package, including a squeegee for helping to fit the patches. This kit is best fitted with the help of a heat gun (or hairdryer). There are easy-to-follow video instructions on the brand&#;s website.
- Buy now from Dyedbro (&#;41.99)
2. Invisiframe Frame Protection
- Price: £80-85 for model-specific kits
Made from XPEL automotive grade non-yellowing vinyl, Invisiframe kits offer expansive coverage. A unique wet fit process is slightly more involved than some alternatives but promises to make for a closer match to your frame and is also more forgiving of mistakes during application.
Invisiframe is unusual in producing specific kits covering popular road, gravel, and cyclocross bikes.
With pre-cut shapes matched precisely to your frame size, these are likely to be your best option if your bike is covered.
Alternatively, the firm offers generic kits. Exact dimensions are included on the website, but expect a degree of modification to be necessary to achieve the perfect match.
3. All Mountain Style Gravel/Road Frame Guard
With a dimpled, honeycomb surface texture, All Mountain Style&#;s tape kits are thick while still maintaining a low weight and enough flexibility to make them conform to the shape of your frame.
The brand offers a single kit for road or gravel bikes, which comes in a clear semi-matt finish or with two different graphic treatments.
Made up of 12 parts, this includes big swatches for the top tube and down tube, two long arrows for the fork or the seatstays, plus eight extra sections to guard against cable rub or protect areas where the tyre might contact the frame.
More noticeable than some films, it helps that the tape itself looks good. This kit isn&#;t too expensive and is likely to provide better-than-average impact protection.
- Buy now from AllMountainStyle (&#;39)
4. Ride Wrap Bike Protection
With a vast range of options, Ride wrap offers custom-tailored kits and several generic options. Currently a little light on model-specific road and gravel kits, its online tool does at least help you find the best fit from among its other products. The firm also offers individual kits for those wanting to protect just their fork.
Likely to require a little trimming, its £60 &#;Covered&#; kit should offer around 60% coverage, while its £30 &#;Essential&#; kit concentrates on the most critical areas, including the top tube, down tube, seatstays and chainstays.
Arriving with each kit is a squeegee, cleaning wipes, installation solution concentrate, microfiber cloth, and an install key tool. A boon for anyone who doesn&#;t happen to have such things lying around already, they should offer a good value package.
- Buy now from Ride Wrap (from £30)
5. Bike Shield Oversize Frame Protector Set
The frame protection product most likely to already be hanging up in your local bike shop, Bike Shield kits come in versions for standard or oversized frames.
Matt or gloss finishes are available, and you can buy complete kits or single strips to cover your top tube, down tube, or chainstay.
Made from self-healing material, this tape is easy to fit and not too expensive. Most patches are rectilinear, so it is easy to work out where to place them, although you won&#;t get the same extended coverage offered by more complex kits.
Despite not being as thick as some alternatives, it should still provide a degree of impact protection and is easily tough enough for cosmetic duties.
- Buy Now from Amazon for £37.99
6. Lizard Skins Frame Protection Kit
These Frame Protectors from Lizard Skins are available as a kit or a single strip to protect an individual tube, and both are simple to select and widely available.
Strips are cut to conform to curving tube profiles, and each also features supplementary chevrons, which can be used to extend their length, while if you opt for a complete kit, you&#;ll find some extra patches chucked in too.
This means it&#;s less likely you&#;ll need to cut them, and you should be able to achieve a neat fit without much hassle. The flip side is that you&#;ll be restricted to just the main stretches of tubing on your bike.
Relatively thick, it&#;s confidence-inspiring stuff, although anyone wanting maximum coverage would still be best to look elsewhere.
You clearly care about your ride, so make sure you read how to clean your bike in just 5 minutes and how to clean your bike chain
Can tape solve all of life&#;s problems?
It&#;s debatable. However, what the right tape CAN do is provide a quick and easy application, fixing challenges so you can get back to doing your job.
In any business, objects are likely to break, become damaged, or simply need to be connected. If the need to fasten and patch things together is a constant variable in your company, it only makes sense that you&#;d want a fast solution that allows you to move on to the next task.
Throughout the past three decades, Strouse has shared the strength and resistance of 3M VHB and helped customers choose a type based on their specific product.
Today, we&#;ll discuss everything you need to know about 3M VHB tape, including what it is, what it can do, and whether it&#;s ideal for your business needs.
What is 3M VHB Tape Used For?
Many types of tape are made only to hold simple household items or make work in an office setting easier. Others are created for more specific uses, like professional painter's tape, or reflective tape used on commercial vehicles. In any case, you rarely find a type of tape engineered to tackle the toughest challenges in the industry.
3M VHB industrial tapes are a quick and efficient interior and exterior bonding solution. Rather than a temporary fix until you find a better product; 3M VHB tape IS the solution. These adhesive tapes are designed to permanently adhere to practically any surface, including metal, wood, glass, and many surface energy plastics and paints.
3M VHB tape is created using naturally viscoelastic acrylic foam, meaning it&#;s flexible yet able to retain its high strength while stretching to fit around an object. This gives the foam energy-absorbing and stress-relaxing properties, allowing it to sit perfectly on any surface and even move with the attached item.
The VHB tape is actually a subcategory or "family" of adhesive tapes. Each product is unique, and you&#;ll want to buy the specific 3M VHB tape that works for your conditions. For example, the '49' tape family is great for a broad range of surfaces, including glass and plastics, while the '59' tape family works on most powder-coated plastics, and the RP+ tape family is geared towards metals and mismatched surfaces.
For these reasons, 3M VHB double sided tape tends to be a constant go-to choice for many industrial uses and continues to help businesses create practical solutions to industrial problems.
What Are the Benefits of Using 3M VHB Tape?
3M VHB tape is tough, temperature resistant, conformable, discreet, and used to attach dissimilar materials. Many benefits come with using 3M VHB tape, and more uses are created as it continues to make its name in the industry daily.
By reviewing the top six benefits of using 3M VHB, we&#;ll cover why many companies adopt it as an alternative to mechanical fasteners.
1. IT'S ONE OF THE TOUGHEST MATERIALS OUT THERE
3M VHB tape offers one of the strongest bonds out of any adhesive. In fact, VHB tape has been certified in the industry to have a powerful bond (it's in the name: VHB = &#;Very High Bond&#;).
Its adhesive properties alone give it an incredibly durable hold on any surface. Still, combined with its elastic properties, it can absorb the shock of any load, making it perfect for static and dynamic operations.
Furthermore, the potent adhesive mix in the tape allows it to hold strong and long. 3M VHB tape can stay in place for many years and will continue doing its job just as well as it did the first time it was applied.
2. IT CAN WORK IN EXTREME TEMPERATURES
Every product is limited to the hot or cold conditions it functions in, and the same goes for tape. Most adhesives have a limited temperature range, with their cool spectrum capping off at 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Want more information on protective tape for aluminium? Feel free to contact us.
3M VHB double sided tape is much more durable than your everyday tape, taking on freezing temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. THE TAPE CAN MOLD TO ANY SHAPE
You undoubtedly work with equipment that has a multitude of complex parts. Often, difficult parts are too challenging to fix properly with traditional adhesives, and fasteners have a fixed shape that might not solve the problem.
The VHB adhesive&#;s contouring abilities allow it to stretch, squeeze, and otherwise shape itself around any surface with ease, and its foam-based material helps it to flow into microscopic irregularities in the item and seal them all shut, guaranteeing a powerful and long-lasting bond.
4. YOU CAN'T SEE IT (LOW VISIBILITY)
While you COULD hang your family photos using duct tape, there are several reasons why you&#;d probably use low-visibility adhesives.
Regular tape can be bulky, uneven, and rely on the precision of your application, but with certain 3M VHB tapes, you won't be able to see a thing after you&#;ve applied them. That's because many VHB tapes were designed to go virtually invisible after application, so you can get results that look smooth.
5. YOU CAN USE IT TO COMBINE DISSIMILAR MATERIALS
You may be limited with what you can use traditional adhesives and fasteners on.
In most cases, fasteners are designed only to fit a specific way within a particular material, and even though adhesives can be used on a decent range of surfaces, they are still limited to certain types of bonding due to the materials they may be made of.
3M VHB tape has no limitations. VHB tape can not only fasten together almost any surface you can throw at it, but it can also hold together surfaces made from entirely different materials with no problem. Feel free to combine metal with wood, wood with plastic, or anything else your heart desires; the correct VHB tape will hold it together and offer guaranteed security.
6. IT OFFERS DOUBLE THE POWER
The 3M VHB tape comes with not one, but two sides of adhesive sticking power, so you can get double the strength and double the power from every use. This means it doesn't just cover up cracks or fasten small sections; the VHB tape can combine whole parts using both sides, offering its strength to manage stress loads and complete even the most significant projects.
How Does 3M VHB Tape Compare With Other Fasteners?
Depending on how long your business has run, you may have grown fond of traditional fasteners. However, sometimes change is necessary to upgrade your business to new heights.
3M VHB tape is a consistent and reliable tool for many products, and to help demonstrate why people change, we&#;ll explain a few reasons you might want to switch things up.
IT'S VERY COST-EFFICIENT
Have you ever evaluated how much you spend on your rivets, clamps, bolts, and other holds and fasteners? Surely it's quite a lot- so much that you're better off not looking at the numbers for fear of cringing.
Buying 3M VHB tape is as cheap as you can get when it comes to fasteners - but that doesn't mean it's a low-quality product in any way. In fact, VHB tape is on par with almost any other fastening product currently on the market, helping you take care of your problems for only a fraction of the price.
ONE SIZE FITS ALL
More than a drain on the wallet, fasteners can also be cumbersome, easy to lose, and hard to find when needed. This can cause work progress delays, making it difficult to complete your primary objective.
VHB tape drastically reduces your chances of being caught in this problem. The adhesive tape can work as a fastener for almost any project; simply grab the tape, place or wrap it around the material, and voila! The problem is solved, and the material can be used once the tape finishes bonding to the surface.
NO NEED FOR THE EXTRA MECHANICAL WORK
Let's say you want to use a new fastener to connect two pieces, but these pieces need the proper female counterparts to place the fasteners into. To connect them, you must modify the pieces so the fastener can fit properly. This could end up causing more problems than it's worth.
Drilling, riveting, welding, and other forms of parts modification can be time-consuming, especially if you need all the equipment or know how to do it yourself on-site. You may also need to modify the type of fastener you use, which could mean getting a custom manufacturing job done.
3M VHB tape doesn't need modifications, professional workmanship, or extra cash to work its wonders. It's as simple as placing a strip of tape along the areas that need bonding to do its job.
Which 3M VHB Tape is Best For Me?
You&#;ve learned about the many benefits of 3M VHB tape, but you still need to figure out which tape you need. Luckily for you, Strouse has bought our fair share of VHB.
You can find plain rolls of VHB online, but when you&#;re looking for custom lengths and shapes, you&#;ll want to seek out an expert to help check your design for manufacturability and get you started on your path toward production.
Strouse helps companies like yours select the right 3M VHB tape for the job and provide it in the format most conducive to your process, whether in rolls, die cuts, sheets, or multi-stack lamination. In addition, we offer 3M VHB double sided tape, tape masking solutions, medical device adhesives, surface protection tape, industrial and fastener tape, and more.
In the VHB Selection Guide above, you'll find the adhesive solution that best suits your project and a detailed explanation of your options going forward. If you have any questions, about VHB or making a selection, please contact us.
Originally published: May 4,
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