My shiny new malt 4 is gettin wrecked!

danjwalker

I have been for 1 ride, but the little stones on the path have seriously pitted the frame area around the back wheel. It looks very bad. There are more than 20 pits in the frame.

My question is, is this normal? It did not happen on my 200 quid girls bike!

Thx

-liam-

yup, pretty normal. You can buy helicopter tape to protect some areas and have you fitted a chainstay guard ?

Hercule Q

MTFU! its a mountain bike paint chips make you faster

-liam-

Exactly. Less paint, more speed

danjwalker

-Liam- wrote:

yup, pretty normal. You can buy helicopter tape to protect some areas and have you fitted a chainstay guard ?

No, I am a bit f a spaz when it comes to biking. If only I knew to do stuff before taking chunks out of a nice new bike. I shall investigate, thanks.

Northwind

To be fair, the finish on my mate's Malt 4 is absolutely appalling, the thing looks like it's been sandblasted. My £300 Carrera had better finish. It's still a very nice bike though, and it just means that it looks like he's incredibly dedicated and hardcore

colintrav

danjwalker wrote:

I have been for 1 ride, but the little stones on the path have seriously pitted the frame area around the back wheel. It looks very bad. There are more than 20 pits in the frame.

My question is, is this normal? It did not happen on my 200 quid girls bike!

Thx

Ain't that a shame

Why don't you complain to Merlin cos of the paint job wasn't 100 percent chip proof

If paint was 100 percent chip proof then cars would be using it , Go figure

M6TTF

No need to be a sarcastic Cnut tho is there, sounds like naievety on the original posters part - a straightforward response is fine, it's not STW forums you know

Splottboy

This is why I'm a bit afraid of going Carbon next year.

Wrote to GT saying, why don't you "armour" Carbon frames with a sprayed layer of Ti or something similar, to repel stones/chips. Reply was, can't be done, doesn't need it.
Looked at Trek bikes, low-and-behold, there's a few layers of stronger Carbon on the bike, on the down tube, to stop stones/chips...

Did I get shafted, or just gave my idea away?!

DamonC

Have you guys not tried Ventureshield? Its available in sheet form will heat and shape nicely?

ride_whenever

the original carbon ransoms had about 300g of crash protection carbon. Some carbon frames (i think the mojo for example) have an alloy plate to protect from chainsuck and chipping.

I think something like a very fine alloy mesh would work pretty well.

njee20

Splottboy wrote:

This is why I'm a bit afraid of going Carbon next year.

Wrote to GT saying, why don't you "armour" Carbon frames with a sprayed layer of Ti or something similar, to repel stones/chips. !

WTF? Spray a layer of ti!? Companies do often put reinforced bits where they're likely to get hit, Titus have the 'Replaceable Under Belly' plate on the downtube.

It's just not really a huge issue though! I've had carbon MTBs for 9 years, and it's not been a problem.

mac_man

shame you can't get 'invisibleshield' for bikes.

It's brilliant for protecting the screen on my Nokia touchscreeen phone.

Se here for demos....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmpFOUZoUX0

http://www.zagg.com/


Maybe we should suggest it to the bike companies..... Or see if zagg can do some for bikes. It was originally developed to protect helicopter blades!!!! So should work fine on an MTB

Northwind

Invisibleshield is just 3M clear tape I think, same as what we call helicopter tape. I had an old Ventureshield kit as well and it was the exact same stuff- just the thin version. Seems like a lot of these things are just rebranded 3M clear film.

Splottboy, most carbon bike parts are self-armoured, that is, the top layer is non-structural. So, even though it chips, it's only cosmetic. A lot of people think that as soon as carbon's chipped it weakens but that's not the case. Some carbon parts even have a nonstructural layer of weave as well, which gives them pretty huge protection (and tends to make them look nicer!)

danjwalker

Sent them a pic to see what Merlin thinks. As it is only a small area that is affected, my LBS think it is a manufacturing fault so Merlin should replace the frame. I really hope so, The bike is amazing...

colintrav

And nobody has mentioned the fact that the bike in question came out tops in last months magazine ...

clarkson

my merlin has been fine. and thats had a week of abuse in the lakes. plus my dreadful riding style to contend with!

Northwind

colintrav wrote:

And nobody has mentioned the fact that the bike in question came out tops in last months magazine ...

Did it? Never saw that. Like I say, it's a lovely bike, just saddled with terrible brittle paint. But who cares, all bikes scratch, it just does it worse than most, it still rides lovely.

Eranu

And nobody has mentioned the fact that the bike in question came out tops in last months magazine ...

Yeah it came out top in an £800 hardtail group test when it costs £975. Hardly suprising is it.

Anonymous

it is annoying when new bikes get chipped, i really really hate it (moreso on my road bikes as theres definately no need for that) but unfortunately, its the nature of the beast. Would be iterested to see how merlin handle the issue for you.

dunker

+1 with the sandblasting here though no big chips yet and it's pretty decent from a distance.

danjwalker

They phoned me as soon as they opened, I emailed the photo to them and showed it was only on the side with the chain. They said it must be the chain and have decided to send me a free chainstay protector. I wish I knew this before, but I must say the bike is amazing. Better ride than my woman. Don't worry, she will never read this!

Thanks all

colintrav

danjwalker wrote:

They phoned me as soon as they opened, I emailed the photo to them and showed it was only on the side with the chain. They said it must be the chain and have decided to send me a free chainstay protector. I wish I knew this before, but I must say the bike is amazing. Better ride than my woman. Don't worry, she will never read this!

Thanks all

And when did you contact merlin about this problem before you posted on here or after ???

glenncampbell

Merlin paint jobs aren't the best and mine lookied like it had leprosy. Copter tape and variants therein are an excellent idea as is the chainstay protector. If you sort these out then you can also disguise the chips!!

danjwalker

colintrav wrote:

danjwalker wrote:

They phoned me as soon as they opened, I emailed the photo to them and showed it was only on the side with the chain. They said it must be the chain and have decided to send me a free chainstay protector. I wish I knew this before, but I must say the bike is amazing. Better ride than my woman. Don't worry, she will never read this!

Thanks all

And when did you contact merlin about this problem before you posted on here or after ???

I posted here first, then phoned Merlin. Do you reckon they read the post?

colintrav

Yes ...I reckon so

Hercule Q

my studded belt raped my paint when i had to carrry my bike over a gate

danjwalker

Still, gotta love the bike, superb quality.