Thule 591 Marking Frame

WisePranker

I've got a Thule carrier on the car and I've noticed that its marking the frame where the clamp goes into the downtube as the cables on my Boardman run along the downtube.

What do you guys do to present this? Would it be ok to just wrap a cloth round the tube first?

t0pc4t

I don't bother now but when it did it to my week old Anthem I was not best impressed

camerauk

What about putting some of that helicopter tape around your downtube where the clamp fits that should stop it and will not be that noticeable
and you can just get on with putting the bike on the rack without any hassle

nicklouse

a piece of rubber between the cables and frame before clamping.

CraigXXL

As Nicklouse says or a bit of pipe lagging between the cables and frame.

bentes

and clean the tube where the clamp fit so any dirt/ dust/ mud won't scratch it.

scale20

I had an issue with it.

On the lower clamp jaw there is a 'V' shape to it, all I did was gather the cables together so they sat in the V and didnt get clamped to the frame. Appart from the ideas stated above theres not much you can do.

WisePranker

I think I'll take a look at getting some of the helicopter tape and stick that on to see orbit helps for now.

Raymondavalon

scale20 wrote:

IOn the lower clamp jaw there is a 'V' shape to it, all I did was gather the cables together so they sat in the V and didnt get clamped to the frame. Appart from the ideas stated above theres not much you can do.

I do the same, although to protect the cables on the AM bike, however the marks on the frame don't bother me too much as it's a Mountain Bike and they do tend to get scratched, marked, chipped and sometimes dented!

WisePranker

Raymondavalon wrote:

scale20 wrote:

IOn the lower clamp jaw there is a 'V' shape to it, all I did was gather the cables together so they sat in the V and didnt get clamped to the frame. Appart from the ideas stated above theres not much you can do.

I do the same, although to protect the cables on the AM bike, however the marks on the frame don't bother me too much as it's a Mountain Bike and they do tend to get scratched, marked, chipped and sometimes dented!

I'm both normally one to bother about the odd mark or scratch either, I'm usually bothered for the first couple of weeks after buying something then give up and get on with using it as its meant to be used!

MuddyFunster

Had a similar issue with my 591 and Enduro SL, but my concern was more about crushing the rear brake hose. Resolved it with a slight modification to the 591, drilling the fixed side of the jaw for a couple of zip ties and attaching a piece of an old toothed drive belt. The cables and hose sit rather neatly between the 'teeth'.
As drive belts go, this was a massive beast of a thing off something very industrial (don't know what and can't remember where it was acquired from - and I only ever had a small peice of it). You might be able to bodge something similar...

Bikes should really be sold pre-scratched. This would relieve owners of the stress associated with getting something shiny and expensive covered in mud and grit.

Northwind

Helicopter tape will do it.Pretty much any rack will scratch a bike over time, particularily if you put it up dirty.

ricardo_smooth

Outers on the cables. No issue then

The Northern Monkey

put it in the boot.