Carbon bike, protecting dropouts

biked123

I've got a boardman team carbon bike, less than a year old, I noticed around the very tips of the dropouts that there's a few scuffs where there's been a bit of contact when the wheel has been dropped in, usual minor scrapes stuff, no deep gouges.

I just wanted to check that this isn't a stupid idea, but I had some black duct tape so I've carefully layered a couple of bit of tape around each of the 4 dropouts to protect them from any future scuffing.

Is this a good idea? I assume duct tape is fine to stick to the frame and there won't be any ill effects, I did read of other people using clear duct tape to protect their chainstays from scuffing on their own carbon bikes.

Here's a picture of my masterful work:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/xoxoxo/duct-tape-dropouts.jpg

If there's any other better techniques it'd be also good to hear.

One last question, the dropouts on the boardman bike, are they entirely metal? ie. the black parts on the tips are just resin and black paint and underneath is metal or are the tips part of the carbon frame also and need special care?

Thanks in advance!

Headhuunter

Scratches are just part of life. The bike won't stay immaculate forever. My Focus is 3 years old now and has a few bruises. Just get out there and ride and when it's so battered it's about to fall apart, get a new one....

Drop outs on carbon bikes are always (I think?) metal, carbon wouldn't resist the hammering they get when you tak wheels in and out. Also the dropouts are usually replaceable on more expensive framed bikes so that is they get dinged or bent out of shape you simply get new dropouts rather than having to replace an entire thousand quid+ carbon frame

nochekmate

Headhuunter wrote:

Scratches are just part of life. The bike won't stay immaculate forever. My Focus is 3 years old now and has a few bruises. Just get out there and ride and when it's so battered it's about to fall apart, get a new one....

Drop outs on carbon bikes are always (I think?) metal, carbon wouldn't resist the hammering they get when you tak wheels in and out. Also the dropouts are usually replaceable on more expensive framed bikes so that is they get dinged or bent out of shape you simply get new dropouts rather than having to replace an entire thousand quid+ carbon frame

My BMC Pro Machine has carbon dropouts not metal, so not always the case that they are metal.

Taping dropouts seems somewhat over the top IMO

Headhuunter

nochekmate wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Scratches are just part of life. The bike won't stay immaculate forever. My Focus is 3 years old now and has a few bruises. Just get out there and ride and when it's so battered it's about to fall apart, get a new one....

Drop outs on carbon bikes are always (I think?) metal, carbon wouldn't resist the hammering they get when you tak wheels in and out. Also the dropouts are usually replaceable on more expensive framed bikes so that is they get dinged or bent out of shape you simply get new dropouts rather than having to replace an entire thousand quid+ carbon frame

My BMC Pro Machine has carbon dropouts not metal, so not always the case that they are metal.

Taping dropouts seems somewhat over the top IMO

Sure they're not metal coated in carbon or carbon look plastic? Are they replaceable drop outs?

rolf_f

Headhuunter wrote:

Sure they're not metal coated in carbon or carbon look plastic? Are they replaceable drop outs?

The bumpf on the fork dropouts of my Look 585

• HSC 5 SL FORK
100% carbon monocoque weighing in at 325 grs and conforming with the EN14781 standard. Moulded carbon dropouts. 36º fork conical collar. The 15.33% weight to lateral rigidity ratio is the best on the market today.

Monty Dog

There are a number of top-end frames these days with carbon drop-outs, its not unusual. Scuffed-up drop-outs are to be expected and I'd prefer that to a wheel slipping because the QR moved - it's happened to me a couple of times - once at high speed that ended up in a rear-wheel blowout.

biked123

Thank you for the responses I'm glad I haven't been mistreating my bike then!

brin

Taping dropouts seems somewhat over the top IMO

+1 what you gonna do when out on a ride and you need to remove a wheel due to the 'P' word, the tape will have to come off then to allow clearance, or are you going to carry a spare roll?

biked123

If you look at the photo link I gave you'll see that it's the entry area into the dropouts not the dropouts themselves, so I can remove/insert the wheel without problems.