Hoses are eating my bike!

fielonator

How can I stop my hoses/cables wearing away at my bike frame? It's as they come around the head tube.

nicklouse

fit some protection to the frame.

copter/heli/leading edge tape.

stubs

I read this as Horses eating my bike.

I got some sheets of anti wear patches from the motorbike shop. There are all different sizes and shapes from penny sized round ones to oblongs and ovals 3 inches long. They are just the normal helicopter tape but pre cut, nice and thick and so far have lasted well no fogging, yellowing or peeling. Any decent Motorbike shop should do them.

fielonator

That's really helpful, cheers stubs. Now about those horses...........

britishseapower

I use something similar to this, got them free when i bought my bike, do a good job.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=7268

should find some in stock at one of the usual on line stores, or even Halfords they do them too.

97th choice

duck tape works until they arrive.

Johnny Napalm

Those Lizard Skins are good, but I'd get a couple of mtrs of tape, which won't cost much more.

thecremeegg

What I want to know is why bikes don't come with these from the factory

stubs

thecremeegg wrote:

What I want to know is why bikes don't come with these from the factory

Helicopter tape and patches are fiddly to fit you need to measure up and cut carefully, degrease frame, warm up tape or patches with a hair dryer and be careful so you dont get any wrinkles or air bubbles. To do an entire frame properly takes me about 1 to 2 hours I bet in a Taiwanese factory they get about 15 minutes to knock a bike together.

diy

The other option is to zip tie your cables so they hang away from the head tube. A small one where they cross over is normally sufficient.

mattv

Bikes often do come with these little sticky patches, but not fitted. I know some Speshs come with them in the user manual, along with the tubeless conversion kit and useless generic fork manual. Have to fit them yourself though, in the affected areas. I use sellotape, and replace it regularly.

FSR Si

Gaffer tape is good and very hard wearing

02gf74

Scott bkes have the transparent patches too - as ^^^ says, it take time to get the patch in the riight place

blablablacksheep

bike patches are insanely exspencive for what they are, like stubs said get motobike ones as they a lot cheaper and come in better shapes and sizes.

other than that get a chainstay protecter and make sure it fits as a lot of them dont fit well due to the bike frame tapering towards the rear.

Biggus86

stubs wrote:

I read this as Horses eating my bike.

+1

Gwaredd

Being a self employed sign maker, I cut my own using Ritrama vehicle protection vinyl. It's the same vinyl you get on the B & C pillars of car doors to prevent scratches to the paint from rings etc.

Being a semi rigid PVC, you do need to heat it to conform to curves, but once on, it stays put. I've had it on my bike now for nearly 2 years & it's stayed put through hot dusty summers & cold gritty winters + washing & with minimal wear from the cables.

If anyone is interested, I could knock some out for a few quid + postage in various shapes & sizes, plus a block patch that you can cut to shape yourself.