Finishing touches to frame protection tape

DodgeT

Spent a good few hours today fitting some frame wrap and has not turned out too bad.
There are a few bits though where the edges will not fully seal, say over a weld join, or running over another sticker.
Is there any little tricks to seal this, just dont want dirt to start getting in and lifting it. The gaps are only tiny, but of course would be good to have no gaps at all.
On the some of the curved edges, say inside the chainstays, i got rid of any severe creases by slitting the tape, overlapping then quickly heating the tape with a flame and pressing / moulding it into 1. Turned out really neat.
Just need t ofill the few tiny little gaps to finish it off.. Tiny touch of clear silicon maybe?

cooldad

you are enclosing your whole bike?
Weird.

jon1993

hair dryer over them maybe? am i reading this right your wrapping the whole frame?

griffter18

Find a local supplier for Vinyl Sign materials.
They are the type of company that supplies Car Graphic & Sign Writers.

They will do special sealant which is a clear liquid in a small bottle that seals the edges of tape and stops it lifting and stuff getting in.

For curves on a frame use a hair dryer as it softens the tape and aslo helps the adhesive.
Make sure your frame is spottles.

These sign material supplier also do tapes similar to heli tape but at a fraction of the cost and in different clours.

DodgeT

@jon1993 - yeah used the hairdryer, works for most, just a couple of tricky areas I need to seal. TBH, they are tiny, i'm probably worrying too much.
Might have been misleading how I wrote it, far from doing the whole frame, got a bargain on some covering so just trying to cover the usual big sections, not a simple shaped frame though the enduro..

@grifter - cheers for that, will have a hunt.

haydntal

Hope you don`t suffer the same consequences as happened to me. I got carried away with protection on my new bike - I even used it around the downtube where my roof carrier clamps grip the bike. It seemed like a brilliant idea at the time but it soon turned out to be a mistake. Water and mud gradually worked inside to such an extent that the bike looked a disaster. I decided to peel off the worst of it to find that I was lifting the paint. Basically, within a few months I had transformed a shiny new bike into a mess!

DodgeT

/\ /\ is exactly why I wanted to seal the small gaps, so this doesnt happen.
Tried a couple of things, clear silicon worked a treat. To put it into perspective, incase anyone thinks i've been caulking the bike with bathroom sealant , we're talking tiny tiny little gaps here, which were sealed off by applying a tiny amount of silicon via the point of a cocktail stick.
Perfect for the job though.

Also, haydntal, sounds like you had either had the wrong tape or a dodgy paint job to start with.

haydntal

Sounds like you know what you`re doing. Hope you get it right. My mistake was to cover too large and area in one go. It was the first time I had used it and was not aware of the consequences. The smaller bits I used against cable rub did not cause any problems; nevertheless I will stay clear of using any protection again.

DodgeT

Don't know about that I've done a few frames / bikes before, just never bothered about the tiny gaps. This time I thought I'd try and do it as neat as possible.
My experience has always been good with it, certainly has kept the frames in far far better condition than having none. I guess it partly depends on where / how you ride and transport your bike, mild stuff and not transporting your bike etc. you probably don't need anything. But when your chucking your bike in the back of the car, riding silly places with lots of rocks etc (read falling off..). then I feel its a worthwhile exercise.
Each to their own of course.