Frame rubbing from tyres

richjturner

Hi,

Looking for some advice from anyone who knows about carbon. I've just turned my bike (Colnago CLX) upside down and discovered rubbing inside the forks and inside the seat stays. My tyres don't rub normally, but I have noticed rubbing when I've gone through gravel or dirt. I hadn't realised it was this bad though. It's not deep, but some paint has been removed as you can see. It does look worse on the photos.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0-4bAOl ... XJ3sZ2n05Q
https://share.icloud.com/photos/041Pixm ... MKgULg4vpA
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0uCo2Q1 ... a35nLVsEMg
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0pSzTAn ... legde2ZgMg
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0h2ePs8 ... FSGv5TCRqA

Been running these tyres and wheels for three years or so. They are a very close fit admittedly.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Rich

richjturner

Looking at those parts of the bike it feels like they're pretty solid, unlike all the tubes which are hollow. Hoping that might be reason to be reassured...

ayjaycee

Not sure what sort of advice you might be looking for but it might have helped if you had said what size tyres are on it at the moment. That said, the answer to your problem is probably painting over the rub marks (which don't look too serious) and sticking some narrower tyres on. As the marks would normally be out of sight, an exact paint match won't be too important so just get something close enough from Halfords, clean the surface properly and seal it with a couple of coats of paint plus top coat - job jobbed.

richjturner

ayjaycee wrote:

Not sure what sort of advice you might be looking for but it might have helped if you had said what size tyres are on it at the moment. That said, the answer to your problem is probably painting over the rub marks (which don't look too serious) and sticking some narrower tyres on. As the marks would normally be out of sight, an exact paint match won't be too important so just get something close enough from Halfords, clean the surface properly and seal it with a couple of coats of paint plus top coat - job jobbed.

Sorry, they're 25mm on Vision Metron wheels. The original tyres were 23mm on whatever the bog standard wheels were. So, I can change down (though would prefer to stay on 25s but guess that's not a good idea.

richjturner

ayjaycee wrote:

Not sure what sort of advice you might be looking for but it might have helped if you had said what size tyres are on it at the moment. That said, the answer to your problem is probably painting over the rub marks (which don't look too serious) and sticking some narrower tyres on. As the marks would normally be out of sight, an exact paint match won't be too important so just get something close enough from Halfords, clean the surface properly and seal it with a couple of coats of paint plus top coat - job jobbed.

What sort of paint would you recommend?

ayjaycee

Others might say different but I would suggest ordinary car touch up paint (hence the earlier mention of Halfords) and a clear top coat to seal it. It sounds to me like reverting to 23s is the sensible thing to do but also remember that not all 25's actually measure 25mm. It sounds a bit odd but some come up larger and others smaller - it also depends on how wide your rims are!

The Rookie

Look at the clearance static, maybe your pickup up debris on the tyres and its catching on the way through, when riding through that gravel/dirt!

keef66

Company net-nanny won't let me view your pics but it sounds like what I found when I fitted 25mm tyres on my CR1.

At first sight there seemed to be enough clearance at the tightest place between the chainstays, but then when I was fixing a rear puncture I noticed some gouges at that point. I suspect it's when the tyre picks up chippings and they are forced through the gap.

It probably didn't help that I'd used Michelin Pro4 SC which come up bigger than 25mm.

I switched to a 23mm Pro4 Endurance on the rear and kept the original 25 on the front where the clearance at the fork crown is better

lesfirth

I had the same problem.Put some nail varnish on it and get some helicopter tape. Search on E bay for some Tesa Tape. It is like 3M tape but better IMHO. If you warm the tape on a radiator it is quite flexible and will do a good job of protecting the frame. I put also some on the back of my seat tube where the back tyre is close and on the bottom of the down tube. No I do not have shares in Tesa.