[Closed] anyone got any good guides on how to apply heli-tape?

Clean the frame well. Get hold of some isopropyl alcohol to properly ge-grease it.
Cut it to shape & spend time making sure that you know where you are going to put it, that it will form around the curves OK and try it out with the backing on a few times, to have a trial run.
Use a hair drier to heat the frame a bit. You don't need to get it hot, but warmer is better than straight out of the garage cold.
When the frame is heated, heat the heli-tape for a few seconds to make it a bit more flexible & then whack it on.

Oh, clean your hands well first, although even when you have you will do well not to end up with the odd fingerprint. Not that it really shows once it's on.

I think some people use water in a spray bottle and a squeegie, as this allows for some manoeuvring of the tape once it's on. Never tried it myself though.

I'm a week or so behind you in applying tape. But was going to suggest exactly as stumpy has.
Thanks for confirmation of what I thought.

frame is as clean as it will ever be.... brand new never ridden

i used to tint car windows professorially going back 9 years ago yeah a slightly soapy solution (a few drops of johnsons baby wash was what we used to about 1ltr of water) then squeegeeing the hell out of it but that was on car glass dont fancy that on the bike....

will just try it not too fussed if it dont turn out 100% as its functional not eyecandy.... wil try the hairdryer tip 🙂

cheers

Just because it's new doesn't mean it's clean. Wipe it down with IPA.

The soapy water trick works well BUT only really in single curvature, i.e. along the length of a fairly constant section tube, where it will allow you to slide it exactly into the position you want.

Anywhere there's significant double curvature or complex shapes where you need to stretch and pull the tape into shape, the soapy water approach will work against you.

I found that using thinner strips(50mm width and below) was easier/neater to apply,also not always cutting straight lines,if your frame has lots of contours, try putting some curves/shapes to the tape,round corners off,dont forget to tape rear stays where your heel could rub/under cables etc.

Hairdryer and isopropyl. Also, don't put it on a carbon On One as they're officially not resistant to the glue.

OP sorry to hijack,
Northwind,this is news to me(officially non-resistant),where did you get this info?,cheers.

From On One- the tape damaged my frame, they responded:

"lack of resistance to tape adhesive is would only be a manufacturing defect in the product if we advertised and sold the frame as having such resistance."

My grammer isnt the best,i dont really understand whats being said there,anyway,ive just tested mine,pulled a piece off,no hairdrier,water etc,no probs,i think its a matter of technique,and quality of tape tbh.
thanks for the heads-up tho.

Mine is standard 3M, had been on for a year, and when I took it off all the finish came with it. Imagine my delight.

TBH On One didn't seem too sure what they were saying either... First they said the finish had no warranty at all, then they said it does but only a year so mine was out of it, and also that if I'd used a hairdryer to remove it it definately wouldn't have happened (I did; it did), then when I linked them their own warranty on their own website which says 2 years, they came out with that line that if you want to use helicopter tape you should buy a frame that's advertised as compatible.

Long and short is they've admitted the frame lacks resistance to the tape adhesive, but don't consider that a warranty issue because apparently frames can only be expected to be helicopter-tape compatible if advertised as such. Even though I know they've replaced at least one other frame that had the same issue. I've suggested they might want to put that on the website 😉

You really need to clean it first with IPA (search ebay 70% isopropyl alcohol from shiny hardware) to remove all traces of grease and any dust etc. Then do what Stumpy said but I would definitely recommend spraying the frame, heli tape and hands with water (and a drop of fairy liquid) so you can reposition the tape and squeeze any bubbles out. It's a time consuming and tricky job but if you're careful then you can hardly see the tape once it's done

Also, don't put it on a carbon On One as they're officially not resistant to the glue.

Oops, I've just put a lot of heli tape on my brand new C456! Ah well, it's proper 3M stuff so will last and if it ever needs removing I'll have to get it resprayed...which kind of makes the tape pointless.

Soapy water method...

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Create paper templates, then cut the tape to template. The tape can stretch quite a lot btw.