You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
following a rather damp ride on thursday night, i found yesterday that the lizard skin chainstay wrap has trapped a load of mud and was literally wringing wet.
whats better?
My default has always been to wrap it myself with an old inner tube - but having been tubeless for years, spare inner tubes are at a premium... do i just buy a cheap one from the supermarket?
I've been eyeing this up for a while:
https://cyclorise.com/products/vhs-v2-0-slapper-tape
I think it looks quite good. But my current inner tube wrap is holding up fine, and the slapper tape is pretty (fingers in ears @bikerevivesheffield 😉) spendy. By which I mean, you could by a brand new inner tube for a few pounds and make a couple of chainstay wraps.
I favour the 2228 mastic tape although I do trim the edges as it's not end to end adhesive.
With a little effort, you can get a custom looking chainstay protector and protect any other high risk points like to bottom of the down tube while you're there. It's more spendy than an old tube, but less spendy than the bike specific stuff.
I use the 3M tape, it's quite spendy but you get a big roll of it so can use on various bikes
I’ve got the VHS snapper tape. It’s good but I think it needs to be wider, as after a couple of rides my foot rub had delaminated the layers of rubber where the end of the tape was half way down the outside of my chain stay. I ended up cutting back the flapping bit and supergluing the rest back down.
Dieter makes ones from road tyres here: https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/back-from-the-dead-rabbit-rubber-attack/
+1 for the 3m mastic tape. I used it to replace a lizard skins protector for exactly the reason you mentioned
You can cut it to shape, round off the corners and it looks really neat. Seems to stick forever
I've used Duck Tape self amalgamating tape in the past (Amazon link), over the top of an old inner tube and it works really well, particularly on my steel hardtail.
I bought a roll of no-name self-amalgamating tape from a hardware store for about £3.99.
It's done various bikes, and useful around the house too 🙂 just wrap around like you would an inner tube, et voilà.
Old inner tube or road tyres used here.
OP
Just keep an eye out for any old cyclists riding road bikes in your area,they will have a shed full of old tubes that they have never got around to repairing. I am sure if you asked nicely they would give you a tube or one of the many road tyres that they still think they are going to use one day. 😉 😀
+whatever for the mastic tape
Very satisfying to apply and looks good IMO.
Cheap mastic tape from Screwfix. Years ago Bike Tart sold it branded as their own bike wrap and since we bought that we started just buying the cheap stuff. Works especially well if you have a black bike.
Another brands moulded self adhesive chainstay protection that has a similar shape is the way to go, for example Bird owners have had good results with Nukeproof ones. They're quite flexible so can adapt to a slight difference and the sticky back sections are strong and adhere well when the surface is well prepped and alcohol wiped.
Always used a cut up inner tube, wrapped like bar tape and secured either end with a bit of insulation tape.
I use that for non drive side chainstays too, where my feet rub. It lasts ages, and starts to flap about if it wears thin providing enough irritation to prompt replacement rather than adhesive tape that just wears through and you don't notice until you clean the bike in daylight..:-/
Old inner tubes here, with zip ties either end. Never had one wear or detach in several years yet.
Just to add my vote for the old innertube wrap, but I added some crafty type foam tape underneath it in small chunks to give it a sort of wavy profile. Works well on my wife's bike.
On my bike I tied on some cut up old Renthal supertacky push on grips on my chainstay - sounds weird but the rubber is amazingly soft, and the grip flanges (the grips have a bmx style flange on them) provide the perfect damper for chain slap. Doesn't look the tidiest if that sort of thing bothers you but the difference it's made is amazing. Of course you wouldn't buy those grips just for that but I happened to have some old ones I never threw out and gave it a go and it genuinely works brilliantly.
Will people STOP suggesting wrapping *ing inner tubes around their chainstays? IT LOOKS *ING AWFUL! You've spent X thousand pounds on a well engineered work of art and you use a bit of scrap rubber uglify your bike and trap water and grit against the frame! Have some *ing pride in your bike and a little self respect!
The VHS slapper tape is £25 sodding quid. It's hardly going to break the bank. I was sceptical but thought it worth a punt. Turns out it's a revelation, the silence is deafening and now I've got it fitted to both my off road bikes. I've also got 3M tape on the inner seat stay areas as it's thinner and there's less chance of the chain hitting hard. I used to use just the 3M as a chainstay protector but it wasn't a patch on the VHS even if it was very tidy.
Before I used that, it was cheap self amalgamating tape and while effective, it was only slightly less ugly than a a *ing innertube.
But, you know, each to their own and all that. ;o)
G
+1 for old inner tube and cable ties. Replace every two years as UV affects them. Although curious about roadie bar tape now...
Although curious about roadie bar tape now…
I used it on the boys old Liv Embolden i think it was... it worked reasonably well and survived well enough over the year we owned it.
+1 for the 3m 222B I use a strip of this and then wrap with cloth tape to neaten it up.
Tried duck tape stuff but now use inner tube + cable ties - they endure frequent muddy gloop & washes better than tape.
You’ve spent X thousand pounds on a well engineered work of art
£95 for the bike with frame even its mother would struggle to love! 🙂