[Closed] Frame strap disaster

Put it back really quickly and take some amnesia inducing drugs..
(might want to helitape it first though)

New bike time 👍

^^ lol 😁

Put a Sticker over it and then put the bag back on and forget about it.

What’s a frame strap ?

I'm generally a sticker over and forget kind of a guy.

But

Is that white dot indicating you have gone all the way through?

What’s a frame strap ?

Ditto

Wide rubber/velcro strap for holding inner tube/tools/co2 can on the frame, rather than in a pack.

The white bit is actually just light reflecting off the carbon. it doesn't actually go all the way through fortunately.

The bike is only about 7 months old.I'm pretty gutted but theres not much I can do. The damage has ironically come from the 2 rubber strips that are meant to protect the frame. The strap has been on there for a couple of months.

I didn't expect it to have caused any damage to the frame so just fitted and forgot about it.Going to have to try and fill it, paint it then helix-tape the life out of it.

For those asking about the strap.

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I think that's all you can do with the frame TBH. I'd definitely put the strap through the washer and clean the tube too, then do so every month, or more, to stop it rubbing through the helitape. It's the grit & abrasion that's the killer with carbon.

That does suck ☹️

Frame bags in the main triangle etc seem to be more popular again now but its inevitable they're going to be moving even slightly and wearing away the paint/finish on frames, add in water & dirt and you have a grinding paste to contend with as well...i keep my bikes a long time so use heli tape where i think issues will occur but theres only so much that can be done

DIY repair kit is an option

I didn’t expect it to have caused any damage to the frame so just fitted and forgot about it.

Anything that straps into a bike is likely to do this without some kind of protection in place unfortunately. I’ve seen the look on someone’s face when a shop pointed out that their mudguards had just put a hole in each seat stay

Looks worse than you fear. There doesn't look to be any significant wear through the composite, just the paint. If you take a photo with a bit of degreaser wiped across it before it dries it will highlight exactly what you have exposed, but I can only see the surface ply here. Not sure what the white bit is, but it may become clear with a better photo.

I work in the Composites industry so assessing this sort of damage is my day job!

http://s1268.photobucket.com/user/kirkg84/library/

its pretty difficult to get a decent picture without the flash reflecting.

Going to have to try and fill it, paint it then helix-tape the life out of it.

yep, best plan I reckon. Won't need much more than a scrape of filler and careful sanding back with v fine wet and dry , as long as you can match the paint colour, should be able to get a good repair.

Feel for you though, 7 months old!  (A yeti?) your heart must have sunk when you saw the damage!

Bronson cc. Waited ages on it coming too. Genuinely felt sick when I seen it.

I think you'd be better with a broader rubber protective strip rather than allowing "all" the pressure on 2 small areas. Maybe cut a length of innertube and wrap right around the frame, then fasten your frame strap over that.

(and clean it out every now & then - presumably it's grit that does it)

I won’t be putting the strap back on. I have a hip pack that I’ll use for longer rides and will just chance it for when I’m on a local blast.

I'd just put a sticker over it. Something like this

https://www.allmountainstyle.com/pages/ams-honeycomb-frame-guards

If you want it to look like it never happened speak to these guys
http://www.targetcomposites.co.uk/
They did a repair on a mondraker for me that was incredible

Spent a little time heli-taping my Genius where my strap-on tube lives... the very next ride I had a huge off and put a significant gouge in the top tube.. the heli taped spare tube area however still looks great 😉

In this case it's the mud/grit that's the problem.. it would probably be fine if always clean.. but that's not really feasible

I’ve never and never will tie/strap/zip tie anything to a frame !! Doesn’t matter how soft/gentle said strap/attachment is meant to be its simple physics ffs. Water/movement touching surface will rub/scrape. Backpack or jersey pockets always 🙂

Don't strap anything to the frame, especially on an MTB - dirt will make a mess of the paint in a very short time. As a minimum, heli-tape it first if you are going to strap something to the frame.

Is that the 'top of the top tube' - if so, you can get some really good vinyl stickers for the top tubes - loads of cool designs.

Some strapons can cause real damage if used without thought...

It’s the underneath of the top tube.

I use a strap as I don’t want a co2 canister etc next to my spine in a pack in case I land on my back when I come off and riding without a bag is ace.

Can anyone recommend a epoxy/filler and a decent YouTube video for instructions?

Cheers.

Easy Composites epoxy repair filler - black in colour and rubs down / polishes up to be near indistinguishable - I've used it to repair chunks out of carbon rims, converted a carbon CX frame to take mudguards and all sorts of bike repair jobs.

Is there a reason not to put the tube in a bag attached to the saddle?

Huge sympathy to the OP. I think the current trend for straping things to frames does seem questionable. I hope we can do back to engineered attachment points. Bottle mounts, rack mounts etc.

Is there a reason not to put the tube in a bag attached to the saddle?

Not enduro enough

Sorry for the delay in responding to your photos. The smaller damage is paint only. The larger has worn through the surface ply locally. This will have negligible effect so I would do as the others have said. Sticker if you want a cheap solution or touch up if you want it to be properly finished.
Hope this helps

Shiney surface is surface of carbon under the paint. Darker ring under is next ply at 90degrees. 2 smaller spots in the middle are likely to be very local wear into the next ply down. These plies are very thin on these frames and there will need to be a lot of them overlaping to create the overall structure so not likely to be a significant percentage of the complete thickness of the frame in this area.

Thanks buddy.

There has been similar damage reported on here from mudhuggers where the ties wore through the helitape.

The important points are:

We ride our bikes through grinding paste, anything with potential to move a little needs removing and cleaning under before the constant slight movement causes the grinding paste to wear through the paint and below

and,

Helitape is not a magical forcefield, it only slows the process down. It will still get worn through if left long enough.

At O/P, bad luck... upside, from MisterAST’s comments it looks like you may have caught this in time.

There are carbon repairers whonwill dona nest job of tidying that up and match the paint work. I was Quoted £150 for a repair to some paint flaking. I have the email somewhere I’m happy to forward on if needs be