If you’re riding your mountain bike the way it’s truly meant to be ridden, then breaking parts and scratching the paint are a way of life. While not much can be done to prevent you from annihilating your brand spankin’ new carbon wheels while bombing down a rock garden, there’s a pretty easy and cheap way to protect your bike from the inevitable scratches.
There are companies that offer plastic tape specifically cut and tailored to cover every inch of your bike in order to protect the paint. Those specific tape packages, however, tend to run around $50. Personally, I have a hard time paying $50 for tape, even if it is “mountain biking” tape. If you’re willing to put in a little extra work, you can protect the paint on your bike for around $7.
To begin with, I purchased Allstar Performance 2″, 12 mil Guard tape from Amazon. A role of 30 feet will run you about $34. However, since it typically takes only about 6 feet of tape for a single bike, that’s enough tape to do all 5 of your bikes.
After thoroughly cleaning your bike (because the last thing you want to do is embed debris between your pretty paint and the tape), carefully measure and cut the length of tape that you will need to cover exposed areas. I typically tape my cranks, the rear triangle, and the downtube. Peel and apply tape as you normally would.
The only trick that is important to consider is how to handle rounded corners where the tape will bunch. The best approach is to carefully place a slit in the tape, like you would filet a fish, and then overlay the two layers. This prevents any bubbles or lifted areas of tape that will collect debris.
Once you’ve wrapped every exposed inch of your bike, slide on a pair of Race Face crank arm boots which typically go for $10-$15. This will protect the ends of your crank arms from taking a real beating from being bashed against rocks.
And there you have it. For less than $20 and about 30 minutes of effort, you can protect the paint job of your bike from inadvertent scratches, from the frame to the crank arms. This can be particularly important if you have a carbon frame, as a scrape or a nick in the paint can leave the carbon fiber much more vulnerable to damage. There are more expensive options you can use that may protect your frame even better, such as bashguards. However, for easy preventative protection on the cheap, you can’t beat it.
Your turn: Do you have any cheap tricks that keep your bike showroom ready?
