Rock-proof sticky tape?
Carbon fibre tubes – actually any thin-walled tubes – don’t take particularly well to having rocks thrown at them. While many manufacturers are starting to ship bikes with protective guards, those are rarely an attractive solution. Enter Effetto Mariposa’s Shelter tape. Described as being capable of “mutant healing,” the ~2mm thick transparent tape’s internal structure actually dissipates impacts… and any small nicks then self-heal.
Heady claims? US distributor Cantitoe Road decided to wrap a fluorescent bulb with a single layer of the stuff… and drop a hammer on it. Over and over. And who doesn’t want to watch a hammer dropped on light bulbs?
Available in various formats in the UK from Upgrade and the US from Cantitoe Road.
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Wonder what the results would have been like with a sharp edged rock shaped object
Impressive video!
I’ll be ordering some for all my fluorescent bulbs.
Well you know what to buy if you ride a bike made from fluorescent tubes…..
So they doubled the thickness of the wall material and it doubled the impact resistance. Amazing.
I was waiting for the ‘mutant healing’ to take place at the end, but the bulb still looked shattered to me.
Cumulative damage may have shortened the tube life?
There are lots of clever materials these days that spread loads and blunt/heal cracks. Arco have something for safety boots for sharp objects that follows the same principle. Protect your metatarsals.
What hub for rotational impact testing?
Never mind the mercury released with the phosphour powder….. oh sorry it’s in the US so that’s ok.
Sigh. Full disclosure, I’m the U.S. importer of Shelter. The purpose of this test was to show the efficacy of Shelter. Yes, I know, I know, we used florescent bulbs and bicycle tubes aren’t made of florescent bulbs (brilliant observation). But exploding florescent bulbs make better video than simply dropping a hammer against a carbon tube and I’d hoped, perhaps in vain, to demonstrate Shelter’s ability to diminish impacts by using it to protect something as fragile as a florescent bulb. Jim, you’re right, beyond the environmental issue of our having broken a florescent bulb and released mercury to the environment, we also were stupid to have done so without eye protection or any other safety measures. Apologies to the planet (sincerely), and we were lucky not to have incurred any injury. Smart ass answers notwithstanding, Shelter works. Yes, we could have used the sharp edge of a rock, but it doesn’t matter. It’s relative. Shelter significantly mitigates the force of any impact no matter if you’re riding a bike made of carbon, aluminum, steel, Ti, bamboo, or florescent tubes. It also silences chain slap.Too bad I can use it to silence smart asses. If you’re riding a carbon bike off road, you really ought to consider some down tube frame protection. We believe Shelter’s the best stuff you can buy (from us, please, we want your money).