… does it happen / do I need to protect it? I feel as though I should know this… 😳

It happens.

It’ll make the frame shiny.

I don’t bother about it.

What onion said

But will it wear like Alu?

Not in my experience. My oldest Ti frame is now 4(?) years old and has done thousands of miles (my newer one has too). Neither have worn like Aluminium does.

The matt protective tape from Paragon tapes is pretty much invisible on titanium frames if you were really worried about cable rub.

No it won’t, it’s pretty tough to hacksaw through and makes nice white sparks if you take an angle grinder to it (don’t ask), sort of near steel consistency.

Ti is MUCH harder than Ally, or even steel, cable rub isn’t really a big issue with it, though by all means that’s not to stop you putting some helicopter tape on it if you feel it necessary.

Put some protection on the cables to stop the Ti rubbing them away.