I have a 7 month old spech enduro and it has 2 pretty good dings on the down tube about 2-3 inches up from the BB .

I have just ordered myself a new bike and was wondering if there is anyway of protecting the bike from these stone dings ?

Im going to get hold of some Helicopter tape and stick it down there but is there a better way to keep the tube from dents/dings as the tape’s not going to do much good when a decent sized rock hits it.

Nope. Goes with the territory, I’m afriad

you could try some pipe insulation and tie wraps? 😆

I thought it was just a hope for the best .

The spech enduro maybe just dents easier as it has big volume tubing, which obviously means the tubing is thinner. I dont fancy dings on my newie like i have on my enduro !

Just check them regularly. Dents aren’t really anything to worry massively about. If however, there’s a crease, then i’d get it checked.

I took a tip from some of my fellow Dartmoor riders and have zip-tied about seven inches of old knobbly tyre on the underside of the down-tube from the BB upwards. Sorry, don’t have a photo to illustrate this at present.

I took a tip from some of my fellow Dartmoor riders and have zip-tied about seven inches of old knobbly tyre on the underside of the down-tube from the BB upwards. Sorry, don’t have a photo to illustrate this at present.

Yeah that would do it ….. you have given me an idea now , i might get a PTFE sleeve machined up to fit my downtube 💡 the bottom 5-6 inches from the BB .

Crud catcher at the bottom of down tube works. Keeps cack off your pivots too!

On the tandem I have a chunk of thick polythene that both acts as a crudcatcher and as a protector covering the bottom 1/3 of the downtube and BB shell

The Crudcatcher and old bits of tyre sound hideous.

However –

ouch is that a soda?
expensive bit of pipe to ding so badly.

The Crudcatcher and old bits of tyre sound hideous.

Yeah man , i hear you !

Thats why im thinking of getting a piece of PTFE machined up like a tube that can slide onto the bottom of the down tube. Basically i know that my new bike will have dings within 6 months if i dont do something.

innertube wrap works well.
ive also wrapped a section of deep knobble tyre (that i ripped)
on the bottom bracket of my street bike, so i dont crack the BB if it gets sumped on a feature by my lack of finnesse or skill

Like nickc said, if there’s a crease, keep an eye on it. It will eventually crack. The creaking let me know something was up, washing the bike for the first time in 6 months confirmed what that something was.