ive recently fitted some helitape to the downtube, only after 4 weeks or so its now got tonnes of mud under it and its peeling off….it was put on about as perfect as i could get it (ie no bubbles, no creases) and when it first went on it looked fine and neat, last night was muddy and crap and it looks absolutly shite now so i took it off…

ive got a legendary mate whos making a nice carbon one for both me and him, and its very similar to the rockguard ones off ebay (which he owns and is going to make a better version), so do these carbon guards really keep the rocks at bay (peak district boulders!)

or do people just not bother and leave the downtube unprotected

i was probably going to get a rock guard one from ebay, but as my mates making me one im genuinely intrugied to know if they are more or at least as effective as the thicker heli tape?

No protection here. It’s a mountain bike so it’s going to get bumps n scrapes, the only ones that upset me are uplift marks on the DH bike – not much you can do about that either though

Have a naken carbon Mojo so used some 3M Dinoc adhesive carbon vinyl on it. Seems to be doing ok, though a proper carbon job sounds interesting…

I made something which resembles the 3M belly protection tape used on the Hercules. data sheet here: http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebserver?mwsId=SSSSSufSevTsZxtUmx_Gm8_eevUqevTSevTSevTSeSSSSSS–

Mine doesnt have the perforations though as my bikes not an unpressurised hull flying at altitude. Uses proper 3M stuff though. Not the thin tapes you use for cable rub.

mud

No deliberate effort to protect the downtube here although I do put a crud catcher on during the winter which will give it some protection. Not something I’ve ever thought about to be honest.

I don’t bother. I don’t clean my bike religiously so the tape is soon surrounded with dirt that looks far worse than a few dings.

Do you also wear gloves to protect your nails?

A bit of old tyre on my Pitch.

Fits the curve of the downtube nicely and being rubber should absorb the energy of a rock being kicked up rather than just bending and denting the tube anyway, which was my worry with the ebay carbon ones.

The bike’s far beyond the need for tarty protection, but the noise of rocks hitting the downtube is jarring and I like my bikes silent apart from the freehub!

Bought a rockguard a few years ago off ebay after 3 weeks on my brand new Trek EX8 on rocky routes lead to several worryingly large dings, and lots of anodising scraped off @ the very broad alu bb.

Previous bike i’d had for 5 years (S Works FSR) had down tube cables and that seemed to give a measure of protection…. that said i had to tape the cables under it’s bb as rocks shredded the cables there instead….

Rockguard seems ok – slight fraying of one edge from fitting cack handedly has never got any worse. was pointed towards it by a LBS employee….

There is a Zefal alternative too if you feel like something different.

Nuffink

Have heli tape and carbon guard (off ebay) on my giant.. also put some decals on the guard to get it looking sweet

one of these

it sounds weird when gravel hits it though, took me about 5 miles t figure out what the noise was.

eyerideit – that be the same brand as mine! 🙂

Sorry, realised after I posted it. 😳

You’ve done a fine job on yours. Mine’s just a black lump. *he wonders where he can get some Guinness foam coloured tape to make it look better* 😥

Saying that the mud hides it rather well in that picture.