[Closed] Should I accept this £130 invisiframe fitting by a bike shop?

Although it is a bit sloppy, I'd say it is pretty minor and you wont notice it on the bike, it will also get scuffed up from normal use.

Looks a bit of a crap job to me. I certainly wouldn't be happy with it for that price.
Kiltge name kind of "suggests" it should be invisible, and it certainly isn't.

Who did it?

No.

I'd see it every time I washed the bike and resent paying for that job.

It's not heard to work in clean conditions on a clean frame and avoid all that contamination.

My experience with two invisiframed bikes is that the matt shows fitting issues much more than gloss but doesn't mark as easily when the bikes been used for a few months.

Looks like the YTS kids has done it.

If i'd done it myself and it looked like that i'd be a bit miffed but would just leave it.

If i'd paid £130 to have it done I wouldn't be happy about it and would telling them that.

No! If you'd done it yourself you'd probably just except it but not if you've paid £130 for it.

quite a few bubbles in my opinion. My DIY application (as well as DIY cut outs) is better than that. Anything that is not stuck down properly on the edge will come away after about 6 months of use and cleaning. Not sure whether I would send it back or not...

Does look a poor fit from a "professional" company.

Have they offered any refund? I'd be looking for their fitting fee back.

Have you asked invisiframe their thoughts on it?

I wouldn't be happy with that. Having fitted my own recently I did better than that, but having also been quoted over double what you've paid for it to be fitted, I'm not so surprised.
I'd be looking for some money off rather than a replacement though.

I'd not be happy if I'd paid for that job. Have done much better myself with no prior experience. It just takes a bit of time and care, that looks sloppy/careless/rushed to me. Although admittedly having recently done a matt/satin frame for someone it is much harder than gloss, though that could have been down to the tape (Rhino).

Cool, not just me then.

It looks like my mate's done it as he's done his a couple of times. Not a professional job!

Will be going back today 🙂

No. It's called invisiframe, not bubble wrap 😀

Your money your choice, but how long will you be without the bike now ?

I have done 3, its pretty hard to get it perfect TBH.

I'm not surprised some 3rd party who probably didn't spend hours on it has not done a good job.

Given you paid for it Id expect a good job, I'm just not surprised. I doubt anyone can get it much better without spending hours and that would push the price up.

Personally Id do it myself. When I've done it and spent ages I still end up with tiny imperfections. But I put up with that as its my error and I didn't pay for it.

I would ask them to remove it and then have a go yourself. I doubt very much they will do a better job than you. You just have to take a few hours over it and fully follow the instructions / video to get it done.

I've a few small bits that are not perfect, but you cant tell without very close inspection.

I'd be quite happy with that at £45 from Visiframe.

I'd agreeon the 'edges' bit too - any not securely attached will gradually get lifted over time.

Looked perfectly acceptable to me. IMO your exepctations are over what's realistic.

Not exactly invisi is it 😕

Not acceptable in my book

Taxi25 - Got my pimped out old pitch to blast the trails on while the goat gets itself sorted 🙂

[img] [/img]

I understand that it might not be perfect, but it looks sloppy. They will have got the decals at cost so made a pretty penny. If they'd spent a bit more time I now wouldn't be asking them to start again. As a developer sloppy code bites me on my butt so it's not worth cutting the corners.

I had no idea you could get other people to do this for you and there were enough cack-handed/lazy folk around to turn it into a business model!

Is that a perfectly reasonably helitaped frame - yes. Is that a 'professional standard' helitaped frame better than I would do in half an hour in front of the telly - no. I've no idea if I would feel motivated enough to kick up a stink as quite simply I can't conceive of paying someone else to do the job in the first place. £130 would almost be enough to get the bike resprayed and decaled at resale time.

Given with the cost of the kit you've spent £200 on that finish convert makes a good point. Although invisiframe does also provide some impact damage, ime.

I have 2 kids and barely have enough time to ride the thing otherwise I would have done it myself.

I decided to pay premium dollar and just get it done. It's not a professional job in my book.

Ask for it to be corrected, or get your money back, or get them to refund you and remove it.

Its not as you should expect.

If that's a brand new, un-ridden bike its a fairly shoddy job. If you are like me too excited to waste time doing shitty jobs like invisiframe and ride you bike before fitting it then i think its not too bad. Basically one you have ridden a bike its impossible to get all of the little bits of grit and dirt off if find. Best bet is to de-grease and clean the frame before fitting as you lift out of the box...

The frame is stripped though... there are no bits of grit around the front of the bike. If it was more to the back then I would get it. There is nothing round the top tube.

I have done decals before and it's easy to get crap on them if you're not careful. Doesn't matter how new the frame is.

More the fact they have left sloppy edges that will lift. Then I'll just have to rip it off and it was a waste of time.

it's fine, it's going to be covered in mud, dents and scratches in a month or two anyway.

Is that a perfectly reasonably helitaped frame - yes.
Is that a 'professional standard' helitaped frame better than I would do in half an hour in front of the telly - no.

I've ripped off kits and binned them for less contamination.

Given with the cost of the kit you've spent £200 on that finish convert makes a good point. Although invisiframe does also provide some impact damage, ime.

I'd assumed that £130 was including the kit? I paid £120 all in a few years ago (to stif), £60 for the kit, £60 to fit it.

Had the bike been ridden before application? What do you mean by stripped? Properly (almost medically) clean, or just washed? As that could leave loads of imperceptable little bits that only show up in the manner above.

A the end of the day its to protect the frame, when you come to sell it (I assume that's why you've done it) take it off and the frame will be good as new...

That lift in picture five…… 10 seconds with the hairdryer and pressing down with the back of your thumbnail will sort it no worries.

Given that the tape is there to take the knocks instead of the paint and will be stripped off when it gets tatty or if you sell the bike to make it shiny again, the only thing that really matters is if it would bother you as you ride around on it (or gaze at it admiringly which seems to be half the point of bike ownership for many). Looking at the (impressive)state if you're other bike, I suspect it might!

Please tell me £130 was the all-in price, not just for the fitting as someone seems to have assumed here?

What do you want to happen? Partial refund or them to do the poorly fitted bits again?

It was 130 all in...

I agree, I would be embarrassed to send something out looking like that.

As I paid 130 I want a good job. If it had been cheap then I might have thought about living with it, though still a little disappointed.

I would like them really to do it again properly and take their time about it. Not thinking I'll just accept shoddy work. They are a premium bike shop and do it at a premium price from what I can see. I expect an above par job.

It's more the point. I recently paid them a pretty penny for a new bottom braket as it was push fit and expect to be treated like someone they want back.

There are some bits that I would accept, but the larger pieces need doing again.

Also, if I was doing it I would wrap any bits in cling film, which might kick out crap when applying. Not rocket science.

When I said stripped I meant I had taken nearly all the components off the bike so they could get to the frame.

Cheers

Not excusing the quality but £130 all in is very cheap. The kits are £72 (probably a bit cheaper for the shop), and I reckon to do it properly including set up time it's got to be at least 3-4 hours work. What is the hourly rate for bike shop labour?

[i]It was 130 all in...[/i]

I reckon you got what you paid for, tbh 🙁

The kits are £72

Blimey. Presumably this for a kit with precut pieces to fit a specific frame?

I've only ever bought the stuff (whatever grade of 3M is commonly used- I have to look it up every time) off the roll by the metre from an vinyl supplier and cut my own. A bit of faffing with some pattern paper to get the shapes right before cutting the shapes but no biggie. Normally comes in about £10-15 a frame.

[i]Presumably this for a kit with precut pieces to fit a specific frame?[/i]

yes, holes for all the frame fittings, sculpted to go round the tubes correctly. There's a fair amount of work in them.

I reckon to do it properly including set up time it's got to be at least 3-4 hours work. What is the hourly rate for bike shop labour?

With something like fitting Invisiframe experience and practice result in both better quality [i]and[/i] speed. From what I have read, the owner of Invisiframe is very quick.

I guess that to make fitting Invisiframe worthwhile for a bike shop, they need to do a lot of them on a fairly frequent basis to build up and maintain the skill, eficiency and speed. Doing just the odd occasional one is probably going to result either in mistakes and sloppy workmanship, or in it taking so long that the shop loses money on the fitting.

If thats a new frame then thats very poor imo.

If its a frame thats been used and then stripped / cleaned then your always going to get some contamination.

Its a very average job and not something i would pay 130 quid for. Id be wanting money back if it was a new frame.

yes, holes for all the frame fittings, sculpted to go round the tubes correctly. There's a fair amount of work in them.

I guess there is. Once you have the shapes and saved them as a DXF a vinyl cutter will tessellate them efficiently and bang them out all day long. Nice little sideline with that sort of mark up for a sign writing company with access to bikes to work the pattern pieces out on.

I thought £130 was still on the steep side for an all-in price.

Had a frame done last summer, I'm sure it was under £100.

When I said stripped I meant I had taken nearly all the components off the bike so they could get to the frame.

So it's fittings a kit to a used frame? If so I revert to my earlier post. Did you or the shop make the job easier by breaking the frame into component parts? By that I mean removeinh linkages and swing arms, shocks etc.

Way I see it is fitting a kit to a used frame is pretty damn hard to get all of the crap off the frame as I mentioned earlier. I rode my bike once and spent hours stripping and cleaning it and still have contamination under the invisframe. Luckily for me I don't care particularly. As long as the kit last 12months I'm happy

if its a new frame - then shocking

if its a used frame - then its still not great, but your never going to get it completely clear and blemish free IMO, traces of oil/grease etc etc and general marks on the frame etc mean its never going to be completely as it would be new

£130 still sounds steep though even if it was new, the kits only 70 ish quid?! 60 quid labour for fitting a invisiframe kit?! is that the going rate?!

Bubbles are annoying but won't affect the performance. If it was reasonably priced I might be inclined to ignore.

However the folded bit in the pic below will result in it peeling away therefore it's unacceptable.

[img] [/img]

Its a very average job and not something I would pay 130 quid for

The 'job' was £58, £72 was for the kit.

60 quid labour for fitting a invisiframe kit?! is that the going rate?!

Yes. 15 years ago the Halfords i worked in (along with most LBS) charged £40 an hour for unspecified jobs. 90mins (plus) doesn't sound unreasonable