I know your bike is a tool that enables you to enjoy blasting the trails and will get more and more of a ‘lived’ look about it over time. Had my bike around a year now and it’s taken a few ‘ooof’ and ‘ouch!’ heavy rock strikes to the downtube/BB area in that time…the latest being quite a good one on Weds night – I winced when I heard it! How do YOU combat that (other than mincing your way down descents) or is it just one of those things? I know you can get guards – anyone bothered?

I know exactly how you feel. Owned mine for 7 months and had 3-4 big hits which have caused similar wincing in that time. One has put a small dent under the bb. I’ve decided to order a guard (pricey for what it is) this month to put my mind at rest.

i have a rockguards below BB and when i ride areas i know will be rocky peaks / lakes/ north yorks

i put on a 1/5 of an old bike tyre straight down the tube/ taped then ziptied..

had a few rock strikes down potato alley last week, i’m hoping the tyre held up well

I check that area for how many dents I have to ignore from time to time (the maximum I’ve ever had to ignore was 1, although there are quite a few marks in the paintwork on my current bikes).

I would consider myself very unlucky if I had a dent big enough to actually worry about (or, on carbon, a hole)

I like a few battle scars on the bike. Shows its being used. That said I do have a bit of chunky tyre zip tied to the bottom section of the downtube as a big strike there may write the frame off. It also quietens down the smaller strikes so its less distracting when you probably should be concentrating

I made a guard for my rocket out of a piece of spare carbon fibre tube. Luckily had a section about 5mm larger dia than the downtube and 1.5/2mm wall. Slit the cf tube to remove about 1/3 or it’s circumference, lined with old bar tape, and it clips itself onto the downtube without any fasteners or cable ties etc. Had to make a notches for a cable boss, but otherwise it’s sleek and unobtrusive. Has taken a few knocks as well which is nice! Combination of the hard outer skin of the carbon tube and the soft bar tape inside should absorb and dissipate a fair bit of impact.

+1 for a bit of old tyre, it looks crap, but at least you can match logos.

I’ve gone for a Rock Guardz on my Whyte. Not particularly cheap but better than denting the value with a rock strike.

Had some massive noises on my last 3 bikes, no holes or dents though, just carry on now

I used a Rockguardz on my Mega and it worked well.

These days I’m riding a Rocket and I’ve decided that to ride proper loose rocky stuff you need to dispense with mechanical sympathy and then marvel at the fact that your wheels are still round and all the important bits are still attached at the bottom! Aren’t modern bikes brilliant 🙂

Just ride it, it’s an MTB, not an ornament

I did not like the sound of the impact that did this to my HB160. Thank chuff for the Rockguardz… I think the impact was just outside the arrest where the OEM rubber protector is

Mine came with a guard, which I took off when I got it refinished. Now that it’s got a load of dents where the guard was, I might stick it back on to hide them.

Does anyone know if the RockGuardz underneath the downtube is a universal fitting?

thinking about protecting some precious metal

Anyone know if they’re universal fitted to downtubes?

We fitted rockguardz to ours. Both took hits before they were fitted. I need to remove mine and clean out the crud that’s got behind it

Looking at their website, there doesn’t seem to be a universal model.

I did not like the sound of the impact that did this to my HB160. Thank chuff for the Rockguardz… I think the impact was just outside the arrest where the OEM rubber protector is

What would have happened to the frame though? Had massive bangs on the blur and element and no issues on main tubes, managed to crush a cable port  ut it was only a few mm thick

I use a Lizard Skins frame protector on the down tube on my alloy Enduro. It’s protected it so far from a few good dinks.