Invisiframe – self fit or shop?

Pretty much as title – ordered a new bike, always just gone the helitape and scissors route for high wear areas but thought I’d have a full kit put on this time. I’m not bad at this sort of thing generally but have read it can be an utter ballache. A kit is £85 and kit with fitting from the dealer (Blazing Bikes) is £175. Worth the money?

Worth every penny. Though I have the patience of a hand grenade with the pin pulled when it comes to stuff like that. YMMV.

I’ve done my own a couple of times. It’s fine. You just need some space and some patience. And to read/follow the instructions.

I like doing it but it does require patience, and it’s worth using some spare bits to practice first. Also make sure the person doing the fitting knows what they are doing if you go down that route!

Yes all down to patience, lighting and dust free environment.
It’s good stuff and you can remove it and re-apply it many times. Having a heat gun is handy too.
Took me about 5 hrs to do a full frame kit. Makes 175 quid look like a good deal.

Took the plunge and fitted myself to a new frame.

Not sure it would be any fun if the bike is already built.

I enjoyed the process, did an OK job, got steadily worse as the beer levels increased.

First kit I had fitted, subsequent kits have been done at a mates house with pizza and beer. The latter is definitely more enjoyable.

If getting shop to do, make sure they can do it correctly. Have you seen any examples of work done?

Invisiframe fitting is this acceptable?

Are you a perfectionist with patience and time to spare? Fit it yourself.

Are you happy paying for a job that will be good enough and done to a clock? Get a shop to fit it.

It’s easy to do, take your time, follow the instructions on line and use some slightly soapy water and a squeegee.

Blazing Bikes did a good job of Invisiframe on my Slash last summer

I did mine, RideWrap full kit on a built up FSer. Tunes, beers, instructions. practice and experience outweighed the effects of the beers. 3 hours, not unpleasant at all. Pulled off and re-placed the top tube a couple of times after I found bubbles I couldn’t squeegie out. I did a pretty decent job, I reckon. no air bubbles, but when I got it in the sunshine the next day and found some water bubbles I’d missed. They’ve evaporated through now – I think – it’s dirty and I haven’t really checked!

LBS gets a man in to do them for customers – they got bored of doing it themselves pretty quickly! I was with a mate picking his new frame up – invisi’ed, and saw a couple of little bubble straight away. not perfect, but neither was mine, and he probs did it in 1/3 of the time.

What onzadog said, really!

I did it myself once, did a good job. It took ages, life’s too short. Prefer to be spending my bike related time doing either real maintenance or out on the bike. Next time I’ll be getting a shop to do it.

Did my first and only one around a year ago took me two nights and around 5-6 hours in total, finish is good and no cock ups, but would I spend that amount of time doing it again vs paying the money, i’m not sure

Did my FS a few years ago, took two sessions and about 5-6 hours.

Thought it was a ball ache at the time but it didn’t put me off doing a new HT frame a couple of weeks ago. Better if you can do it in daylight. Reckon I was a bit quicker this time. There’s a few bubbles here and there but they’ll come out and most importantly the frame is protected. It needs to be – it’s getting ridden in all weathers and will be getting shit and rocks thrown at it all the time! 😀

I fitted a full invisiframe kit to my full sus. Easier than I thought and I quite enjoyed most of it. There were a few complex parts on my frame but all manageable with only one blemish that i can see.

The key for me was to stop when you’re getting tired. Do it over a weekend in a few 2 hour sessions

I wouldn’t bother tbh. I did about 4 bikes over the last years with 3 different widths of tape. I reckon it’s probably protected the carbon a bit, but not convinced it’s saved £175 of damage each time. Anywhere that changes shape over two dimensions is impossible to get right. Fills with mud and looks like shit. Then you’ve got the weight penalty on top ( yes, I did indeed just type that)

Helitape is a great way of monetising buyer’s remorse really. Find a bunch of people who’ve just dropped a shitload of cash on a consumable, and then persuade them that they can do the right thing and mitigate/ protect that obscene outlay of cash by shelling out another stack of cash. 😛

I’m not surprised in the slightest that the first reply in favour was Tom’s.Says it all really. Each to his own. I’m more into biking than bikes….

Are you a perfectionist with patience and time to spare? Fit it yourself.

Are you happy paying for a job that will be good enough and done to a clock? Get a shop to fit it.

This.

I’ve DIYd twice. First time I was in a bit of a rush and did a less good job in about 2.5 hours.
Second time I took my time, spent about 4 or 5 hours and did a better job.

I fitted mine myself… hmm, I would say it was a piece of piss, cos I am on the web.. but it wasn’t.
There were some bubbles that drove me nuts trying to clear them (especially on dark areas of the frame) but in the end, when the bike is built back up they just don’t notice at all. I did SWEAT A LOT while doing the job, trying to get it perfect.
Second time around it would be a LOT easier having learnt from the first time (if that ain’t too obvious). I’d say have a go, if you have got the time & space.

I’ve fitted several to my own frames in the past – I’m a perfectionist and would be annoyed if a shop ballsed it up. If I ballsed it up myself fair enough. Not that I did, other than the one panel on the rear of a seat-tube where I accidentally grabbed the bottle of IPA instead of my lube mix.

Don’t bother with my current bikes as none of them have any paint 🙂

If you managed to stick helitape down with the wet method and no bubbles, you’ve got this.

Anywhere that changes shape over two dimensions is impossible to get right

Youve just got to make appropriately shaped cutouts and infill pieces with the fixed width tape.

At that price what do you protect your Invisiframe with!?

😀🤔

Youve just got to make appropriately shaped cutouts and infill pieces with the fixed width tape.

Got any pictures?
Despite having decided I won’t bother next time, I would be interested to see how people do it well.

Taking about tricky areas where the shape changes. Eg behind chainstay bridge , front side of bb shell or end of chainstay type of thing

Cheers

Shop fit every time previously had shack wrap which I thought was ok but long wait, most recent purchase went shop fit and really pleased I dont have the time or patience to do myself. I think for me money well spent.

Put a Ridewrap kit on my Kona and it went well but I almost totally stripped the frame (only headset and BB left in place) and took half a day with the frame in a workstand in the kitchen for cleanliness and plenty of light. I would have got Dave at D&D in Barnham to do it as he has loads of experience but I’m impatient and didn’t want to wait.

Do it yourself. As others have said it takes an evening and you need lots of soapy water so you can get it right. I wouldn’t dream of paying then that much to fit it for you.

Done it twice n ow. First time all was good, did it in the house which was warm and lit went on easily. Second time……….did it in a 5 degrees cold garage so it went on OK but the bubbles. Then realised my kit was obviously from the subsidiary company Visiframe. Frame is protected but I wouldn’t of paid for the end result

I did about 4 bikes over the last years with 3 different widths of tape.

So not invisiframe then?

did, other than the one panel on the rear of a seat-tube where I accidentally grabbed the bottle of IPA instead of my lube mix.

I did that too! Glue goes all white and you think you’ve wrecked that section.. it does go clear again though 😅

Do it yourself.

Invisiframe don’t do my frame size.  So created paper templates for the complete frame.  Painstakingly cut them out and then applied to the frame.  Took ages but was my first new frame for years and wanted to do best job I could.

For the hard to apply sections, I ended up cutting v’s in the template so it’d go around corners and warp nicely.  Not perfect but I’m the guy who likes to do it himself and is happy with that, even if not 100% perfect.

I’ve spent ages heli-taping some of my bikes and frames and no matter how hard I try the results were not great.

Have installed Invisframe to 3 of the wife’s bikes and it’s taken an hour or 2 with no bubbles. The only problem we ever had was her Transition Covert was a Small frame and at the time they only made a Medium kit so some trimming was needed.

Always either outside in the sun or inside in a well lit warm house and it’s a doddle.

We’ll worth the money in my books. Wish I’d not been cheap and DIY’d my bikes every time.

I did that too! Glue goes all white and you think you’ve wrecked that section.. it does go clear again though 😅

@desperatebicycle, I couldn’t figure out why the ffff the section wouldn’t slide around into position after I’d sprayed it! Glad I’m not the only one. And yes, it did go clear again but was a battle to get it into position.

So not invisiframe then?

True.
But then I never hoover the floor or take a thermos of hot drink on a cycle ride.
I realise as I am typing this that it’s not quite the same thing, but I’ve started so I’ll continue digging:-)

I’ve had two bikes done by others. Once by a mate and once by a shop. Both have been excellent results and I am quite sure better than I would have managed! I have a collie and three cats, there is literally nowhere in my house that doesn’t have animal hair floating around!

Definitely pay for someone else to do it, you will never get that time back 😂

It took me about a week to do my bike, was some hardcore OCD shit I dont want to ever do again!

it’s not quite the same thing

This is true – helitape and Invisiframe are quite different.

I’ve started so I’ll continue digging:-)

Lol! It’s the stw way! 😀

Forgot to say – I said mine was built up, but I took the wheels off. Hopefully that should go without saying!

And a decent workstand that will let you pivot, twist and hold the bike firmly any way up you need at a good working height is a must, I reckon. Probably goes without saying as well.

Lee the guy who owns Invisiframe did mine for me as I’m local and he hadn’t had a v3 FlareMax before, it wasn’t free but bloody well worth every penny.

I’ve done 3 and had Lee from invisframe do a frame for me. 1st one I did was ok with a couple of little air bubbles and edges lifting slightly which attract dirt. The other two have been fine. The one from Lee was perfect.

The key tip I got from Lee is cleanliness. Make sure your bike is spotless before applying- give the whole bike a good thorough wash and then wipe each area with dust free cloth immdeiately before applying. Keep your hands and squeegee clean at all times.