White bikes and frame wrap – bad combination

Anyone else with this combo?

First I had to get it redone for reasons including specks of dirt and pieces of cloth lint under the film, which really stood out.

The edges show up dirty line around all the pieces, although fortunately they haven’t lifted.

I’ve discovered the local mud, which is generally nice, has a sticky smudgy component to it of which a thin layer won’t come off unless brushed/wiped.

Looked nice new though.

Just built a white frame and kept the protection tape to a minimum as I thought the dirt would show up on the edges.

And also couldn’t be arsed buying more helitape TBH

Just bought a white bike… currently being invisiframed ????

Any chip or damage to the invisiframe gets dirt ingrained which will not come off.

The paint finish on my e-180 is a weird sort of  metallic matt.  I can imagine anything stuck to it will have a hard time filling in the surface peaks and troughs.

the paint’s robust though. It’ll end up scratched but I’ve not seen a single chip in it in nearly 4 years.

‘White bikes bad’ on it’s own would have been a sufficient thread title. 🙂

I know sometimes that’s just what’s available for the bike you want, but they’re a flipping nightmare to clean, I’d actively try to avoid another.

‘White bikes bad’ on it’s own would have been a sufficient thread title.

Quite. It’s the like the thing where downhillers ride in the mud wearing white kit. Or elite road riders wearing white shorts in the wet. It never ends well.

I’m firmly in the ‘it’s a mountain bike, it will get fllthy, scratched and crashed’ camp. The whole micro-industry that’s sprung up around keeping your paintwork pristine just seems a bit nuts. I’m not saying you should go out of your way to damage your bike’s cosmetics, but I don’t really get it. Obvious YMMV and I guess if makes sense if you’re a serial bike swapper / seller or spend lots of time gazing adoringly at your bikes, but it’s not a high priority for me.

Titanium neatly sidesteps this whole sorry business 😉

‘White bikes bad’ on it’s own would have been a sufficient thread title.

I know sometimes that’s just what’s available for the bike you want

Yep, and it was really well priced.

Another motive for not wrapping the frame was that I’ll maybe have an excuse for a respray in a few years.

I suppose you could get patterned frame protection stuff, which might distract from your initial mistake of buying a white bike in the first place – flowers and unicorns, that sort of thing.

Unicorn

🙂

Haha, I love that – but my top tube already has that doodle-style artwork that Orange have been using.

TBH the frame has cleaned up lovely after its two very muddy rides so far. It might not be as bad as I feared.

We have a off white Enduro that was Invisiframed from new and can say we have had that problem.

Not noticed anything when I’ve been cleaning it

No idea about frame wrap but I have a white road bike (warranty replacement) and it drives me nuts tbh. It’s a terrible combination as I am one of those people who is quite picky and fussy over keeping it clean, but also don’t really like the whole process of cleaning.

I seem to spend a distinct portion of cleaning time just transferring grease smears from one part of the frame to another.

Clearly, I just need to get over it but I just can’t really fathom riding a dirty road bike straight out from the house for some reason.

I still remember the good old days in the 90s when if you turned up to a track/ride with a clean and scratch free bike and/or used protective tape you had the mickey taken out of you profusely and rightly so…..

White bikes do look amazing so it’s a fair tradeoff + full Invisiframe kit is the only real solution though if it bothers.

Regardless, something went wrong with me in the last 30 years and I OCD into buying a new bike at first blemish or scratch.

It’s the like the thing where downhillers ride in the mud wearing white kit.

I always enjoy their poo stripes as they near the finish 🙂

Probably that Gtechniq stuff would be good for a white frame. Keep it all gleamy

White bikes do look amazing

Based on how many people have remarked on it to me, or to someone else within my earshot, quite a few people seem to agree.

White with Kashima fork, shock, and dropper. I’d rather the sliding bits were black.

I’ve had 3 white bikes and I honestly never noticed them being my harder to clean.

We’ve a white BMC Fourstroke, a pearl white road bike and a black and white Colnago CX bike. The pearl white bike shows up the slightest oil marks from cleaning cloths getting any oil on them. Pain.

Just bought a white bike… oops!

I have a white bike. The only protection I added was some helitape under the downtube, but yeah the edges really hold the dirt

I have a bright yellow bike and it’s the same as you’re describing although it scrubs up just fine if I put the effort in.

How annoying it is to you possibly depends on the invisiframe design choices – where they put the joins in tape etc.