Mountain Biking - Lizard Skins CF chainstay guards and 3M VHB strips = BAD JUJU

Seriously, right now my fingertips burn from the carbon fiber splinter inside of them....

What happened was my guard got shredded, and was exposing some fibers...so I decided to pull it off and order a new one.

The following train wreck has been brought to you by the letters W, T, and F.

Well, an explanation of the events leading to this: The protector has a history of weak adhesives...so I used some VHB tape from work. VHB is 3M's heavy duty adhesive...but it never seemed to stick very hard on steel/plexiglas applications....at the least a stiwsting motion would break it loose.

Turns out what I didn't know was VHB has enough strength to handle over 50lbs per square inch of adhesive....this is greater than the tensile strength of the single layer of CF and the polymers used in the making of the lizard skin strip....you can guess what happen....it delaminated, then tore.

So now I had 4" of completely bare, exposed CF to remove....by hand...

The next grueling hour was me cussing under my breath as I find "safe spots" to lift up and try to pull...once again, the adhesive was hell to pull, requiring serious amounts of grip to pull....this grip force also caused errant fibers to get into my skin, like fiberglass.

I finally got it removed, and I am glad of it. I will be buying another Lizard Skins guard...but this time I will use a lighter strength adhesive.

Moral of this story: know thy adhesives, else thou wilt be in sticky situations.

you should have used some thick gloves

ouch

Word of warning. Get those splinters out as soon as you can. Unlike fiberglass splinters that will eventually come out, Carbon ones will stay in for a very long time.

Try spreading some glue on your hands. Something like rubber glue or Elmer's glue. Let it dry and then rub it off. This usually will pull the splinters out.

If not, a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass.

I got a carbon splinter from one of my windsurfers and it was about 6 months before I got it out.

Well hell, you weight weenie. Never knew someone who would actually inbed themselves with CF....
Them crazy Cali boys...........

Thanks for the head's up, I was already aware of how long they stay in...I've dealt with CF before, just that time it was making a cosmetic panel for a computer.

I got a few of them out...had to do some slicing with my ol swiss army knife to get to them...maybe I'll get the rest out in a few more days.

As for wearing gloves....didn't have any latex gloves on hand, and fabric/leather would have made it impossible to pull off.

Pretty much just offered up the story as an anectodal warning about overdoing it with adhesives. I never figured VHB would be stronger than CF...forgot that was merely cosmetic CF though, which has jack squat for tensile strength.

2 words.... duct tape. beats the snot out of any lizard skin type stuff and it comes in any color you want and when it startes to come loose like the expensive L.S. will , you just put some more on
the best way Ive found( this is for real) to get the carbon fiber or fiberglass out is a raw potato cut flat on the area that has the splinter overnight. I dont know why but the darn thing(s) will be ready to pop like a zit the next morning.

I'm using electrical tape for now...I'll pick up a WTB protector when I purchase some more bike bling.

I just used an old busted inner tube, wrapped it around, and used some of those plastic pull ties to fasten it. It's been there for about two years now, and hasn't budged. I even have my derailuer cable running underneith it in a cable housing.

Matt

I like the regular lizard skins that velcro on. Mine has gone 2 years and still looks ok... Quiets the chain slap pretty well. The tube would probably work just as well and save you 10$. I don't like putting adhesives on my paint.

Seriously, right now my fingertips burn from the carbon fiber splinter inside of them....


The following train wreck has been brought to you by the letters W, T, and F.



The W, T and F part always makes me think of this pic:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a267/CrashVector/cookiemonster.jpg

I found it on a 'bert goes crazy' website a long time ago...funny stuff..lol

Just wrap duct tape, cotton tape etc on your chainstay, it works just as good as anything else but a fraction of the price and hastle.

Just wrap duct tape, cotton tape etc on your chainstay, it works just as good as anything else but a fraction of the price and hastle.
That's a good idea. Hockey tape is cloth and comes in many different colors. This would probably work really well.

Find a friend that rides on the darkside (road) and ask him for some old bar tape. Wrap it around the seatstay and zip tie the ends.

That's a good idea. Hockey tape is cloth and comes in many different colors. This would probably work really well.
Yeah that's a great idea, I didn't think of that.

I got the velcro stretchy lizard skin on mine and it works fine, no splinters or anything and it doesnt fall off.

Well hell, you weight weenie. Never knew someone who would actually inbed themselves with CF....
Them crazy Cali boys...........
Living in cali for a year was definatly a learning experience lol. everything there is....well.....different :D