Folding Bikes - Scratch protection

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lee_rimar
04-26-07, 09:26 PM
The best bike is the one you ride - and any bike that gets ridden is gonna collect its share of dings and scratches. I know...

But I've noticed on my Strida there are a few spots that will get scratched up by the simple act of folding and unfolding. Placed where you're bound to bang metal against metal no matter how careful you are. I assume other folders have their own such trouble-spots.

I'm thinking of buffing out some of the scratches I already have, and then ordering some of this protective film:

http://www.stickercity.com/store/home.php?cat=2228

to re-cover the spots that will continue to get scratched.

As a side benefit, I can make screen protectors for a lot of my electronic gadgets with this stuff - and buying it in bulk is WAY cheaper than custom-fitted screen protectors.

Has anyone else tried this stuff?

folder fanatic
04-27-07, 05:38 PM
Funny, I myself never had the problem of repeat scratching. Once I get a ineverable ding or scratch, I just use my matching paint to cover it up. End of problem.
rhm
05-01-07, 06:05 AM
I try to think of scratches, within reason, as patina. You know, part of the natural aging process of a useful object. No good violin, guitar, book, or bicycle should be without them. Perhaps we just have a philosophical disagreement about this....

Anyway, there certainly are places on my Strida where the patina is more pronounced than others. The left side of the steerer tube, the right side of the seat tube and crank tube, and both crank arms, are especially dinged up from being put on the steel luggage rack of the commuter train. In fact the wear on those places is so constant that I left them bare when I put reflective tape on the rest of the frame. There is also a groove on the steerer tube where a bolt on the bottom bracket hits it when I fold the bike up. That groove is so deep I have put a plastic zip tie there, which seems to be preventing further damage. I rather doubt your protective film would do much good against the latter, but if the stuff works as advertised it should do very nicely protecting the rest of the frame from the kind of wear mine has seen.

If you try it, let us know how it works!

Rudi