3alarmer 

.
...I defy any of you here to crash elegantly. It's always very crude and horrible when I do it.

1987

Fixie riders have made lots of solutions for this, but mostly for protecting the top tube from getting dent by the handlebars.

Kasimax Fivegold frame protector
Kashimax Five Gold - Frame Protector - Ben's Cycle

USAZorro

Disc brakes?

smoothness 

like rm-rf mentioned, in order to prevent serious denting when crashing, you need to spread the load as much as possible. find a thin sheet of steel, roll it to proper outside diameter, make fancy cut-outs, and stick it on with the thinnest foam tape you can find. but...if you're crashing you're most likely going to end up smashing other parts as well. including you. as you can't live in a bubble, you might have to just accept that something might break. bicycles were meant to be used - they're not wall art.

davester

Hmmm, I guess there aren't any elegant solutions. I guess I'll just throttle back on those hairpin turns when descending (invariably the locations where things go awry).

Salamandrine 

Yep. The campy record design with the O ring adjuster prevents dents pretty well, at least in your garden variety race type crashes. I crashed lots of times in jrs races BITD, and never dented a frame, though I did tweak the front brake center bolt.

3alarmer 

...the elegance of self restraint.

CuttersRidge

Someone already referred to it but handlebar tape, cotton bar tape, hockey stick tape which does come in all colors can add cushion. There is even that foam wrap used in ice hockey of which I have some.

Bikerider007

I would get an old flickstand, leaning the bike is when most accidents happen.

rootboy 

The most elegant gizmo I've seen was in a pic on one of Hugo's bikes in Japan (Dawes-Man).
It consisted of what looked like a thin stainless sleeve with a thick layer of soft silicone or something
Under it. Really quite nice looking. Some Japanese gizmo. I seriously doubt I'd be able to find a pic of it,
But if you're interested you might try contacting Dawes-Man.

gaucho777 

Unfortunately, depending on the brake caliper, frame angles, and adjustments, the rubberized 0-rings don't always contact the downtube even if you have them. I have a couple bikes were the o-rings are above the downtube, no matter how I adjust them. While adding a

+1 to @Salamandrine. IME, the brake caliper arm is more likely to bend than the down tube is to dent. I have bent three front brake caliper arms due to crashes. In each case, the frame damage was limited to chipped paint.

If you have a bike with an adjustable cable clamp on the downtube (say, an older frame without braze-ons for DT shifters), you can set the shifter clamp (or cable guides clamp for bar-ends) high enough on the downtube to act as a blocker.

Just thinking out loud...If your caliper strikes the downtube below the 0-ring, it may be possible to add a piece of clear tubing around the caliper arm, then cut out a hole for the adjuster barrel and trim as necessary. It may not prevent a dent in a serious crash, but it couldn't hurt and would probably look less obtrusive than a Kashimax style tube protector. At the very least, it might help prevent paint chips from more common caliper-to-down tube impacts when not on the bike

JReade

something like this?

repechage

Did they not include a road course or two?

I miss Riverside International Raceway.

carbomb

Yeah, these are popular with the fixed gear crowd, especially if you're in the NJS circle of things. I imagine you could put these on a downtube with little fuss. I've recently started putting my downtube shifters in the way so they'll get hit first before the frame, but that's just for chipping, I've never seen a dent on a downtube from a brake, but the dent on the top tube from handlebars I've seen often.

xiaoman1 

I use a small length of auto hose/tubing spilt it on the edge....slip it on the brake and it protects the tube from those occasions the brake hits the frame. I am afraid in a crash nothing will do the trick, except AAOG
.
Best Ben

Aemmer

https://www.blackmtncycles.com/2013/1...in-making.html


cunningham steering limiter

Mainah

You can't beat a swatch of leather for style points. I imagine this would work equally well on the downtube, and you could even wrap a more rigid sheath (ie: stainless steel shim stock) underneath the leather to help distribute load and protect the tube from impact force.


Apparently VO used to sell something similar made of pretty thick leather to add cushion.

Velognome 

Post crash commentary:
So, is it April 1st somewhere on this planet?

gaucho777 

I like the quote: "Steering limiter so the bars don't swing around during a crash and cause damage to the brake as it makes contact with the down tube." I'm sure those are expensive brakes, but I'd still be more concerned with frame damage.

rootboy 

Exactly

79pmooney

I never gave this much thought before, but this is a place where the ubiquitous HB wraps or special plastic rings the are so common on the top tubes of track bikes to stop the same damage from handebars as seen at any velodrome could be adopted easily to down tube use.

I googled "track bike top tube protector" and got a bunch of hits and a photo of exactly the damage the OP saw.

Edit: I should read the second page of the thread!

Ben

xiaoman1 

this one is nice....but if I am not mistaken I think OP was referring to brake hitting the head tube ( called it down tube) when HB is rotated to its limit causing the dent...not the handle bar hitting the frame.
Did I miss read the question?
If not hen the caps for the frame will not solve the problem.
JM2C's, Ben

artclone

What @JohnDThompson said:


Campy

Tbone5

Yep..this was how it was done.

CliffordK

A thick leather wrap would give some deceleration and help a bit.

But, another option would be to wait for the dent. Then put the wrap or band on to cover it up