Damage Control

 My recent review on Shelter Tape got me to thinking about "damage control" and what parts on my gravel bikes are really the parts that are getting biffed and nicked up. 

Is it really the frame, specifically the down tube, or is it really something else? I think I know the answer, at least for me, at any rate. Upon reflection, I think I may have made a bit of a mistake with my recent Shelter Tape installation. 

You see, in my experience, the worst damage has been to my crank arm ends. Specifically the side that faces forward on the down stroke. The front wheel tends to kick up loose gravel, and for whatever reason, I find that crank arm ends take the brunt of the rocks that do get thrown up by the wheel. 

Not the down tube. Not the bottom bracket shell. Nope. It is almost always the crank arm ends, and I find that sort of amazing. Think about it. How often are those crank arm ends in a position to get hit? Once every crank revolution per side, right? I mean, the down tube and bottom bracket shell are always there. But in my experience, those frame bits almost never get biffed. 

The end of my GRX crank .

The GRX limited crank arm

I have one carbon crank arm set on the new King Fabrications Honeman Flyer. That crank set was on the Twin Six Standard Rando v2 for a while, and it is by far, the most damaged crank arm set. The aluminum ones fare better, but still get defaced and scratched. 

Crank arm armor. (Image courtesy of Jenson USA)

You can actually buy crank arm "armor", which usually describes end protectors you slip over the ends of your crank arms and are held by friction, like a grip on a handlebar, and are captured by your pedal spindle.  

I find that most gravel riders don't use these. At least, I don't see this often. If you are a gravel rider and use something like this, let me know in the comments. 

I think I may have to invest in a few sets of these things. It is obviously too late for my SRAM carbon cranks, but for some of my other bikes it might prove to be a useful addition to the bike for future protection. 

I did use something like these crank arm armor ends on the cranks of my first Standard Rando. Those were from Zefal, and apparently those are still available too. Many of these can be had in different colors as well, which could be of interest if you want a pop of color on your crank arm ends. 

The trouble is that most, if not all of these crank arm protectors are for mountain bikes. I'd like to see something made specific to GRX, or SRAM Rival, like I have. That would be good for gravel riders to have that choice. Come to think of it, maybe that is why I don't see gravel riders using crank arm end protectors.

Protection- Part 2

Crank arm caps and protective clear stickers applied here.

Last week I mentioned that I received some Zefal products to test out that are designed to help keep your gravel, mountain, or road bike clean and shiny. Well, as I cleaned up from Saturday's ride I decided that I should apply the protective devices on my Twin Six Standard Rando.

The "stickers" are really just clear, sort of rubbery deals that peel off a sheet and are applied to the frame directly wherever you might get cable rub, chain slap, or where you intend to strap on bags. The Zefal kit comes with one chain stay sized "sticker", one massive sticker for a down tube, (most likely use), and several rectangular and circular patches that probably work best wherever cable housings might come in contact with your frame's finish.

Sure, there are any number of ways to accomplish this task to get the same effect, but it is nice to have everything pre-cut and ready for you. Plus, the application can sometimes be tricky with other means to this end. Not so with the Zefal stuff here. I found it to be sufficiently tacky, but not so sticky that if you wanted to pull it back a bit you couldn't. Plus, it conformed to the undulations of my "S" bend chain stays without wrinkling or lifting in spots. That's the "rubbery" bit working, I reckon. Finally, it lays down and doesn't give you fits trying to work out air pockets. In fact, that part was easier than with anything else I have tried. Kudos to Zefal on that feature alone.

The selection of patches you have to work with. The top one is the huge, longer one meant for the down tube. 

I put the biggest patch on my top tube to protect it from frame bags.

The Standard Rando has cables that run underneath the down tube in full housing runs held on by special frame clips that are removable and configurable. Because of this, rocks have little to no chance of contacting the down tube as they get spewed off the front tire. So, I opted to use the patch normally used on down tubes as a top tube protector so frame bags and top tube bags won't roach the pretty green powder coating.

You can see how rocks have already dinged my SRAM Rival crank arm end.

So, you may not think your crank arms are getting dinged on your gravel going rig, but they are. Yes, most likely, they are. So, if you have some of those fancy, carbon crank arm dealios, this may be of great interest to you, as carbon isn't very friendly with indentations. That leads to things we'd rather not think about. Aluminum just gets nasty looking, so, if you care, even you aluminum crank arm users may want to check this out.

Capped off and protected. Put a helmet on it, Soldier!

Maybe you don't give a rip about rock dings and you want to flaunt that scarred up component as a badge of honor. Your gravel miles earned such damage. I get that. However; some folks kind of want to maintain the over all appearance of their rigs for as long as possible for whatever reasons. I get that as well. If the latter describes you, then these crank arm end protectors are for you, perhaps.

So, I'll run these the rest of the Summer into Fall and then I'll check back in with my take on how this stuff holds up and how it does its job of protecting.

NOTE: This stuff showed up on my bench at work, with no note, contact info, or anything. So, I am trying it out for free, and I am not being paid by Zefal, or bribed by them to get this info out here on the blog. If anyone would like to step up to claim responsibility for this stuff being presented here, I'd be glad to give them credit. So, there ya go.........

Protection- Part 2

Crank arm caps and protective clear stickers applied here.

Last week I mentioned that I received some Zefal products to test out that are designed to help keep your gravel, mountain, or road bike clean and shiny. Well, as I cleaned up from Saturday's ride I decided that I should apply the protective devices on my Twin Six Standard Rando.

The "stickers" are really just clear, sort of rubbery deals that peel off a sheet and are applied to the frame directly wherever you might get cable rub, chain slap, or where you intend to strap on bags. The Zefal kit comes with one chain stay sized "sticker", one massive sticker for a down tube, (most likely use), and several rectangular and circular patches that probably work best wherever cable housings might come in contact with your frame's finish.

Sure, there are any number of ways to accomplish this task to get the same effect, but it is nice to have everything pre-cut and ready for you. Plus, the application can sometimes be tricky with other means to this end. Not so with the Zefal stuff here. I found it to be sufficiently tacky, but not so sticky that if you wanted to pull it back a bit you couldn't. Plus, it conformed to the undulations of my "S" bend chain stays without wrinkling or lifting in spots. That's the "rubbery" bit working, I reckon. Finally, it lays down and doesn't give you fits trying to work out air pockets. In fact, that part was easier than with anything else I have tried. Kudos to Zefal on that feature alone.

The selection of patches you have to work with. The top one is the huge, longer one meant for the down tube. 

I put the biggest patch on my top tube to protect it from frame bags.

The Standard Rando has cables that run underneath the down tube in full housing runs held on by special frame clips that are removable and configurable. Because of this, rocks have little to no chance of contacting the down tube as they get spewed off the front tire. So, I opted to use the patch normally used on down tubes as a top tube protector so frame bags and top tube bags won't roach the pretty green powder coating.

You can see how rocks have already dinged my SRAM Rival crank arm end.

So, you may not think your crank arms are getting dinged on your gravel going rig, but they are. Yes, most likely, they are. So, if you have some of those fancy, carbon crank arm dealios, this may be of great interest to you, as carbon isn't very friendly with indentations. That leads to things we'd rather not think about. Aluminum just gets nasty looking, so, if you care, even you aluminum crank arm users may want to check this out.

Capped off and protected. Put a helmet on it, Soldier!

Maybe you don't give a rip about rock dings and you want to flaunt that scarred up component as a badge of honor. Your gravel miles earned such damage. I get that. However; some folks kind of want to maintain the over all appearance of their rigs for as long as possible for whatever reasons. I get that as well. If the latter describes you, then these crank arm end protectors are for you, perhaps.

So, I'll run these the rest of the Summer into Fall and then I'll check back in with my take on how this stuff holds up and how it does its job of protecting.

NOTE: This stuff showed up on my bench at work, with no note, contact info, or anything. So, I am trying it out for free, and I am not being paid by Zefal, or bribed by them to get this info out here on the blog. If anyone would like to step up to claim responsibility for this stuff being presented here, I'd be glad to give them credit. So, there ya go.........

Protection

Zefal "Skin Armor" and "Crank Armor".

Back in 2007-2009 or so when I was opining here about what a good gravel going bike might be in terms of geometry and features, I had this nutty idea for a "bottom bracket guard", so to speak. Basically it would be a stainless steel or brass plate that would mount off the lower set of bottle bosses and cover the lower three inches of your down tube and then flare out to cover the front lower quarter of the bottom bracket. Think "rock guard", or skid plate, and maybe this will make sense. I was concerned about rocks chipping up that part of the frame after several hundred, or thousands of miles of gravel travel.

I was going to have that idea incorporated into my Badger frame before everything went pear shaped with that builder and I just took the frame the way I got it. Anyway.... Afterward, I related the idea to some friends who thought the idea was bonkers because, ya know.......who cares! It's a bike you ride on gravel, so what if it gets chipped up, and really, would it? My friends passed it off as me being overly protective and concerned about a trifle. So..... I forgot about that idea!

Well, I think it was about 2011 when I got my Black Mountain Cycles "Cross" frame, which I have dubbed "Orange Crush". If I am right, that puts that bike right at 5 years of gravel travel, and the other day, when I gave it a sprucing up, finally, I saw it. Chips. On the down tube. Right where I would have put a "bottom bracket guard" dealie. See! I wasn't dreaming! That idea would have worked.

It's too late to save the paint on this ol' girl!

Well, that idea may have worked, but it is definitely overkill, and today, there are better ways to get this job done. Things like Shelter Tape, and now this Zefal product shows up the other day called "Skin Armor".

The Skin Armor is an adhesive polyurethane "skin" that you can stick on your entire downtube, and not only that, the kit comes with other bits of the tape that can ward off cable rubs, chain slap, and more. So, it is lighter weight, and far more versatile than my silly idea is.

One other thing I noticed about the ol' Orange Crush rig was that the aluminum crank arm ends are really scarred up from rock hits as well. Huh! Now I've seen where guys that mountain bike in rocky terrain put these little nibs on the ends of their carbon cranks to help them stay minty fresh, but I never would have guessed I might need something along these lines. Guess what? You can see it already, I am sure, but Zefal has "Crank Armor" just for such a situation.

So, I guess I will be getting the protection I need and didn't know I needed on my crank ends, plus get the frame finish protection I always wanted with the Skin Armor. But like I said, it is too late for the ol' Orange Crush. That girl has "character marks" a plenty! Nope, these deals will be going on a bike that still has a chance to look good, and that would be my Twin Six Standard Rando. I'll have more on how this all goes later.

Protection

Zefal "Skin Armor" and "Crank Armor".

Back in 2007-2009 or so when I was opining here about what a good gravel going bike might be in terms of geometry and features, I had this nutty idea for a "bottom bracket guard", so to speak. Basically it would be a stainless steel or brass plate that would mount off the lower set of bottle bosses and cover the lower three inches of your down tube and then flare out to cover the front lower quarter of the bottom bracket. Think "rock guard", or skid plate, and maybe this will make sense. I was concerned about rocks chipping up that part of the frame after several hundred, or thousands of miles of gravel travel.

I was going to have that idea incorporated into my Badger frame before everything went pear shaped with that builder and I just took the frame the way I got it. Anyway.... Afterward, I related the idea to some friends who thought the idea was bonkers because, ya know.......who cares! It's a bike you ride on gravel, so what if it gets chipped up, and really, would it? My friends passed it off as me being overly protective and concerned about a trifle. So..... I forgot about that idea!

Well, I think it was about 2011 when I got my Black Mountain Cycles "Cross" frame, which I have dubbed "Orange Crush". If I am right, that puts that bike right at 5 years of gravel travel, and the other day, when I gave it a sprucing up, finally, I saw it. Chips. On the down tube. Right where I would have put a "bottom bracket guard" dealie. See! I wasn't dreaming! That idea would have worked.

It's too late to save the paint on this ol' girl!

Well, that idea may have worked, but it is definitely overkill, and today, there are better ways to get this job done. Things like Shelter Tape, and now this Zefal product shows up the other day called "Skin Armor".

The Skin Armor is an adhesive polyurethane "skin" that you can stick on your entire downtube, and not only that, the kit comes with other bits of the tape that can ward off cable rubs, chain slap, and more. So, it is lighter weight, and far more versatile than my silly idea is.

One other thing I noticed about the ol' Orange Crush rig was that the aluminum crank arm ends are really scarred up from rock hits as well. Huh! Now I've seen where guys that mountain bike in rocky terrain put these little nibs on the ends of their carbon cranks to help them stay minty fresh, but I never would have guessed I might need something along these lines. Guess what? You can see it already, I am sure, but Zefal has "Crank Armor" just for such a situation.

So, I guess I will be getting the protection I need and didn't know I needed on my crank ends, plus get the frame finish protection I always wanted with the Skin Armor. But like I said, it is too late for the ol' Orange Crush. That girl has "character marks" a plenty! Nope, these deals will be going on a bike that still has a chance to look good, and that would be my Twin Six Standard Rando. I'll have more on how this all goes later.