Every sloppy ride, there is someone who refuses to use clip-on fenders, thereby spraying their friends and frenemies alike with road slop.
I am forever hassling these riders and in some cases, I stop inviting them on rides (PVB, even though you are a prime offender, you will always be welcome on my rides).
The purpose of this post is not to complain about lack of fenders, it is to make sure that the people who I have goaded into getting them don't mar their frames when mounting clip-ons.
Clip-on fenders have little rubber stoppers where they come in contact with your frame. In theory these should prevent your frame from being scratched by the fenders. Don't be fooled. Sand and grit gets under the rubber stops and etches the clearcoat. Eventually it can wear through the paint altogether.
My advice is to wrap your seatstays and your fork in electrical tape so that the areas of contact are protected. As you can see in the photos, there are scuffs in the electrical tape where the grit would have scratched my frame. 
Matt Roy has some pro looking rubber wrapped around his contact areas, but few of us will ever attain Mr. Roy’s level of professionalism.
My IF has scratches from before I knew better. I hope that I have prevented you from messing your nice frame up.
6 comments:
My Pro tip after getting tired of cleaning off the residue electrical tape leaves behind: First, wrap the section of seat stay or fork blade in masking tape, then wrap in electrical tape as usual. This way, when you're done with this in the spring, you won't need to spend time cleaning sticky gunk from your frame.
Matt Roy's pro looking rubber can be purchased at Home Depot.
Single sided foam tape works best for me. Leaves no residue when removed, is pretty thick so you can really clamp things down on thin diameter tubes, and comes in a variety of colors for the fashionistas.
Also works wonders when trying to attach a powertap sensor to a section of chain/seatstay that is too thin to get a tight grip with just zipties.
And I think the name of this blog should be changed to 'Euphoria Gained From Throwing PVB Under the Bus For Absolutely Everything'
With the combined Rapha Continental and T Shirt fame, PVB can withstand more ribbing than us mere mortals.
Obviously, PVB has progressed beyond the rest of us and we just don't get it.
I will remember the foam tape thing, that sounds like a good tip.
I have also noticed that if you put a layer of electrical, or duct tape underneath the Third-Eye chain retention device, your tubing decal or your frame paint will not get all scratched up.
But can you find electrical tape that will match that orange frame?
Aww, shucks. Actually, my rubber is an inner tube wrapped over the stays with a little e-tape to keep things, ahem, tidy.
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