Very first ride on my shiny new mountain bike and the front tire kicks up a jagged chunk of Sierra granite, slamming it into what was up to that moment a pristine downtube.
About the only way I could rationalize the ugly ding on my $3,500 investment was that it was, after all, a mountain bike and that it would eventually get beat. I just didn’t think it would get scarred on its first outing.
To help prevent similar dents, I cut up an inner tube and taped it along the underside of the downtube; not very attractive and I’m not really sure how effective, as I have never taken it off to check for undercarriage carnage. But going off the thuds I’ve heard on more than a few rides, I’m sure it ain’t pretty under there.
Mine is an aluminum rig. Had it been a carbon fiber frame that’d I just plunked down five grand on you would have seen me along the side of the trail puking in disgust.
But the folks at Cantitoe Road have found a bulletproof vest for your bike, and it looks a hell of a lot better than an old inner tube.
Applied as a clear sticker over vulnerable parts of your frame, Shelter protects your bike/investment from abrasion and more importantly, impact. Made from 50 layers of energy-absorbing netting, Shelter significantly increases the impact resistance of your bike. Shelter can be used to protect any frame, no matter the material, but carbon is the most susceptible to impact.
Skeptical? Check out the video because not only is it informative, shit gets hammered!