Hose on downtube

[justfuzzit]

I was reading a magazine and saw someone who had put a split hose on their downtube near the bb area to protect the frame. Has anyone tried this?

[ronan_zj]

hhaha , i did in this way... it works very good.

[stpatr3k]

Do you have any photo? I have an "old" brand new frame and the downtube seems soft (i can see a slight dent already out of the box), this would probably be a good idea.

[hydroboy]

http://www.observedtrials.net/otn/DSCF1002.jpg

[hydroboy]

http://www.observedtrials.net/otn2/portelliot0037.jpg

[hydroboy]

thats all i can find, thought it would have been way easier :wtc:

[music_maj_34]

I use PVC on mine. I've seen anything from a tire to rubber tubes, carbon fiber, to pvc pipes.

[justfuzzit]

sweeeet. yeah it was in an issue of MBA magazine, but i dont have it now. not the current one but the one B4.

[stpatr3k]

thats all i can find, thought it would have been way easier :wtc:

Thanks, that helped.

Im thinking of getting an aluminum outer layer though, probably some hard alloy kind 60XX (i can get them cheap here ,maybe like $2 folded/bent already)

[stpatr3k]

I use PVC on mine. I've seen anything from a tire to rubber tubes, carbon fiber, to pvc pipes.

hows the pvc holding up so far?

[xtreme_jeremy]

That looks like a sweet riding spot! I wish I could go ride there!

I had a friend who did the PVC on the down tube and it never broke! His frame looked brand new when he took the PVC off.
He hit it hard a bunch of time and I thougt it would have broken but it did not.

[trialsin usa]

The earliest Megamos actually had a little screw/bolt on the underside of the down tube just behind the headtube. Clear plastic clipped onto downtube and had hole where bolt went through. Good thinking it was.

PVC is probably the best....... cheap as you can go without it being free, and durable as hell.

[Patrick]

pretty stupid looking IMO.. Seriously, how often do you guys hit your downtube?

[stpatr3k]

pretty stupid looking IMO.. Seriously, how often do you guys hit your downtube?

Yeah I agree with that but then trials bikes are weird looking anyway.

In my case I never hit my downtube (old street bike), but Im pretty sure it will change soon plus my (new bike's) downtube is fairly thin and got dented even before I got to open the box.

[trialsin usa]

Im thinking watching you downtube get wrecked because of aestetics is not particularly macho..... a little more on the silly side. I have seen a fair number of urban riders with totally demo'd downtubes....

[Patrick]

Yeah, I guess if I had a problem with hitting it, then I would consider one.. I think chainstays deserve more attention

[trialsin usa]

Hey now, theres another spot Patrick. I have actually seen a couple riders saw thier chain through thier chainstays......took only one season too! All in the name of not adding weight (blah, ha, ha.... what, 50 grams!) and aestetics.......... meh......... as a good friend of mine many years ago said (when asked to be the guy who walked out side in the snow to get more beer from the car....in bare feet) "that's not macho, it's stupid"!.......

[xtreme_jeremy]

I think the ammount you hit your down tube depends on what kind of stuff you ride on... Hand rails anyone? When i did a lot of hand rails I would hit the downtube a lot and broke a fair number of bikes doing it.
At that time I never thougth of PVC or I would have used it.

If you just ride natural then most of the time you wont need it.

just my 2 cents

[chronic]

pretty stupid looking IMO.. Seriously, how often do you guys hit your downtube?

Well...when you're doing rail gaps and riding rocks.

Pretty often :dunno:

I used to use a piece of abs pipe cut in half. Then I used flex tubing...then I just didn't care and beat the piss out of my frame.

[Patrick]

hmmm... Let's see, I don't ride rocks at all, yeah.. I guess put your jimmies on while you're learning, otherwise, decent precision and you won't hit it.

But then again, I don't do rail gaps, so more power to you.

[music_maj_34]

hows the pvc holding up so far?

Really good! Since I posted these pics, I've drilled holes in my PVC pipe. Now mine looks more like the pic that trauma100 posted. Much cooler looking!

I'd rather save my downtube from getting crushed than worrying about if people think it looks retarted or not.

Look here -

http://www.observedtrials.net/vb/showthread.php?t=18237&highlight=Close+call

[Cryo-Cube]

hmmm... Let's see, I don't ride rocks at all, yeah.. I guess put your jimmies on while you're learning, otherwise, decent precision and you won't hit it.

But then again, I don't do rail gaps, so more power to you.

lolz
Everybody hits their downtube every now and then. If you dont, you´re probably riding curbs or riding uber secure.

I dont know a single rider who does not have at least scratches on the downtube.

[stpatr3k]

I will go with that @music_maj I wouldnt care what others think, some people are really shy of what others think haha.

I like the looks on the drilled PVC.

Im doing this so I could start practicing on rails or narrow stuff, (me newbie hehe).

My street bike has the rear derrailleur cables under the downtube so I was kinda afraid to hit the cable nevermind the frame, never can try it until now that Im building a new bike.

[RT Wolf]

You can get pretty creative with PVC on the dowtube. RomanC I think (the one in Ontario) spraypainted his. You can go down to home depot or whatever and get some velcro, stick some patches on the downtube and some on the PVC. You can take It off really easily that way.

I used to have a lot of time so I didn't just put PVC on the downtube, I put clear tubing on my forward foot crank (the right one), the chainstay AND I put tube insulation on the top tube and above the seattube (made it really comfortable to sit down) and some on the headset-stem (to protect my knees, I hit them often for some reason).

[Cryo-Cube]

Romans white/gold Levelboss was the shit! Even his downtube protection looked nice

[RT Wolf]

His pedals with woodscrews made my shins cringe.