RideWrap Protection For Your New Frame

Spent a fortune on your bike and want to keep it looking good? Maybe you should take a look at RideWrap?

Cyclists can be a precious bunch. Before buying a bike we spending hours trawling through manufacturer’s websites, agonising over reviews (I hope!) and talking to mates. Finally we take our pride and joy home and gaze at it lovingly. Then we take it out and some numpty scratches it at the café, disaster! If only there was some way to prevent those little – and not so little – dings that leave our bikes looking unloved. Well, thanks to RideWrap there is a way.

RideWrap is a protective vinyl wrap for your bike, developed by founders Callum Rostron and Dan Seguin back in 2018. RideWrap are a “rider-owned and operated business” and they say their company’s objective is to “help riders get the most out of their time riding bikes”. Their HQ is in Whistler – home of the best dirt and snow riding apparently – with stores in Colorado, California and London.

You may be familiar with car wraps that can be used to customise your car. Well this is similar, but focused on protection rather than decoration. RideWrap can provide you with protection kits that will adhere to your frame. These kits come in three types; tailored, covered and essential, but they are all made from the same material.

What’s it made from?

RideWrap’s film is 9mil thick and made up of three layers. The top surface is a self-healing and superhydrophobic layer. The link will explain all about the latter, while the former sounds very cool. Apparently applying some gentle heat will cause the top layer to flow and even out any small scratches. These are the kinds of things that lead to your bike’s finish looking faded and worn.

The middle layer is an impact and abrasion-resistant thermoplastic urethane(TPU) structure, this is where the real protection is. This is “engineered to disperse forces”, all those little knocks, bangs and scrapes that chip away at your paint. It’s not going to stop your frame from breaking in a horrendous crash remember, just protecting the paint.

And finally we come to the acrylic based adhesive layer. This is an optically clear glue, so you’ll still be able to see your frame in all its glory. The glue is designed to go on to your frame, following all those tricky curves and once it’s set, stay there. The film is guaranteed against yellowing or cracking for ten years.

What bikes will it fit?

RideWrap have gone for three different levels of protection kits. Starting with Essential, which is the cheapest option and will cover about 30% of your frame. The Essential kit is designed to protect areas susceptible to regular wear and tear, such as cable rub/rash, rock chips, and scratches. It comes in Mountain, E-Mountain, Road and Gravel and may require some trimming to fit exactly.

Next is Covered protection. Covered will protect 60% of your frame from the same damage as Essential, but we’re getting into a more exact fit. Naturally this means more options when it comes to frame types. So in the Covered range you have Full-suss MTB, Hard-tail MTB, Steel Hard-tail MTB, E-MTB, Road and gravel options. You might still need to do a little trimming, but the fit should be closer. And it’s not just frames, with the Covered range you can also protect your road, gravel or MTB forks.

And finally, the Tailored option. RideWrap say Tailored offers the highest level of coverage available on the market. This is a really interesting option for those that want complete protection. RideWrap have created a library of current frame measurements, which you can peruse on their site. If your frame is on there your kit will be spot on, with 3mm gaps between panels. And if your frame isn’t there? Well they’re constantly updating their offerings so it’s worth getting in touch to see what they have planned. But if you’re really keen then you can take your bike to Whistler and they will measure your bike and create a one off; now that’s service!

While the wrap is clear it does come in a gloss or matt version. Which means you could turn your matt bike gloss, or gloss bike matt; no idea why’d you want to do the latter! The film can also be applied to an older bike to rejuvenate it and stop it getting worse .The kits are designed to be applied at home and include detailed instructions, microfiber cloth, final cleaning wipes, install solution, and squeegee. There’s plenty of how-to video advice on their site and they do include loads of printed advice on the box. However, if you aren’t that confident then RideWrap do offer an installation service.

I’ll try one if you do!

With a new bike soon to be making its way into my already over-stuffed garage, I’ll be trying out RideWrap soon. Once I get my hands on it I’ll let you know how easy – or not – it is to apply. And how bling it makes my bike look!

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