I noticed some scuffing from the chain on the inside of the Mojo HD’s carbon fibre rear triangle stays a while ago. The culprit is the limited clearance between the frame and chain when running on the smaller cogs, adding in the fact that when you’re running on the smaller cog you’re going faster and the chain is probably going to be slapping around more because of that.
Ibis provide a Lizard Skins chainstay protector but nothing for the area in question. I asked the Ibis riders online about it – was the rear triangle burly enough that the scuffing didn’t matter? what did they do?
A bunch of Mojo riders, both SL and HD, had home grown solutions they used to protect the inside of the rear triangle on the chain side, from tube cut to shape and stuck on using superglue to various tapes. The solution that grabbed my attention was the use of Scotch Rubber Mastic Tape 2228, apparently used by The Bike Company when preparing bikes for none other than B. Lopes, and on other Mojo’s they build up. If it’s good enough for Lopes, should do me 😛
Apparently in the USA 2228 is easy to come by (and cheap!), it’s a different story in Australia. After looking around I ended up phoning 3M who directed me to the couple of businesses that had ordered 2228 tape 2″ width and might be willing to part with some. Cool.
Foward a couple of weeks…
With the tape finally in my hot little hands I removed the Mojo’s rear wheel, cleaned things up, cut the tape to shape and applied to the inside of the stays. 2228 is weird stuff. It doesn’t seem overly sticky initially but once applied it adheres well. It’s quite thick, and can be pushed and pulled into shape. It feels and looks like soft rubbery licorice… hmm… mystery why licorice gives you the shits solved!
So far 2228 looks to be a great solution, and if there are no problems with it I’ll probably go on to use it on the chainstay instead of the Lizardskin neoprene protector. I reckon the 2228 will deaden sound far more, as well as provide better protection and still look reasonably neat too.
how is this working out?
I had some self adhering rubberized chainstay wrap that I used, but the chain tore through it pretty quickly. I was thinking of adhering a thin piece of pvc sheet material in that area.
heya Max the 2228 tape is working out well. Where there isn't sufficient clearance between the chain and the stay the chain has worn a small groove in the tape, but further along where the problem was – where the chain was slapping against the inside of the stay – the tape is holding up very well.
Next time I'm giving the bike a clean I'll pop the back wheel off and take a pic showing the tape.