My bike is my dream bike. Dreams change, of course, but at the time my Bronson was the bike that I most wanted and I knew it was likely to be the most I’d ever spend on a bike. It was going to be the one I always remembered when I inevitably upgrade. That one which has a special place for connecting you with so many new trails and memories. So, as soon as it arrived I covered it with frame protection.
I went with Invisiframe. It had (and still does have) some fantastic reviews and the coverage meant that there were only small sections of the frame left over for the trails to chip away at. I fitted the whole thing on the day the bike arrived. I remember having all the parts out in the living room, spread out. It was like some enormous jigsaw finding the right parts, spraying the frame and sheets and then placing them carefully onto the bike. It wasn’t particularly hard but did take ages to make sure it was all on right and there were no little bubbles left over.
Fast forward three years – or thereabouts – and I’ve just taken it all off. Eventually, it’s started to look a bit worn. Some marks where I’ve caught the soles of my shoes, some peeling of the edges and some collected dirt. The whole bike was looking a little aged. Or rather the frame protection was.
I didn’t necessarily mind. I’ve had it on since new and knew that, eventually, it’d need to come off. If anything, I’m impressed it lasted 3 years and held up to all sorts, including that dodgy DIY pressure washer thing (dubbed Frankenwash) I use to rinse off after rides.
Getting it off was straight forward. It was just a case of peeling gently along each piece and revealing the bike underneath. I’d messaged Invisiframe on Instagram to make sure I didn’t need to do anything else and the only thing they advised was some tar remover for cleaning off the residue. I didn’t have any of that and didn’t particularly want to wait in line at the shops, or wait for delivery. Instead, I went at the frame with some Mud Off bike polish I already had in the garage. That coupled with an old towel removed the sticky film pretty easily. It also doubled up as a quick shine and polish for the now exposed frame.
What struck me most was the colour of the film once I’d removed it. Rather than being the clear plastic layer I’d initially put on the bike, it was now a yellow panel of marks and dirt. The bike, though, was absolutely new underneath. The paint is as good as the day I first got it. Wherever the frame protection sat is totally unmarked and still in the best condition. There are some areas where the paint has been chipped or scratched but none of these are where the Invisiframe was. Whether that’s just coincidence or not I can’t say but I’d like to believe that the protection did its job all those years.
At the end of the removal, once the bike had been given a proper wipe down, I stood back and admired it the same way I did all those years ago when it first came through the door. The paint looked amazing and the frame protection had clearly done its job. I’ve since replaced it with something other than Invisiframe just because of the price – £70 seems steep to me – but I can’t say that it wasn’t worth it in the first place. The bike looks new and I’m very happy I put it on.