xcentric
New Member
Decided I'd protect my Levo with Invisiframe, and whilst the lbs would have done it, they'd have charged quite a bit (>£100) which with the plastic invisiFrame itself costing about £80, was too much. So I ordered the kit and did it myself.
A few photos follow to demonstrate the experience, and some tips.
First, read the instructions, The bike needs to be clean, as in, buy some isopropanol alcohol and spray it over and wipe it down. Also, when you turn the bike, remove mucky fingerprints with the same stuff again.
You then need a spray bottle of water with some baby shampoo (pH neutral in it), and you use it to wet the frame, your fingers, and the pre-cut patches as you take them off the backing.
If you do that, all the time you keep it wet you can slide it around to your heart's content. And you will do, because as well as deciphering which part is supposed to go where, one hard thing is that orienting them the right way round isn't always as easy as it seems, and working out what bits should be covered by the particular piece is not always simple. But water water water and you can spin it until it looks right.
You then squeeze the water out with the supplied squeege, and as it dries, the adhesive starts to stick. If you've not got it right, wet it down and gently lift, and redo it.
When squeezing the water out, work from the middle outwards, as you're trying to push the air bubbles out under the sides of the film, so that there are none left.
It's mostly easy, unless you happen to stick the edges down more quickly than the middle, when you're left with a blister of air you can't remove.
Do not squeeze it too hard - and make sure you wet the surface of the plastic, so that you don't drag it and damage it - it's hard to damage, but if it's dry and you're pushing on a bubble, it's possible to overdo it. Instead, wet the sides, and gently lift it, spraying soapy water onto the adhesive side, and you can mostly lift the film again and release the air.
Do note that it's not sellotape - the horrible feeling you have when sellotape edges or ends won't stick down comes upon you often in this process, but its always due to their still being a lot of moisture around the edges which is stopping the adhesion. I found using a cloth occasionally dried it off, and helped it to stick. Just persist.
One thing I found was that it really helped to come back to previous pieces - sometimes as it dried you saw edges that weren't quite down, or the occasional small bubble you'd missed, and you could continue to work it into a smooth finish.
Don't panic when you find one - often a few gentle swipes with the squeege works, or you can lift the edges if needed.
Two other tips.
1. have a pair of star scissors handy - for bends, it helps to cut slits in the plastic to help it around the bend - you can do this with the parts on the frame, if you're careful
Also, don't be afraid to trim bits if they are slightly too large - it's much more likely to stick if the piece finishes on the flat, rather that curving round a sharp edge and having practically nothing to stick down on the other side - in those cases, the edge keeps on flapping up, and in the end I found it better to trim it a little to get a secure fit.
2. Have a hairdryer handy (warnings apply!). Heating the film allows it to stretch slightly, which is ideal for easing it into the slight dips etc - especially with my Levo Comp which is alloy and so has welds - cartoon bikes will be easier as they are smoother. Also, hearting it both removes the water and helps the adhesive, which means you can get some parts to stick when you've had problems before.
I took the wheels off and had the bike upside down, and did it in the house. In the house helps as it needs to be warm, and it also took me about 5 hours! So nearby beers and light were handy. You will also need to grovel around and about the bike, so be prepared to move it, lie on the floor, turn it over occasionally, and so on. A stand may have helped. I probably didn't need to take the wheels off, in the end, but it made moving around it easier.
The kits are specific to bikes and sizes, but even so I found one part that really didn't fit on my bike (rear chain stay - mostly because there's a substantial rubber part on there). I ended up cutting up that part to cover other smaller parts that hadn't got a covering, though the kits does a pretty good job of covering all the paintwork.
If you find you have a small bubble left but the sides are now well stuck and you can't really release them, you can mitigate this with a small pin.
Pierce the film, much as you might a foot blister, and you can squeeze out the trapped water, and especially with the hairdryer, gently press it down so that tit adheres where the bubble was.
The couple I did like this are nearly disappeared/gone for good.
Final tip - it doesn't help to have dogs lying on the film, as when you put it on you tend to trap dog hairs in there - for the couple that I didn't release the film and remove, I am considering them as subtle markers that it's my bike and so I can recognise it - but you'd not see them unless I pointed them out to you.
Is it perfect? Not quite. Is it noticeable - hardly. Will it protect the bike - for sure - it's great film, slightly soft so will absorb chips and very tough. It's probably as good as the bike shop would have done, and I know know the curves of my bike much better than before.
Would I do it again? Yes. But if I could find someone to do it for £80, and I knew they'd take care, then I might pay that.
A few photos follow to demonstrate the experience, and some tips.
First, read the instructions, The bike needs to be clean, as in, buy some isopropanol alcohol and spray it over and wipe it down. Also, when you turn the bike, remove mucky fingerprints with the same stuff again.
You then need a spray bottle of water with some baby shampoo (pH neutral in it), and you use it to wet the frame, your fingers, and the pre-cut patches as you take them off the backing.
If you do that, all the time you keep it wet you can slide it around to your heart's content. And you will do, because as well as deciphering which part is supposed to go where, one hard thing is that orienting them the right way round isn't always as easy as it seems, and working out what bits should be covered by the particular piece is not always simple. But water water water and you can spin it until it looks right.
You then squeeze the water out with the supplied squeege, and as it dries, the adhesive starts to stick. If you've not got it right, wet it down and gently lift, and redo it.
When squeezing the water out, work from the middle outwards, as you're trying to push the air bubbles out under the sides of the film, so that there are none left.
Do not squeeze it too hard - and make sure you wet the surface of the plastic, so that you don't drag it and damage it - it's hard to damage, but if it's dry and you're pushing on a bubble, it's possible to overdo it. Instead, wet the sides, and gently lift it, spraying soapy water onto the adhesive side, and you can mostly lift the film again and release the air.
Do note that it's not sellotape - the horrible feeling you have when sellotape edges or ends won't stick down comes upon you often in this process, but its always due to their still being a lot of moisture around the edges which is stopping the adhesion. I found using a cloth occasionally dried it off, and helped it to stick. Just persist.
One thing I found was that it really helped to come back to previous pieces - sometimes as it dried you saw edges that weren't quite down, or the occasional small bubble you'd missed, and you could continue to work it into a smooth finish.
Don't panic when you find one - often a few gentle swipes with the squeege works, or you can lift the edges if needed.
Two other tips.
1. have a pair of star scissors handy - for bends, it helps to cut slits in the plastic to help it around the bend - you can do this with the parts on the frame, if you're careful
Also, don't be afraid to trim bits if they are slightly too large - it's much more likely to stick if the piece finishes on the flat, rather that curving round a sharp edge and having practically nothing to stick down on the other side - in those cases, the edge keeps on flapping up, and in the end I found it better to trim it a little to get a secure fit.
2. Have a hairdryer handy (warnings apply!). Heating the film allows it to stretch slightly, which is ideal for easing it into the slight dips etc - especially with my Levo Comp which is alloy and so has welds - cartoon bikes will be easier as they are smoother. Also, hearting it both removes the water and helps the adhesive, which means you can get some parts to stick when you've had problems before.
I took the wheels off and had the bike upside down, and did it in the house. In the house helps as it needs to be warm, and it also took me about 5 hours! So nearby beers and light were handy. You will also need to grovel around and about the bike, so be prepared to move it, lie on the floor, turn it over occasionally, and so on. A stand may have helped. I probably didn't need to take the wheels off, in the end, but it made moving around it easier.
The kits are specific to bikes and sizes, but even so I found one part that really didn't fit on my bike (rear chain stay - mostly because there's a substantial rubber part on there). I ended up cutting up that part to cover other smaller parts that hadn't got a covering, though the kits does a pretty good job of covering all the paintwork.
If you find you have a small bubble left but the sides are now well stuck and you can't really release them, you can mitigate this with a small pin.
Pierce the film, much as you might a foot blister, and you can squeeze out the trapped water, and especially with the hairdryer, gently press it down so that tit adheres where the bubble was.
The couple I did like this are nearly disappeared/gone for good.
Final tip - it doesn't help to have dogs lying on the film, as when you put it on you tend to trap dog hairs in there - for the couple that I didn't release the film and remove, I am considering them as subtle markers that it's my bike and so I can recognise it - but you'd not see them unless I pointed them out to you.
Is it perfect? Not quite. Is it noticeable - hardly. Will it protect the bike - for sure - it's great film, slightly soft so will absorb chips and very tough. It's probably as good as the bike shop would have done, and I know know the curves of my bike much better than before.
Would I do it again? Yes. But if I could find someone to do it for £80, and I knew they'd take care, then I might pay that.
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