From: jbrandt@hpl.hp.com (Jobst Brandt)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: preventing top tube damage
Date: 11 May 1998 16:09:11 GMT

Lyle Rooff writes:

> Get a roll of cloth handlebar tape and wrap the top tube with it on
> the spot where the impact takes place. About a quarter inch
> thickness will do the trick. Used to do it with my track bikes,
> since the part of the handlebar that hit the top tube there was bare
> steel.

Hey, that's a Spence Wolf (Cupertino Bike Shop ~ 1950's) top tube bee
sting.  Someone once crashed and dented a top tube so he invented this
in the form of a wrap or two of inner tube rubber covered by glossy
Scotch Tape of an appropriate color.  I had one of these on my first
bike and noticed that most bikes didn't have one nor did they have
dings in the top tube.  This is like the BMW or Porsche Bra that makes
your car look ugly as long as you have it, while it dulls the paint by
giggling around on road grit.  The bee sting also drags on your leg
when climbing in the standing position.  This is another one of these
features that manufacturers would offer if it was a real problem.  It
falls in the category of "tire savers" that drag on the tread,
supposedly raking off pieces of glass.

Jobst Brandt      <jbrandt@hpl.hp.com>