@Rеnаud Car buffs keep talking about something called "ppf" (paint protection film). That's exactly the same as the film you're describing here; right? It's just that with a bike the area is so small that we as non-professionals can labour over it slowly and hope to make it look good, but for cars, the areas are far too large (and ego plays a much bigger role) and so only a pro can reasonably do it (is that right?).
More to the point: What kind of weight penalty are we talking about? I understand it's "just a film", but does it add up to something not too trivial?
@Michael Or rather: have you ever seen 180 mm cranks on the market, anywhere?
@MaplePanda Some bicycle outlet wrote an article comparing the preceding bike demand-far-exceeding supply — right after the 1973/1974 oil embargo. Apparently many bicycle manufacturers increased capacity so much to keep up with demand, they ended up folding afterwards because they invested too much and the demand simply vanished.
That is purportedly the reason why you had to search so hard in 2020-2022 to find the bike you want. They didn't want to expand.
@Sam7919 If you want the good stuff™, it's called "3M 8671HS", also known as helitape. It's very thick and tough, weighs ~100g for one bike. 2m of the 102mm roll is plenty for one bike. The entire roll is much longer, and very expensive. You can find smaller quantities on ebay but with a hefty markup
It's fiddly to apply, takes a few hours per bike. More difficult on metal frames as you need to get it warm (but not too much) to stick, but metal conducts heat more than carbon fiber. It's not really elastic, you need to cut slits to make it conform to rounded shapes.
@Sam7919 I don’t know Campa :D I thought 175mm is common and 180mm still somewhat available but looks like 177.5mm is already somewhat rare and I can’t find 180mm
@Sam7919 I used RideWrap for the lazy bike and my gravel bike: easy enough to apply (a bit elastic, so no need to precut it to adapt to a complex frame). Not as sturdy and thick as helitape (I wouldn't use it to protect the chainstay from chainstrikes), but good for many other cases. I didn't find very resistant for friction like the ones caused by panniers (on the lower part, where you have a hook and movement is possible).
It's available in rectangles, standard precut films for the main parts (top/down tube, seat stays,...) or even custom cuts for the big brand bikes.
I bought some short strips from decathlon and applied them to strategic locations on the MTB — under the bags. They work nicely. The edges are plenty visible, but the inside is basically invisible. It just changes the light’s reflection.
I’m guessing that the trick (with Helitape, etc) is to put the seams in invisible areas of the frame, and yet those are the ones that are most easily stricken by debris.
