Sugru - Bike Chainstay Protector - DIY

Cruising through all of the bike forums and other Instructables I have found some good ideas on how to make a DIY chainstay protector but most of them involve using an old tire tube, tape, or some wire which in my opinion really does not look that great.

I decided to tear off the messy looking tape and use a few packets of Sugru. It is tough enough to handle the abuse, water proof, easy on my chain, easily color matched when mixed or right out of the pack. I will use a thick layer of the blue then a layer of black over that. The Sugru has also reduced much of the noise when the chain hits it compared to anything else I have used.

So, out comes the Sugru for my Brodie Evolution mountain bike. - A Vancouver built bike that I am proud to own. I have wanted one of these since I was a kid but only recently have been able to get one of these beauties. - An older model, but I still love it!


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Remove any old tape or protective material and clean thoroughly using a bit of soap, hot water, and a scrubby, rinse with clean water,  then dry. I let my bike air dry for a few hours after I dried it with a cloth to be sure there was no moisture left where I was going to apply the Sugru. 

I used two packets of Sugru for this project. Remove the Sugru from the packets then roll them together and stretch the Sugru to the desired length.

Apply the Sugru to the bike by placing the roll on your frame and pressing it firmly into place. Be sure to wrap and press the Sugru around the front and back part of the bike frame without pulling it apart making holes in the Sugru.

Note: If you do end up making a few holes in the Sugru during the stretching process, it is easily fixed by pushing the Sugru back into place filling the hole you just made. Sugru is very easy to work with and is very forgiving.

To smooth the Sugru, I used a laminated Instructables sticker but you can use a small piece of smooth cardboard or something that can shape around the bike frame without offering to much resistance. You want enough stiffness so the cardboard will smooth the Sugru but still wrap around the bike frame without pulling the Sugru off of the bike.

Clean up the edges of the Sugru using your fingers and a tool with a fine edge. I pushed the edges up using the tool then smoothed and tapered the lip using my fingers.

A bike chainstay protector made from Sugru - tough as nails and quite as - well... Chain on Sugru :)

I like to wait 24 hours before using an item modified with Sugru to be sure I don't waste this awesome product.