Just playing with lights overlooking the Melbourne skyline.
Protecting
the Carbon Fibre.
When you buy
a bike of this calibre the one thing you don't want to do is
needlessly do damage to it. Chain suck, chain slap, cable rub and
stone chips had done immense damage to my old Chrome Molly bike and I didn't fancy a repeat performance with a carbon
fibre frame. Not only is it unsightly it can actually degrade the
structural integrity of the monocoque construction.
Potential
Damage
causes.
Chain side
lower and upper swing arm. [Chain slap, flip and suck] This
happens on corrugated surface when taken at speed. The chain will
'Slap'
down on the lower swing arm and 'Flip'
up on the underside of the upper swing arm (also referred to as the
seat stay). Flip and Slap are most severe when the chain is
unloaded
(coasting). Chain 'Suck'
occurs in similar terrain but when chain load is applied (peddling)
and causes damage to the lower swing arm close to the bottom bracket
when the chain gets caught between the front
sprocket and the swing arm. The Mojo has a stainless steel like
cover plate to limit damage from Suck
but it does not cover enough area.
Solutions
for Flip, Slap and Suck .
Flip is
not normally an issue, especially with hard tail bike as the upper
arm (or seat stay) is usually pretty vertical, however on the Mojo
(like a lot of things) this is different with a low rack angle to the
D link system. On the return down from an impact the upwards inertia
in the chain continues to
drive it upwards, whereas the swing arm is
driven down by the mighty Fox Float RP23 and the two are bound to
contact fairly regularly. The answer is Avery Dennison 2010
Transparent "Thick Skin" film, self adhesive protective plastic
sheeting. I cut some in a long Butterfly shape and wrapped it around the underside of the arm. You can get
this stuff to form to the shape nicely by heating it with a
hair drier, this also makes it stick better. Be careful not to touch
the adhesive side as it really degrades the adhesive qualities of
the sheet if you do.
Slap is well
catered for by MTB shops, for normal bikes, and you can purchase a
number of Velcro fastened protectors, however the lower swing arm on
the Mojo Carbon is an unusually large and
beautifully contoured
shape that is hard to find a suitably matching protector. I found an
old inner tube can be used to great affect.
Tightly wrap the cut tube around the swing arm starting at the
bottom bracket end, make sure you pull it tight and overlap it by a
half along it's full length. At the wheel end secure it with two
small cable ties.
Suck
is fixed through a combination of the inner tube fix for Slap above
and the metal protector fitted by Ibis. It would have been better if
Ibis had made this a little bigger as it needs to extend further down the
swing arm about 15mm. I added a little more Thick Skin here too.
Cables.
The brake hoses
and
Derailleur
change cables
are nicely secured on the Mojo along the
top of the frame (Crossbar) but at each end there is a problem. They
rest against the frame and when the bars turn and the rear swing arm
move there is a resultant rubbing that occurs. Some strategically
placed Thick Skin mentioned earlier fixes this problem. Once again
they need to be contoured around the frame for best affect.
One more
place that I did not at first pick up is the rear brake hose between
the two tie down points that are provided on the top of the upper
stay of the rear swing arm. Once again some more Thick Skin does the
trick. (Note that I did not do a good job on mine as it is starting
to lift).
I also added
a long strip of Thick Skin to the underside of the frame from the
bottom bracket to the head stem section. This is long and needs two
pieces of Thick Skin as the pack I used was too short. You will have
to cut two holes for the drink bottle mounting holes if you want to
use them. I did it anyway and replaced the cap screws to
prevent any crap getting inside.
To see these
pictures larger, right click the image and copy to your desktop for
viewing later. They are allot larger and show all the detail.
Enough for
now, I hope you find this of some use, please E-mail me if you
did/didn't or have any questions. I would be interested to know if
anybody reads this stuff too.
drive it upwards, whereas the swing arm is
driven down by the mighty Fox Float RP23 and the two are bound to
contact fairly regularly. The answer is Avery Dennison 2010
Transparent "Thick Skin" film, self adhesive protective plastic
sheeting. I cut some in a long Butterfly shape and wrapped it around the underside of the arm. You can get
this stuff to form to the shape nicely by heating it with a
hair drier, this also makes it stick better. Be careful not to touch
the adhesive side as it really degrades the adhesive qualities of
the sheet if you do.
fastened protectors, however the lower swing arm on
the Mojo Carbon is an unusually large and
beautifully contoured
shape that is hard to find a suitably matching protector. I found an
old inner tube can be used to great affect.
Tightly wrap the cut tube around the swing arm starting at the
bottom bracket end, make sure you pull it tight and overlap it by a
half along it's full length. At the wheel end secure it with two
small cable ties.
The brake hoses
and 
are nicely secured on the Mojo along the
top of the frame (Crossbar) but at each end there is a problem. They
rest against the frame and when the bars turn and the rear swing arm
move there is a resultant rubbing that occurs. Some strategically
placed Thick Skin mentioned earlier fixes this problem. Once again
they need to be contoured around the frame for best affect.
One more
place that I did not at first pick up is the rear brake hose between
the two tie down points that are provided on the top of the upper
stay of the rear swing arm. Once again some more Thick Skin does the
trick. (Note that I did not do a good job on mine as it is starting
to lift).
I also added
a long strip of Thick Skin to the underside of the frame from the
bottom bracket to the head stem section. This is long and needs two
pieces of Thick Skin as the pack I used was too short. You will have
to cut two holes for the drink bottle mounting holes if you want to
use them. I did it anyway and replaced the cap screws to
prevent any crap getting inside.
© 2006
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