Is There Much Point In Frame Wraps?

I just buy a roll of the 3M adhesive tape and put it on the areas that are likely to cop the worst of it like the underside of the down tube and the top of top tube. I bought a ride wrap kit, warrantied the frame and didn't want to fork out for a new kit. Just follow the instructions when you install it and your golden.

I do it with every bike, but do not order a kit. I buy bulk ppf film and cut my own pieces. Doing it this way costs maybe only 25% of a kit (depending on kit purchased) and I end up with extra.

Helicopter tape in exposed areas for the win.

Not anymore.  I did it on 1 frame and 1 fork, spending at least a couple hours of my time getting really high coverage.  I still managed to scratch both in places where there was no coverage.  Both only sold for about 30% of what they cost new, just a couple years later.  So, not wasting my time or money on that again... I'll ride my bikes, and when they get scratched, don't really care.  It means they're getting ridden, not sitting in my garage.

I'm curious if anyone has successfully removed protection film. It's pretty common for PPF to pull paint when removed from cars, especially if the paint is not original. In general, bike paint seems to be lower quality than automotive paint. 

I have film on the underside of my down tube mostly to protect from rock chips from the front tire flinging stuff up.

I removed ppf from my last Ibis frame without any paint damage/peeling, it was installed for a few months shy of four years.

honestly depends on the brand of bike and material as i believe alloy paint chips etc easier than carbon.
Dh bike - no.
merida? carbon no, alloy yes but not worth it.(had two carbons and dropped tools and all sorts and no chipping etc)
Canyon, carbon no, alloy no because itll crack regardless.(alloy)
Trek, carbon yes, alloy no.
spec, carbon yes, alloy... maybe depends on colour way.
commencal, no because it'll crack anyway.
pivot, yes, those frames are nice - but the headtube might fall off.
giant, yes for carbon as their paint jobs are nice but chip easy in my experience.
rocky, no.
YT yes, paint can be hit or miss on both material.
Santa cruz, yep, nice frames.
yeti, never wrapped either two but both cracked anyway.
Ibis, My new ripmo getting done as we speak as they seem really nice.
cannon dale, i would as paint seems rubbish IME.
Scott/bold, yes paint is rubbish and to keep it nice you gotta wrap it.
Marins new stuff, no but the paint quality seems good.
Evil, I didnt bother but it cracked twice at the shock pivot on downtube.

Just my own experience with said brands - this list is from the last 4 years.
 

Depends .. covering with plastic will definitely increase the options when it comes to selling the bike again .. BUT doesn't necessarily increase resale value  (people will still lowball you 😠 -lol).

Most people are on the lookout for the best condition bike they can find, and if its down to 2 bikes, generally they opt for the one in "better" condition.  Scratches and paint chips on a bike do not relay a bike that has been well cared for (aesthetics only).   So you might  sell your bike faster.

I would strongly  recommend applying to carbon rims however ... as they are very subject to scratching.  I have been doing my rims for over 15 years (cutting templates for 3M plastic) however most sellers (ridewrap) now make rim protection strips, and I would recommend that route to save a lot of time and frustration having to cut your own.

As for the frame .. cheap insurance I guess.🙂

Use a little heat when removing, it makes the job MUCH easier. A hairdryer will in most cases be hot enough.

About wrapping a frame, i do it, but i boy rolls of clear protective film for cars. Same protection, but it cost 20% of RideWrap. And you have a lot of film to spare if/when it get scratched.

i usually put some wrape on the big areas. i don't buy a kit but cut it myself from a roll from amazon.
Prevents scratches and wear from your clothes and shoes. 
Often time you kneepads also put tiny scratches into your top tube making the paint look dull.
I did pull the wrap of once and under it the pain was like new. 

i don't spend to much time and i'm not a perfectionist.

I use a steamer to remove PPF on cars, I'll do the same if I ever remove the film from my down tube. 

From personal experience, I think it depends the durability of the paint and finish. My last Transition looked pretty bad because anywhere there wasn’t a piece of tape (and there wasn’t much, I admit) the paint was badly chipped. When the time came for a new bike, I bought another Transition and the first purchase was custom cut Ride Wrap. 

The wrap is keeping my bike looking fresher longer, and I ride that bike a lot. When pieces wear out from wear and tear (think heel rub on chainstays) the cost is very low to replace them. 

I doubt it would help much in a scenario like the OP explains, though. 

 

I full wrapped and the frame will look beat anyway by the time it goes to the next owner. The wrap has kept the paint looking decent in big open spots flat spots that would easy to wrap DIY. The custom cut wrap doesn't like to adhere long term to the small intricate frame areas. Or where it rubs on the North Shore rack around the head tube. Not sure it was worth it. Especially with resale value back to normal (i.e. bad) I doubt it's worth the investment anymore for looks alone.

I don't (fully) wrap my own bikes, but I wrap my wife's bikes with ride wrap (no shill here, but NA made and the guys are super nice so I buy from them).  I buy some 3m clear protection tape in rolls of 24" x 96" and I cut strips up to protect key areas on my own bikes.  I look at it this way... the kind of things that happen to my bikes, the protection won't help.  My wife on the other hand, rides very conservatively and has a lot of instances where she just falls over, jumps off the bike at slow speeds, just drops her bike on accident or leans it up against something improperly and it falls over  Those are the situations where frame protection does it's job.  

There are a few bikes where I've regretted not doing more to wrap the frame, but those are mostly bikes and generations of bikes that had terrible paint.  Giant frames circa 2019 where they were using white primer and the paint was way too fragile, similar story for transition and a rocky mountain I had.  Even then, I got a few chips through the small 3m sections I put on.  

One last thing to think about... I did have one bike in particular that I deeply regretted putting any protection on.  That was my USFS green megatower 1.  The paint on that bike was incredibly durable, but it was susceptible to fading slightly via UV exposure.  As long as it would have faded uniformly, you'd never notice.  In my case, I had some All Mountain Style protection installed in certain areas so I could strap tubes etc to it... welp, when I went to remove those, it was painfully obvious where they had been because the bike faded unevenly.  

Long story short, never again.  

I ride the piss out of my bikes, I'm fully aware that resale will be crap with I'm done with them. If the resale won't be crap, then it's a sure sign I shouldn't have bought that bike.

Helicopter tape on the downtube for a little protection against rocks and pickup pads, a few strips where I heel rub like crazy (they only last a year there), and one strip where I strap my spare tube. It's for protection, not looks.

Tools not jewels for me, but to each their own.

I have one bike with no wrap and one bike with frame-specific Ride Wrap.

The unwrapped bike is aluminum. The wrapped bike is carbon. I learned from the aluminum bike that the carbon bike is going to get beat up.

My thought is this: I've had a lot of crashes on the aluminum bike. Nothing huge but a lot of crashes because I'm always trying to find a little more speed on my local trails. I have lots of little spots that have hit rocks, etc.. I've also worn the paint off from heel rub. I've also got scratches/worn paint where I was strapping stuff to my bike. Between all the times my bike has taken a tumble without me, taken a tumble with me, and all the scratches/worn spots from straps PLUS the inevitability that I'm going to drop tools on stuff or whack the tubes when removing something, etc. I decided to wrap the carbon bike. If nothing else, it'll stand up that liiiiiiiittle bit longer to abrasion. I'm a little paranoid about carbon getting scratched and fraying. I saw a couple friends' bikes do that sort of thing so I'm doing what I can to minimize the possibility of that.

I intend on this being a "ride it until it doesn't ride any more" bike because carbon is environmentally terrible. Prolonging the finish and reducing the likelihood of abrasive wear is a worthwhile effort over the course of a bike lasting 5+ years.

I also took a little bit of a leap buying the carbon bike. I wasn't 100% certain it was the right one. I did all the research I could, evaluated what I wanted/my riding calls for, and then committed to it with the intention it's going to be my main bike a long time. The truth is my riding is still developing and I might decide at some point I need to get something that better serves my riding. In that case, I'd be much happier selling a bike to someone that doesn't have a ton of visible damage and having less visible damage makes a bike easier to sell. The bike is cool. The finish looks good. I can easily make a big difference in preserving that finish over the course of the frame's lifetime (by using Ride Wrap) so I'm going to preserve that for myself or whomever else might eventually own it. It'll probably just be me but life's weird and if someone is going to eventually pay me for this frame I want to make sure they're as stoked on it when they get it as I was when I got it.

Nope. Used to but not anymore. Your bike never looks new once it has ride wrap on it. I mean new when you’re looking at it up close and trying to appreciate the craftsmanship. The edges of the wrap hold dirt, and if they don’t, you still see it. And, in the end, you still get scratches. and you can’t buff RideWrap. 

Sides of the fork lowers are the only place I’ve seen it be useful