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Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything
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I have never been too excited about the original paint on my 2010 P2 (white, red, black), so for a December project I stripped the bike down and vinyl wrapped it. I have never worked with any vinyl material and information on the internet regarding wrapping bikes is minimal, so I learned as I went. Before beginning, I watched a ton of YouTube videos on wrapping cars.

Material:
3M 1080 matte black and metallic blue. I sourced the material from an auto wrapping company in town, who had a large pile of scraps from previous jobs. They let me take what I wanted and only charged me a fraction of what it would cost online. I have enough to wrap my road bike next.

Tools used:
Heat gun
This is a must have as it allows the material to become flexible and stretch around corners.

3M knifeless tape
This is layed down under the vinyl and then used to make hidden seams and make straight cuts.

Knife blade
At first I tried using a box cutter, but quickly learned I needed a smaller sharper blade so I went to Home Depot and bought a scalpel like blade.

If you have any questions about the process, let me know. I am no expert, I will try to be as helpful as possible. Overall, it turned out pretty good.

How much would you be willing to pay to have your bike wrapped?


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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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You have any close up pictures? How did you tackle the different segments on the bike? Did you just lay large pieces and shape them or did you cut small pieces and puzzle them together? Mainly thinking around the bottom bracket area and fork/head tube area.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [FuzzyRunner] [ In reply to ]
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After some trial and error and going off of advice from the owner of the auto wrapping company, I figured it was easiest to treat the left and right side of the bike independently and each tube independently. So for the top tube and down tube, I have a hidden seam on the top and underneath. Going around the bottom bracket was the most challenging. I cut out one piece for each side of the bike that extends the length of the chain stay and around the bottom bracket. Generous use of the heat gun and going slow got it done.

I don’t have close up pictures at this time as I am on vacation, but can post some later this week.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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When you say stripped down, does that mean you removed the paint. how much weight do you think you added vs. paint or on top of the paint?
congrats on the project, sounds like a real painstaking job

Great things never come from comfort zones.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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How does the knifeless tape work? Where did you use it?

What did you use the scalpel blade for, where did you make cuts?

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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [DarkSpeedWorks] [ In reply to ]
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DarkSpeedWorks wrote:
How does the knifeless tape work? Where did you use it?

What did you use the scalpel blade for, where did you make cuts?

The knifeless tape is pretty cool. You lay it down, wrap the vinyl over it, and then pull up the tape. It's like a blade of sharp dental floss that then cuts the vinyl from underneath. So you basically use it anywhere you're going to want to cut the vinyl, bit without risking damage to the frame like you would with a knife.

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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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How did you go about wrapping the fork? I'm about to start wrapping a bike but the fork has me trying to figure out the best way to do it

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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Barry S.] [ In reply to ]
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Disassembled would have been a better choice of words than stripped down. I removed all cabling and components so I was just working with the frame. I prepped the frame by degreasing it and giving it a good cleaning before applying the vinyl.

I am not sure about weight. Per 3M’s website, the 1080 material weights 150 g/sqm. If someone wants to estimate the weight per amount needed for a bike, that would be interesting to know. I never measured how much I used.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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material costs aside, how many hours did it take you? STripping parts, cleaning, prepping etc etc.

There's a lady pro in Germany that has a company wrap her bikes and it is just amazing work: https://www.maryywilke.com/...n-full-of-challenges. I think also for any bike company 'sponsoring' a rider it is way cheaper to do a wrap than give them a new bike?

I'm only guessing but with the metallics and other vinyls they use it might be a $1800 job, but I could be way off.

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abbikefit@gmail.com
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [robgray] [ In reply to ]
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To wrap the fork, I removed the fork from the frame. First, I wrapped the inside of the fork in the blue by cutting a single piece to go the whole length from one drop out, up and around the middle and down to the other drop out. I used the knifeless tape to cut the blue at the leading edge and rear edge of the fork. For the outside of the fork, I laid down one piece for the left side and one piece for the right side, and again, used the knifeless tape to create a hidden seam where to two pieces joined together in the middle and also where the black met the blue on the leading and rear edges.

Hope that helps
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [DarkSpeedWorks] [ In reply to ]
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The blade was used to cut away excess material. For instance on the bottom bracket, I left excess material hanging over the edge and then would use the blade to cut it away so the vinyl was flush with the frame. I never used the blade to cut material directly on the frame in order to avoid scratching the paint or damaging the carbon.

I bought the knifeless tape from amazon and got a 50 meter roll. I used a lot more than anticipated. Check out videos on YouTube about how to use the tape.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [ABarnes] [ In reply to ]
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I probably had 12 hours into it. This is a lot, but again, I had never used the material and had to go through a learning curve before I got comfortable with the process. The first attempts I did not use the heat gun enough and then I would use too much heat and the material would tear. Once I found a good balance and how to best use the knifeless tape, it went a lot faster.

When I first walked into the auto wrapping company’s office with the frame in hand the owner started laughing and said they don’t wrap bikes. I understand why now. It is one thing to wrap the flat hood of a car and it is another thing to try to wrap around a bottom bracket.

I paid $30 for the vinyl and got two bikes worth of material. The owner charged me because I wanted matte black and he said they try to reuse as much of that color as possible. I was happy to pay for it as that was significantly less than if I bought it online. If I wanted a less popular color I could have gotten it for free. Knifeless tape was $22 on amazon and I borrowed a heat gun from a friend. I disassembled and reassembled the bike myself.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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How much added weight?

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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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Perhaps I missed an earlier thread or post but: why did you vinyl wrap you P2?
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [cmscat50] [ In reply to ]
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cmscat50 wrote:
How much added weight?

I am not sure about weight. Per 3M’s website, the material weights 150 grams per sqm. Based on this, I would estimate the material added maybe .33 pounds, maybe .50 pounds max (less than 250 grams). If I am off on this, I am fine if someone wants to correct this estimate.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [jaretj] [ In reply to ]
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jaretj wrote:
Perhaps I missed an earlier thread or post but: why did you vinyl wrap you P2?

I wrapped it because:
• I have never liked the original paint (white and red)
• I knew I could do it myself for cheap
• By wrapping it, I can change the color and design again next year if I wanted
• If I ever want to sell the frame, I can just peel the vinyl off and the original paint is unharmed.
• I now have a new skill, and could possible help others
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [jaretj] [ In reply to ]
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jaretj wrote:
Perhaps I missed an earlier thread or post but: why did you vinyl wrap you P2?

Quite literally the first thing he said in his original post.

Quote:
I have never been too excited about the original paint on my 2010 P2 (white, red, black), so for a December project I stripped the bike down and vinyl wrapped it.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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OK, just wondering if there was something more to it than that.

I thought maybe I was missing out on some kind of trend that Lionel Sanders was doing :)
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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Great info, thank you. I did not know about the knifeless tape, that could be a huge help. I have used some of the car wrap in a few spots on my P3 but wrapping the whole frame seemed to be an impossibly time consuming job.

But maybe not so much anymore. Another question, would you guess that a hair blow dryer would be a sufficient substitute for a heat gun?

Then, how much of the knifeless tape do you estimate that you used, 25% of the roll? More?

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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [robgray] [ In reply to ]
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robgray wrote:
DarkSpeedWorks wrote:
How does the knifeless tape work? Where did you use it?

What did you use the scalpel blade for, where did you make cuts?

The knifeless tape is pretty cool. You lay it down, wrap the vinyl over it, and then pull up the tape. It's like a blade of sharp dental floss that then cuts the vinyl from underneath. So you basically use it anywhere you're going to want to cut the vinyl, bit without risking damage to the frame like you would with a knife.

Very cool, thanks, this could be a huge time saver!

Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
DarkSpeedWorks.com.....Reviews.....Insta.....Facebook

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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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Nice work. I’m in the graphics industry and I wrap cars for a living. Been meaning to do my Speed Concept in something wild but at the end of the week I’m sick of looking at vinyl :)
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [DarkSpeedWorks] [ In reply to ]
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DarkSpeedWorks wrote:
Great info, thank you. I did not know about the knifeless tape, that could be a huge help. I have used some of the car wrap in a few spots on my P3 but wrapping the whole frame seemed to be an impossibly time consuming job.

But maybe not so much anymore. Another question, would you guess that a hair blow dryer would be a sufficient substitute for a heat gun?

Then, how much of the knifeless tape do you estimate that you used, 25% of the roll? More?

The work did take time, but I broke it down into sections, working for an hour or so at a time in the evenings after my kids would go to bed. But, it is not impossible and hopefully you now have some encouragement to tackle a certain design you may have in mind.

I used a lot of the 50 meter roll. More than I thought I would. I do not have enough left to do another complete bike. But, I was not trying to be conversative with it either. You have to run it an extra 6-12 inches from the beginning of the cut so you can break the line from the tape and then have enough of the line to firmly hold and pull. Picture flossing your teeth. Only two inches may actually touch your teeth, but you have all the extra wrapped around your fingers.

I did not try a hair dryer, but it could probably be used. My friend has a $20 heat gun that worked great. The heat is directed on only the parts you want heated and it heats within a few seconds. For only $20, I would recommend going with the heat gun.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [ridenfish39] [ In reply to ]
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ridenfish39 wrote:
Nice work. I’m in the graphics industry and I wrap cars for a living. Been meaning to do my Speed Concept in something wild but at the end of the week I’m sick of looking at vinyl :)

Being in the industry, do you know what a company like yours would charge to wrap a bike? I asked the auto shop I got the vinyl from and they said the only bike they ever did was for Nike and was a promotional thing for one of their athletes and have no desire to do another one.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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Congrats, looks great and a cool skill to have.
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Re: Vinyl Wrapped my P2 - Ask me anything [Dallcro] [ In reply to ]
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Dallcro wrote:
ridenfish39 wrote:
Nice work. I’m in the graphics industry and I wrap cars for a living. Been meaning to do my Speed Concept in something wild but at the end of the week I’m sick of looking at vinyl :)

Being in the industry, do you know what a company like yours would charge to wrap a bike? I asked the auto shop I got the vinyl from and they said the only bike they ever did was for Nike and was a promotional thing for one of their athletes and have no desire to do another one.
I’lve been wrapping cars for about 15 years now, I’ve never done a bike though. I guess it would depend on the frame and how complicated it is. The hardest thing would be where to hide the seams. I need to strip and wrap my Speed Concept. I’ll post it up how long it took and some pics. This post has inspired me to get it done. :)
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