The Need

Our first thought on seeing the Veloskin display was, "This would be great for the Raysport!"  Our latest bike rides nicely and looks good, but the paint is very ... fragile.  It scratches very easily (although for the price we admit we're more than pleased).  A product that would prevent scratches and chips would be perfect.

The Product

Veloskin is basically a 3M self-adhesive clear, glossy film that you apply to your bike.  Veloskin's web site describes the film as a two-layer film with a hard outer layer and a softer base layer--together, the layers provide protection and are supposed to quiet the "pings" that happen when rocks and debris hit the frame (more on that later).

The kit, which arrives in a small tube, contains several pieces of the film, generally cut to size to fit various parts of the frame, a squirt bottle filled with a soap solution, a small squeegee, and instructions.

Applying Veloskin

Putting Veloskin on your frame is a relatively simple process.  However, to quote one of our sponsor's slogans, "It's simple, but not easy."  Here are the basic steps:  

First, clean the frame thoroughly.  Veloskin will trap and preserve any dirt or dust on your frame and keep it there forever, so if you don't want to see it, clean it off.

Second, cut the pieces to fit. Although the kit we received was pre-cut, we found that we needed to trim all of the pieces to get them to fit. That's a function of Veloskin needing to fit a variety of frame sizes, but unless you ride something like a 64mm frame, count on getting your sharp scissors out.

Although Veloskin is somewhat flexible (less so than we had hoped), it won't conform to any kind of ridge on frame, such as braze-ons or lugs.  For our Raysport, we cut gentle curves in the film that fit around the points of the frame's chrome-plated lugs.  (Installation was made easier by the lack of brake or cable brazeons--we would have needed to trim around those as well.)

One lesson we learned from installing Veloskin was that this, the "trimming" phase, is perhaps the most important.  We spent about two hours putting the kit on--it would have been quite possible to spend a few more hours creating paper templates to really tightly follow the edges of the lugs.  

Third, spray the frame with the soap solution, peel off the backing, spray the film, and apply it to the frame.  Then, using the squeegee, squeeze all the soap solution out.

This is where you will spend most of your time--removing the soap solution you just sprayed on.  It takes a long, long time.  The benefit of the soap solution is that it keeps the film from "grabbing" and sticking immediately, allowing you to move the film around.  On the negative side, the soap-slicked film moves around a lot.  The piece on our top tube shifted around quite a bit--by the time we got all the soap out, it was out of alignment, but we figured only we would know, so we left it.  As a test, we applied several smaller pieces to our bike's chainstays without the soap film, and got very good results.

As we noted earlier, Veloskin won't conform to lug edges or other imperfections.  On our Raysport, we had to trim the edge of the film where it overlapped onto the frame's decals, which were applied on top of the paint.  If your frame's decals are under a clear coat, you may not need to do this.

Our Results

Other than a minor glitch on our top tube, where the film moved around a bit, our installation went smoothly.  Once it is applied, Veloskin is visible, if you get close enough to the frame. It's very clear and very glossy, but yes, you can spot the edge of the film (although, as we noted above, if you spent a lot more time and really trimmed it so that the film's edge met with the edges of your frame's lugs, it could be made less visible.  As a test, we didn't tell any of our friends that we had put Veloskin on the Raysport--nobody mentioned it, which we interpret as meaning they couldn't spot it.

Veloskin has done a great job protecting the paint on our frame.  We applied it to the areas we thought would be most susceptible to chips: the top tube, the bottom of the downtube, the back of the seat tube, and the outer sides of the forks and stays.  It would also make a great chainstay protector on the inside of the drive-side chainstay (we didn't put film there, because our fixed-gear drivetrain doesn't have chain slop in it).  It's hard to imagine how anything short of a concerted attack on the frame would affect the Veloskin--in our experience road dirt, grime, etc. wash off easily.  It's also very shiny, adding an attractive gloss finish.

Summary

At $40 for a one-bike kit, Veloskin is a bit pricey, but if it can help preserve your bike's paint and prevent a $500 repaint, it may be well worth it (a less-expensive kit that requires more trimming is also available).  We would recommend it particularly for any bike that may get banged around a bit; we're not sure we would put it on top of a fine paint job.  The film is very discrete, but it can be seen--if you're looking for a perfectly invisible covering, don't use it.

Veloskin's web site: www.veloskin.com