After waiting since February following my purchase of a profit kit from the Rhino Protect stand at this years London MCN show the day had come to travel to the fitting centre just north of Slough, although if I am honest I travelled over the night before and stayed with an old friend as I have a tendency to sleep in. Still, travelling done I had arrived at the centre, which was also the centre for something else but I’ll come to that later. So I arrive and a friendly chap tells me to park up on the wash bay and as soon as I have got myself and my tank bag off he starts washing my bike. Once he has finished thoroughly washing the areas of where the kit is going to be applied I’m instructed to move the bike inside the workshop, manoeuvring past a Lamborghini Gallardo being valeted, I parked up next to a long table as directed by the friendly chap whom, after reading the name on his polo shirt, was called Phil.
Phil sets to work peeling off all the excess bits from the pre-cut shapes on the sheet of film, I say film, Phil did explain to me that it wasn’t really a film as in plastic but something else but to be honest I have forgotten. He also told me that it was developed originally to go on the tips of helicopter rotor blades to stop them from wearing away so quickly, if only the VFR went that quick. Now that Phil had the sheet of film ready he picked up one of the many bottles he had and sprayed the front of the bike in a soapy solution. He then explained that this was necessary as the soap acted as an inhibitor to the adhesive on the back of the film and allowed him to position it in the correct place. After a bit more spraying and positioning Phil was happy that it was in the correct place and started to use a small piece a hard rubber to squeeze out as much of the excess moisture as possible. As he was doing this Phil explained that because the film was micro-porous it would take about 7-10 days for the film to cure during which time I should keep smoothing down the edges and where the film went over decals.
It didn’t take long for Phil to finish doing the rest of the front during which time I looked around at all the very nice high performance cars in the workshop one of which was a Pagani Zonda. Most of it was covered over but the rear was all exposed where the gearbox had been removed as it was having a new clutch fitted. After looking around and taking a few photos of the Zonda and other cars I went back over to Phil as he was finishing off the front of the bike.
As I have a baglux tank cover fitted there was no need to fit the tank parts of the kit but so I wasn’t short changed it was agreed that I could have the film used on the back of the bike around the pillion seat. However, as there wasn’t a template for this area Phil had to mark out and cut each part by hand. He did this with the same attention to detail as he did whilst fitting the pre-cut elements for the front resulting in a fit that looked as if a machine had done it.
Now that all the bits had been fitted the next stage was for Phil to go round every piece using a hot air blower and his hard bit of rubber smoothing down each bit again ensuring that all the edges were stuck down. He then, using a microfiber cloth, went round the whole bike again and polished off any water marks leaving the bike shining like it had just left the showroom when it was new.
When you consider how much the kits cost then add on the cost of a pro fit it is easy to see why some might say “its nice but a bit expensive” but to those people I would say that the cost of having it fitted is worth every penny. The service you receive is fantastic and, as for the film, apart from it protecting your bike for chips, scuffs and abrasions it also lifts the shine making the bike look great. For example, my seat cowl was really starting to look its age what with boot scuff marks and rubbing from my Ventura bag yet after Phil gave it a little polish with some fine compound and then fitted the film it instantly looked like it was brand new.
In short, I can only urge people to get their bikes covered. It is well worth the money, the service is fantastic and with all the loose debris on the road it just makes sense. I know I’ll be a lot happier when we are on our Journey to Russia knowing that my bike is as protected as it can be. Thank you Phil you did an excellent job.
