may be removed from the balloon 14 prior to insertion of the catheter 16 into a body lumen such as is shown in fig3 as may be seen in fig4 the present protector 10 may also be utilized to crimp a stent 18 onto a balloon 14 of the catheter 16 the protector 10 is placed over the stent 18 before the stent is crimped as may be seen in fig5 the combination of the catheter 16 stent 18 and protector 10 is inserted into a crimping device 20 the crimping forces are transmitted to the stent 18 but the crimping blades 22 are prevented from contacting the stent 18 due to the presence of the protector 10 the protector 10 may be removed from the catheter 16 at any time after the crimping process as previously indicated the protector 10 is constructed from at least two materials having different modulus of elasticity the first material 11 is formed into a generally tubular sleeve 24 in the embodiment shown in fig1 5 the second material 13 is embodied in at least one fiber or stripe of material 26 in the embodiment shown the fiber 26 is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis 25 of the protector 10 as indicated above the first material 11 may be any elastic material known the first material 11.