Hive Mind: Fenders

[zetroc]

2. Berthoud

[Paul Jacobs]

One trick, which is not originally my idea, is to place a single water bottle boss at the point where the tangent of the seat tube meets the circumference of the fender. The fender can then be attached with a 5 mm screw and a washer or spacer. This avoids the need to attach the front bottom of the fender to a chainstay bridge and leaves some movement of the fender between the chainstays to facilitate wheel removal.

[RichTheRoadie]

One trick, which is not originally my idea, is to place a single water bottle boss at the point where the tangent of the seat tube meets the circumference of the fender. The fender can then be attached with a 5 mm screw and a washer or spacer. This avoids the need to attach the front bottom of the fender to a chainstay bridge and leaves some movement of the fender between the chainstays to facilitate wheel removal.

The Scottish frame builder whose name currently escapes me used to do this, or something like it - I thought it was a very clever solution as it also allows for the rear fender to be moved round by an inch or two (as it only needs to meet the chain stay bridge, not drop below it), offering slightly better coverage at the rear; and, therefore, a slightly better hang for a leather or rubber flap.

[Chik]

And allows a slightly shorter wheel base, if desired?

[chrisn]

The Scottish frame builder whose name currently escapes me used to do this, or something like it - I thought it was a very clever solution as it also allows for the rear fender to be moved round by an inch or two (as it only needs to meet the chain stay bridge, not drop below it), offering slightly better coverage at the rear; and, therefore, a slightly better hang for a leather or rubber flap.

Shand?

[RichTheRoadie]

Shand?

That’s the badger.

[krooj]

As a current Santa Cruz resident that formerly lived and biked through Toronto winters, I find this thread highly triggering. Also, the bikes posted ITT are way too nice to be ridden through winter :D

[thollandpe]

One trick, which is not originally my idea, is to place a single water bottle boss at the point where the tangent of the seat tube meets the circumference of the fender. The fender can then be attached with a 5 mm screw and a washer or spacer. This avoids the need to attach the front bottom of the fender to a chainstay bridge and leaves some movement of the fender between the chainstays to facilitate wheel removal.

Even without a boss it’s easy to cobble together a clamp from a reflector bracket, chain watcher, or old front derailleur to do this. There is one style of plastic reflector bracket that lends itself perfectly.

[thomas]

I liked the Portland Design Works Full Metal Fenders on this bike. Have some plastic ones that I throw on the Hampsten Strada Bianca every winter that work fine, too. Can't remember what brand they are, though.

[chrisn]

The Scottish frame builder whose name currently escapes me used to do this, or something like it - I thought it was a very clever solution as it also allows for the rear fender to be moved round by an inch or two (as it only needs to meet the chain stay bridge, not drop below it), offering slightly better coverage at the rear; and, therefore, a slightly better hang for a leather or rubber flap.

My old Shand thread here. Shoulda made more use of the fenders option!

https://www.velocipedesalon.com/foru...reply&p=786680

[j44ke]

My old Shand thread here. Shoulda made more use of the fenders option!

https://www.velocipedesalon.com/foru...reply&p=786680

Some kind of paste error? Try this:

https://www.velocipedesalon.com/foru...and-44788.html

[RichTheRoadie]

Great; and now I want to build a bike around a set of fenders despite the fact that I'll probably never use it in the wet...

Ooops - I think I might have just followed through on this plan...

[Tom_Bishop]

I've learned a lot in past year over the way I used to do fenders. I tried the Honjo's 62mm smooth fenders made for Rene Herse. The daruma mount in fork crown is an improvement over the L-bracket stuff getting you all the tire clearance. I also learned the front fender (in front of crown) is better if it is protected by a mini-rack. When on a hike a bike etc, it is easily knocked out of alignment, so the mini rack with the extra boss is helpful. I run 584-48 tires (Switchback Hill or Juniper Ridge) and find 62mm is pretty good for spray coverage. I'll likely add a flap to front fender to keep the underside of my downtube a bit cleaner.

Now that I am in a rattle-free setup, I don't touch the setup and leave them on year round. The 62mm width means my front derailleur doesn't interfere, so that's appreciated too. Overall, I'd recommend the Rene Herse fenders - better hardware and spec's than most others.

IMG_0041.jpg

[RichTheRoadie]

On this pic, @Paul Jacobs, it looks like there's nothing holding the fender under the brake - is that correct? Does it hold strongly enough to not need anything there?:

The 700c model carbon fender is much better.

[Paul Jacobs]

On this pic, @Paul Jacobs, it looks like there's nothing holding the fender under the brake - is that correct? Does it hold strongly enough to not need anything there?:

For the rear fender there is a single M5 screw through the centre of the fender into a threaded hole underneath the brake bridge. The front is much the same. As you know, because I recall you had one of these forks for sale, the Wound Up fork has a carbon steerer and two carbon blades bonded into an aluminium crown. The aluminium crown is hollow in the centre and the bottom of the steerer is plugged with a piece of black plastic. I simply drilled a hole in the centre of the plastic plug and tapped it to take a M5 screw which holds the fender under the fork crown. I made a slightly wedged shape leather washer to fill the gap between the top of the fender and the bottom of the plastic plug.

I would not do the same for a wholly carbon fork as I would not want to disturb the integrity of the fork by drilling into the carbon and screwing into it but it is easy to come up with a similar arrangement for steel forks, either built into the fork or by slinging something over the brake bolt where it crosses the inside bottom of the steerer.

For carbon fenders I have been using washers which I cut out of EPDM roofing sheet because I think these look neater than leather. You can see these above in post 42.

[RichTheRoadie]

Got you - thanks Paul.

So it’ll be the L-shaped bracket on the front, and the same (or a Honjo crimp-on mount) on the rear for me. Good to know.

[cargonaut]

An off the shelf fender that will fit my 20x2.4 tire does not exist, so I had to figure out how make them myself. Here is the blog post I wrote about it recently:
https://drewdevereux.wordpress.com/2...cycle-fenders/
They are hybrid aluminum/wood fenders. The post may be interesting to a DIY type who has access to a table saw and can do (or learn) some hard-soldering. I liked having total control of fender length and width.

[Gattonero]

Thanks for all the insight folks!

A follow-up: Has anyone noticed more protection from a fender that wraps further around the tire?

I have a set of old Fred Salmon guards, was sceptical at first but didn't take long to find out they really work. Even with 28mm 4Seasons I've never experienced any spray from the sides.
The flaps are made from gluing Harris Tweed fabric -with plenty of silicone proofer sprayed- onto old Brompton mudflaps. They've been working very well for ther last 5+ years

[Gattonero]

Got you - thanks Paul.

So it’ll be the L-shaped bracket on the front, and the same (or a Honjo crimp-on mount) on the rear for me. Good to know.

FWIW, use dome-head T25 bolts for maximum clearance and avoid stripping the 3mm hex that are commonly used. Also a light-grade threadlock (222 or 223 grade) is essential to prevent looseing AND corrosion of the bolts.

[Gattonero]

An off the shelf fender that will fit my 20x2.4 tire does not exist, so I had to figure out how make them myself. Here is the blog post I wrote about it recently:
https://drewdevereux.wordpress.com/2...cycle-fenders/
They are hybrid aluminum/wood fenders. The post may be interesting to a DIY type who has access to a table saw and can do (or learn) some hard-soldering. I liked having total control of fender length and width.

I like the idea of using a laminate construction (SKS does the same with a sandwich of metal&plastic) it also makes possible to add reinforcements where the stays/bridge will be fixed.
Not to underestimate that you can paint them to match the rest of the bike