Hive Mind: Fenders

[j44ke]

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2020-08-23 11.22.58 by sevencyclist, on Flickr

Great bike.

[Smitty2k1]

Well I got my $14 Tanaka fenders from Soma installed. Here are some thoughts:
1) Fenders were well made and the finish is nice. They had NO holes drilled for any hardware with the exception of a single hole for the chain stay bridge on the rear. The instructions offered no advice on where to drill the holes for the fender stay daruma hardware and I didn't quite space them correctly on the front.
2) The hardware bag they came with was not what was shown on the Soma site. I think they scraped some stuff together with the Honjo hardware too. Hardware was sufficient though I didn't care for the L brackets for the fork crown and seat stay bridge, they didn't allow the fender to sit close enough to the threaded boss and pushed it down too close to the tire on the rear.
3) The fenders themselves had a radius way too big for a 700x32 tire. I tried the "pull out and push down" method to decrease the radius but they just wouldn't budge. Ended up kinking them a touch trying to just squeeze the ends together.
4) Paired the fenders with some leather mudflaps and washers purchased from Treetop Goods. Very pleased with the quality and waxy finish on the mudflaps. Mudflaps came with no hardware.

Overall 7/10, I prefer the VO metal fenders for the hardware, fit, and coming pre-drilled for the stays. Value for $14: 10/10 considering the mudflaps alone cost more than that and the only other options are at least 4x as much.