Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Full Fenders/ Horizontal Dropouts

Hey, don't ride fixed gear because I'm too much of a weenie w/ bad knees, but I was hoping you guys could help me out. How much of a pain is it to set-up full fenders/remove a read wheel w/ full-fenders and such on a bike w/ horizontal rear drop-outs. Are there any types of full fenders that are better/easier than others? Thanks.

You could try the SKS raceblades. They "clip on" and are easily removed and put on. A bit of a pain on a track bike with tight clearances but they're nice.

i had honjo fenders on my bike last winter and didn't have a problem with getting the rear wheel in and out when the tire was flat. i took them off because it stopped being so rainy. now, i kind of need them again...

There's been some discussion about fenders with little clearance on the boblist.

Here's a link to a description of one workaround : http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=internet-bob.10511.2362.eml

and a picture of similar workaround :http://www.bill-king.net/bikes/volpe_csbridge.jpg

i ride a fixed gear road bike conversion and run full sks fenders. i made it extra hard on myself by making a thick plastic washer that keeps the part of the fender that is near the bb shell really tight to the tire, because i'm anal and love how full fenders look when they are as close to the tire as possible (without rubbing) all the way around. this being said, anytime i remove my rear wheel i have to deflate my rear tire. not a big deal to me, but may be to you. this will only be the case however if you have very tight spacing between the seat tube and tire, or if you are into stupid aesthetic bs like me :).
p.s. i'm totally assuming you don't have track rear fork ends and that you are working with horizontal front-facing drop-outs, such as on an older road bike.

wow-just saw the workaround thing, we must have posted at the same time. awesome...i'm going to build one immediately, that is so much better than my stupid lil plastic washer. cool!

i have no problem with fender clearance or wheel removal with SKS full fenders on my nishiki conversion. plenty of room.

onetin, i think i've asked you this a long while ago in another thread, but how do you attach the honjo fenders w/o eyelets? and is there just a good deal of space between the track ends and the fender that you can remove the wheel with ease?

i'd love to put fenders on my track bike but don't want to go half-assed with raceblades.

p.s. i'm totally assuming you don't have track rear fork ends and that you are working with horizontal front-facing drop-outs, such as on an older road bike.

If your not talking about horizontal dropouts but track ends (open to the rear of the frame) then you can use SKS guards. They come with plastic clips for the stays where they bolt to the frame. They are susposed to be used on the front so it will unclip if somthing gets sucked up between the guard and tyre. Use them on the rear and you can just pull the stays out of the clips and flex the guard around the tyre when removing.

There's been some discussion about fenders with little clearance on the boblist.

Here's a link to a description of one workaround : http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=internet-bob.10511.2362.eml

and a picture of similar workaround :http://www.bill-king.net/bikes/volpe_csbridge.jpg

THAT is wicked cool.

with track ends- just get an extra set of those plastic safety mounts that they reccomend you use on the front, and put them on the back. That way, if you need to move the fender back a little to get the wheel out, you just pop the fender stays out, pull out the wheel, and pop the fender back in. works like a charm.

with a converted old road bike, it's almost never a problem.

i have no problem with fender clearance or wheel removal with SKS full fenders on my nishiki conversion. plenty of room.

onetin, i think i've asked you this a long while ago in another thread, but how do you attach the honjo fenders w/o eyelets? and is there just a good deal of space between the track ends and the fender that you can remove the wheel with ease?

i'd love to put fenders on my track bike but don't want to go half-assed with raceblades.

i used some little rubber coated metal bands around the chainstays/fork legs. it didn't look too pretty, but it worked. a word about the honjos, a 10mm nylock nut for the rear fender brace works much better than the one supplied. the nut it comes with will eventually rattle loose from road vibration. it'll fall off, and you'll lose the round washer-like piece that fits between the fender itself and the brace. the fenders still work, but you can't get a good replacement for that little washer, and they'll rattle until you find one...or take them off, which is what i did.

Are honjos a pain to set up. I have a Bridgesotone with fender mounts, but after looking at Jitensha's it is more challenging than I thought.

I've got full-fenders on my road conversion. I have them set up to be as far away from the tire as possible because I'm not anal about how it looks, but I am anal about tires rubbing on them. They work fine, and I have no problems getting the wheels off.

Thanks for the help everyone. It's a geared bike w/ horizontal dropouts, and it's going to see some trail use, so I'm going to mount the fenders far and away, anyway. Deflating a tire to take a wheel off is no big deal, so I'm going to go with the SKS's or the Planet Bikes. Again, thanks.

Are honjos a pain to set up. I have a Bridgesotone with fender mounts, but after looking at Jitensha's it is more challenging than I thought.

they're definitely not as complicated as the instructions on jitensha's website make it out to be. they take about an hour and a half, max to install on a track bike, due to the problem solving that goes on. on a bike that's meant to have fenders, probably way less. there is a good bit of measuring, and the old piece of advise, measure twice, cut once most definitely applies.

all you really need is a punch, a small reamer, a screwdriver, an 8mm or 10mm wrench (can't remember the nut size), and a drill with decent bits. if you want to cut them down, you'll want a dremel, and a fine metal file, and some smooth pliers, and maybe some thin wire for folding the edges over. (you put the wire along the inside of the fold, so you don't make a flat, sharp crease).

SKS Race Blades get my vote as well. They install in like 2 minutes, they'll fit on any frame and you can swap them on whatever bike-o-the-day you feel like riding. Plus, they come with this totally awesome carrying bag!

- eyefloater

Ps. I installed some on a customer's bike last week. Yes, people pay to have items installed that involve nothing more than rubber bands.

planet bike has some sks clones which i bought. 20 bucks vs. 50 bucks (cdn). i was going to pick up a pair of the race blades but the shop had run out. they look pretty much identical. i can't see the difference..can you see the difference??

Are these the Planet Bike fenders you're talking about? (SpeedEZ road model):

http://aebike.com/site/images/library/catalogs/soc/p350X350m/FE2519.jpg

They look great... almost identical to the SKS Race Blades.

I'm especially excited by the clip-on full-fenders (SpeedEZ hybrid model):

http://aebike.com/site/images/library/catalogs/soc/p350X350m/FE2517.jpg

Has anyone used this latter model? It would seem to solve the shortcomings of the Race Blades (limited coverage) while still allowing for quick removal.

those are exactly what i bought. i'm glad i held off on the sks and spared my wallet an extra 30 bucks.
the only complaint i have is that my rear fender rattles quite a bit on bumpy roads so i'm no longer ninja-silent. :(