Touring - sks fenders and tubus racks, hmmm....

okay, i've finally started adding all my stuff to my trek 520. new brooks, tires and pump went on without a hitch. but now i'm having problems with the fenders and racks. the rear rack seemed to go on fine, but the little bars on the cargo that are moveable seem to be too long. tubus suggests I cut them with a hacksaw. is this really what everyone does?

but the real problem is with the tara. the top part of the fork isn't threaded so i bought a couple bolts and wingnuts. is this what everyone else did to fix the problem? also, the bottom eyelets seem to be just barely too small for the screws that came with the tara, did everyone else just go out and buy some smaller ones?

also, with the SKS fenders, maybe I accidentally threw away the instructions and any sort of mounting equipment (all i've got are the fenders themselves and the two sets of metal V-shaped bars), but for the life of me I can't figure out how on earth to mount these guys. anyone got any tips here?

What's a tara? I guess I'm lost here.

This link --- http://www.jitensha.com/eng/fndrs_e.html --- will give you an idea of how to mount fenders.

Wallingford Bikes , www.wallbike.com, is a good place to get some info also.

Also: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/berthoudinst.asp

http://bessasandackerman.com/downloads/riv_fender_install.pdf This site suggest using pull ties before hard mounting the fenders, not a bad idea with plastic but won't work very well with stainless steel.

The Harris Cyclery site (Sheldon Brown ) has some excellent parts for mounting fenders. Rather than screws, I suggest you use allen headed studs. Once you have everything fitted take it back apart and put it back together with Blue Loc-Tite.

The SKS has some special holders for each width that mount on the seat bridge stay and the front fork so it should be fairly easy. Some time back I grieved a little over how to mount Gilles Berthoud on my Scwhinn tourer. Actually, worked out pretty well.

Yes, those little black circle "y" thingies go over the hole behind the front axle, and then the fender stays clip into it, then you screw it in. I just got new SKS fenders too and there are no instructions.

You should have gotten a bag of small parts, though. I got a bunch of small nuts, and the thing that holds the fender stay next to the nut.

I took some pictures and will post them for you tonight, if you like.

yeah, some pictures would be great, i bet i've got those nuts and such around here somewhere if i can just find them.

anyway, i got my tara on (the front rack), but it's not even around the wheel. the wheel doesn't seem to touch it anywhere, but it's definitely not centered. anyone out there had this problem and what did you do to fix it?

I dropped a plumb bob from the centre of the rack and then lined it up with the centre of the wheel. Then I tightened the bolts.

small parts for fender (http://i2.tinypic.com/v8q99t.jpg)