General Cycling Discussion - Fender installation

I just bought a pair of fenders similar to the Planet Bike SpeedEZ fenders, but with plastic straps instead of rubber. Just wanted to know whose bright idea was it to make straps that need to be bent out of a hard, inflexible thing like plastic?
Not that I can't bend them, but it does take a bit of force and I've already snapped one of them in half trying to do so.

I live in Toronto, and it's getting quite cold out now, so I guess my real question is will these plastic straps become brittle and break in the -7 degree weather? I bought them from my LBS downtown and don't really want to ride all the way back there to spend another $50 for some more fenders.

Would the elastic silicone of a livestrong band work?

Possibly it's because the rubber ones break all the time. I put those fenders on my first bike. Within a month or two, I'd replaced the rubber straps with zip ties--which are plastic.

Really, I thought rubber would be more durable because it's flexible and can stretch etc.
Also, zip ties were made for the sole purpose of bending and holding things together. These straps are like plastic popsicle sticks..try bending those at a 90 degree angle without breaking it.
I suppose zip ties could work should these straps break though. Thanks for the suggestion

Really, I thought rubber would be more durable because it's flexible and can stretch etc.
Also, zip ties were made for the sole purpose of bending and holding things together. These straps are like plastic popsicle sticks..try bending those at a 90 degree angle without breaking it.
I suppose zip ties could work should these straps break though. Thanks for the suggestion


There are so many different types of rubber, and of plastic, that you really can't predict durability just by knowing rubber or plastic. Good high strength neoprene will last for ages in this sort of application, as will good zip ties. (There are even different grades of zip ties -- for long-term bicycle use, get the ones that are UV stabilized for outdoor applications, they don't go brittle in the sun nearly as fast.)

Don't you have holes to install the hardware needed to attach them at the axles and top of the fork like Joe Cruiser?

If there's a place around that specializes in industrial belts, pulleys, and other drive products, see if they will order you some urethane round belts at a few dollars per. We replaced the neoprene o-rings that had been used in place of actual round belts in some pin scanners with urethane ones where I used to work and they lasted about 20 times longer. There were a few other lighter duty applications where we cut some thicker stock to length and joined the ends together with a lighter. When properly joined, they never seemed to fail. I believe UV will cause them to degrade over time though.

The drawbacks were their relative lack of elasticity and that they cost about 50 times the 6¢ we paid per o-ring. They don't stretch half as much as a rubber band or a neoprene o-ring will so you'll have to work out and order a specific length and diameter to match your seat stays and fork. As trouble free as they ended up though, they paid for themselves several times over.