Winter Cycling - mud flap

just came back from another ride. things are gettind deep now. about 2 inches....

anyway....im noticing alot of ice and snow on my lower downtube and plasterd on my BB shell where my derail cables go. I have full fenders but they are PB ATB fenders. They dont have a mud flap.

Is that what is causing this and would drilling out a couple holes and attaching some rubber fix this?

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6112/6366077783_19d5f420a5.jpg

no idea how it is getting that high on the downtube. THE full fender covers pretty good. Is this a case of needing a mudflap on the fender?

Ill be Sixty Fiver has an idea. That guy is full of winter biking advice and tips.

http://phred.org/~alex/bikes/fendermudflap.html

if you are able to choose between different sorts of materials, the best ones are flexible, smooth and light.
aluminum pop rivets are the best fastening material for this, because they don't rust and are light.

a mud flap on the rear is unnecessary, because it allows snow to build up.
the mud flap on the front should be about 1", or less, above the ground.

http://phred.org/~alex/bikes/fendermudflap.html

thx....i had actually seen that earlier today. Glad to see that guy made a template. How handy.....

Time to scrounge up some material and fabricate one. My BB will thank me.

A mud flap works the best it almost touches the ground. If it is that long it needs to be flexible. I use an mtb inertube. It must be folded over, and superglue can hold it against itself just as well as patch cement, if you don't use two pieces, and try one layer, the tube will fold up towards it's old shape, it won't work. I have made at least ten mudflaps for myself and others, they work great. The two pieces of tube glued together is flexible enought to slide over deep snow mine work when the snow is 5.5 inches deep, at that depth the pedals hit the snow. Most of mine almost touch the ground. Never any problems if the flaps are flexible.
One potential problem, the stiff part of the fender must go far enough down to allow the flap to hang flat and clear of the tire. If it doesn't just get a piece of plastic or part of another fender and make an extension. If the flap starts too high up on the diameter of the wheel shape, it will get caught in knobbies and pushed up under the fender.

There is no need to drill fenders for mud flap attachment. In fact it's safer if you don't, if the flap catches on something. Take a stiff wire or part of a coathanger,have it go over the flap horizontally about 1/2" from the very top of the flap and exend a little past the sides of the fender. make it match the curve of the fender then use pliers to crimp the ends with the side extensions folded in and crimped to the inside of the fenders. This is stronger, safer,(it can pull off if it gets caught on someting), and you can remove the flap later with no damage to the fenders (just uncrimp the ends with a screwdriver. Try searching for my forum ID and fenders, you should find a lot of photos of what I have done
If you can't find them I can post them again.

A mud flap works the best it almost touches the ground. If it is that long it needs to be flexible. I use an mtb inertube. It must be folded over, and superglue can hold it against itself just as well as patch cement, if you don't use two pieces, and try one layer, the tube will fold up towards it's old shape, it won't work. I have made at least ten mudflaps for myself and others, they work great. The two pieces of tube glued together is flexible enought to slide over deep snow mine work when the snow is 5.5 inches deep, at that depth the pedals hit the snow. Most of mine almost touch the ground. Never any problems if the flaps are flexible.
One potential problem, the stiff part of the fender must go far enough down to allow the flap to hang flat and clear of the tire. If it doesn't just get a piece of plastic or part of another fender and make an extension. If the flap starts too high up on the diameter of the wheel shape, it will get caught in knobbies and pushed up under the fender.

There is no need to drill fenders for mud flap attachment. In fact it's safer if you don't, if the flap catches on something. Take a stiff wire or part of a coathanger,have it go over the flap horizontally about 1/2" from the very top of the flap and exend a little past the sides of the fender. make it match the curve of the fender then use pliers to crimp the ends with the side extensions folded in and crimped to the inside of the fenders. This is stronger, safer,(it can pull off if it gets caught on someting), and you can remove the flap later with no damage to the fenders (just uncrimp the ends with a screwdriver. Try searching for my forum ID and fenders, you should find a lot of photos of what I have done
If you can't find them I can post them again.

I like this idea and i saw one of the pics you posted but im having a hard time visualizing the crimping you speak of. im pretty handy and can scrounge up the parts ....coat hanger and all.....just not sure what you mean by crimping. It would seem if you bent the thing around the fender and tried to pinch it to the fender any amound of weight or anything would cause it to come right off .....if not just fall off from road vibrations.

I like this idea and i saw one of the pics you posted but im having a hard time visualizing the crimping you speak of. im pretty handy and can scrounge up the parts ....coat hanger and all.....just not sure what you mean by crimping. It would seem if you bent the thing around the fender and tried to pinch it to the fender any amound of weight or anything would cause it to come right off .....if not just fall off from road vibrations.

The trick is that the ends are squeezed hard with pliers enough to stay put and the part across the fender is a tight fit. I'll get some close up photos, they never come off you almost can't pull them off, but if they accidentally catch something strong (never happed to me or my friends) they can pull off without damaging anything. That's afer than being bolted on.

With a long mudflap it is possible to step on the flap when walking your bike down stairs. I did it a few times until I learned. They did not come off, but you could fall.
Back with photos in a while.

Some of my mud flaps are at least ten years old. One set has 9500 miles on it.

great! thanks!

PB will send you a pair of Cascadia mudflaps for about $5. Not sure if they will fit your fenders, but they work on the PB Hardcores.

This will start a slideshow on flickr. Three different bikes in mixed order. The one on the white tile floor is 13 years old. I learned later I did not have to pierce the flaps. That's the 9500 mile one.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/9469735@N03/sets/72157628059073035/show/

I use cable ties to attach my mudflap to the fender. They are cheap, easy to replace, you can hardly see them, and will last a lot longer than you think. A stair tread makes a good durable material to use. Cost $5, and you can get many templates out of one tread.

PB will send you a pair of Cascadia mudflaps for about $5. Not sure if they will fit your fenders, but they work on the PB Hardcores.

I guarantee you they are not long enough.


The polycarbonate used in PB fenders is really easy to drill.
I used a 5mm drill bit and 5mm short aluminum pop rivets to hold the stair tread in place, but only because I had all of that lying around my house already.

The amount I used was a bit overkill. I'm sure it can be held in place with just 4 in a square pattern.
I sandwiched the flap on the outside, which not only allows the rivets to squash against something harder, but it also allows the flap to flap about over deeper snow.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa131/AEObikes/Winter/DSC01327.jpg

i went to home depot this morning because i coudlnt find any old MTB tubes (could have swore i had one or 2). I couldnt find anything called stair trend but i did get a 3 or 4 foot section of baseboard rubber stuff. I was able to fashion this around the fender using the coat hanger method mentioned. IT seems to work. IM about 2 inches off the ground..and im wondering if i should have gone longer with it? I guess ill ride it and find out. I have plenty of the stuff left if i want to go longer. THe coat hanger/wire really does hold it on there quite nice. I had my doubts but it seems to hug it right on there perfect. Time will tell. Ill post a pic or 2 after my ride and report back on its status.

This will start a slideshow on flickr. Three different bikes in mixed order. The one on the white tile floor is 13 years old. I learned later I did not have to pierce the flaps. That's the 9500 mile one.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/9469735@N03/sets/72157628059073035/show/

smart

problem solved......check it out.

my OP pic i was all iced up and had a mess going.

Today i went out....and the roads and trails are 3x and bad...soupy....wet...icy and i took another 7 to 8 miles out this morning......here is what i had when i got home:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6115/6370995365_80ca5bece4.jpg

compare that to my original image and id say i won the battle

here are a couple more shots of the setup:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6056/6370998287_33544365e6.jpg
Left the barcode on the thing.....whoops :)

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6095/6370992501_4cb40a3c36.jpg

Thanks for the help and suggestions!

Those look like you should get a lot of years out of them. Those wire thingys look like they do the trick.

That looks great! Nice and neat, and straight.

No problem with 2" off the ground. But, almost touching is a little better, but not if the flap is too stiff. In deep snow, as flexible as possible is a good thing.
You can super glue a small section of inner tube to the existing flap if you want more length. One nice thing about this method is you can try all different shapes and sizes.

The bad thing about these flaps, is that your friends will now want you to make one for them.

yeah....it worked out great. So far so good. Im happy with it. I have plenty of material to spare as well. If friends want them....i can fabricate and then trade them for beers at the ride stops :)

yeah....it worked out great. So far so good. Im happy with it. I have plenty of material to spare as well. If friends want them....i can fabricate and then trade them for beers at the ride stops :)

I wish I thought of that.

I guarantee you they are not long enough.

They are long enough for my purposes, and look a lot better than DIY mudflaps. Just slide onto the fender and attach with a ziptie. Couldn't be easier.

http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j361/alan_ss/DSC_0154.jpg

http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j361/alan_ss/photou.jpg

I use an mtb inertube. It must be folded over, and superglue can hold it against itself just as well as patch cement, if you don't use two pieces, and try one layer, the tube will fold up towards it's old shape, it won't work.

Thanks for this idea. Yesterday I just made a mud flap from an old inner tube glued in two layers with superglue, as you described, but I attached it to the front fender with two cable ties.

Thanks for this idea. Yesterday I just made a mud flap from an old inner tube glued in two layers with superglue, as you described, but I attached it to the front fender with two cable ties.

:thumb:

I use plastic materials found from packaging, or sheet aluminum ( the gauge used for gutters) and attache with nylon nut and, bolt from local hardware store.

This Mud flap is about 1/8" from the ground. It touches some things. Doesn't matter. Longer is better.

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/5277/hpim3631ho6.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/9397/hpim3445gk2.jpg

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9490/hpim3849cx4.jpg

This will start a slideshow on flickr. Three different bikes in mixed order. The one on the white tile floor is 13 years old. I learned later I did not have to pierce the flaps. That's the 9500 mile one.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/9469735@N03/sets/72157628059073035/show/

VERY smart. Will be doing this ASAP.