southpawboston

Installed my first set of Bluemels this week, on my recently acquired Mercian. These are the narrow Club Specials, which work well for tires up to 30mm wide. Man, that shoddy quality control so quintessential to British cars applies equally well here! These were most definitely made after one too many pints, as the mudflap was riveted to the fender at a sharply crooked angle, requiring me to trim off a significant chunk of it to make it symmetrical. Otherwise, I like them! They're super light, lighter than modern SKS chromoplastics, and possibly as light as aluminum Honjos. And coverage is pretty good, especially in front. Anyway, I wanted white Bluemels to match the Mercian's accents, but after a few weeks of no luck sourcing them, I went with black. What do you think? Keep the black or hold out for white?



And while we're at it, show off your Bluemels in all their flavors!

fender1

I think black on that bike make it a bit more serious, buisness-like. White would look to fancy or foppish for me.

auchencrow

+1 Black was certainly the best choice for your Mercian, Southpaw.

('scuse me while I mop the drool off the floor here).

oldmuthariley

here's my Bob Jakson with Black Club Specials (now with hammered painted honjos - see other thread!)

southpawboston

Oh, that bike has a seriously sinister look to it. I like it equally well in this as well as its current form. And damn, I wish my mudflap hadn't been so crooked that I had to trim it. Did those stay caps come with your Bluemels or did you add them? Or are you using modern SKS stays and hardware?

oldmuthariley

Hi southpaw,
thanks for the compliments - love the Mercian!
well spotted - i used SKS chromoplastics stays as they were easier (and lighter!) to put on.
I still have the Bluemels - now with a Black Brooks leather mudflap as the plastic one fell to bits after a fair bit of wet/gritty riding.
Cheers!

jptwins

Since i don't think Anton wants this to be his business-like bike, i say keep on the search for white! This bike is definitely fancy, no doubts.

Roger M

That is a real nice looking bike, southpaw. Your taste is in bikes and parts is always good. The black fenders look good on there. However, if I had that caliber of bike, I would probably hold out for some vintage aluminum fenders(Airweights, or some other funky foreign model that is hard to come by). Regardless, that bike looks pretty damn nice as is.

Here's my white Popular mudguards. They are too big for these skinny 23s, but they were nice looking plastic fenders. I rode this bike all of last winter, and the fenders couldnt take the beating, due to being old and brittle. They cracked, and the flap tore in a couple of places.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

^^ Tasteful use of White on that bike. Very nice.

cudak888 

-Kurt

Roger M

Thanks Zaphod. I did have some SKS black fenders on it after the white ones got trashed. The black on that Peugeot did not look nearly as nice as the white.

It looks a bit different now.

non-fixie 

-holiday76

Sixty Fiver

White...

sailorbenjamin

I gotta white Bluemel for ya, mate;

southpawboston

+1. Very nice.

I've always admired that Lotus of yours. That's pretty much exactly the color contrast theme I had in mind for the Mercian.

Yes! That was my thought as well. As far as I know, there were two models of Bluemels aluminum fenders, the Airweights, which are too wide, and the Tour de France, which would be the aluminum equivalent of the Club Specials. Alas, the TdFs proved to be unobtanium, as were the white Club Specials.

Noah Scape

First pic is of a set of steel Bluemels. I forget what version is on the Voyageur, but I think they're lighter than the Club Specials. The final pic is of my old Motobecane. I put a lot of miles on those fenders and they are still in use. I gave them to a women in the neighborhood and she sports them on her Puch! Mudflap is long gone, though.

sykerocker 

This set of Blumel Popular's have been around a bit. Originally bought for my Raleigh Gran Sport (when it was my only bike), transferred over to the Magneet frame when it became my main tourer, then swapped to the No Dead Kittens Centurion fixie . . . . . . and I believe they've found the permanent home here. Unless I can find a nice set of white ones, of course.

clubman 

White Populars on the fixed 57 Sports.



Other white Pops on the fixed SuperCourse (bars were temporary insanity)



Silver ESGE's (part Bluemels) on another fixed SR Triathalon



Black Lightweights on the old Herc roadster...it came that way.



Three out of 4 fixed wheels doesn't rep the whole stable but I do love riding them . They are usually rebuilt back to spec sooner or later.

-holiday76

thanks Anton! Funny you say that because always taken functional liberties over aesthetics with that bike as it (used to) get ridden a lot. heck the bar tape doesn't even match the saddle ! this is also ironic because the Lotus is sitting now unused and redundant since the Portage I posted above has come around.

Velognome 

For all ya haters, Bluemels Shorties


Bwahahahaha!

southpawboston

I can fix that by taking it off your hands .

mapleleafs-13 

do these fenders actually do anything, i had a pair on a flip bike last summer, they looked cool but didn't look like they'd stop anything

Velognome 

They just look cool or stupid depending on your orientation. They don't seem to do anything but add a little bling.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

they make a lovely rattling noise as you ride. Scares off Squirrels (and moose)