MoonJW

From the Soma Grand Randonneur specs:

- Max. tire fit: 650 x 42mm slick tires w/fenders
- Max. fender width: 50mm

42mm tires + 50mm fenders sounds like a tight fit.

I'm building up a Grand Randonneur and am searching for the biggest tire + fender combination I can get.

Has anyone mounted and safely ridden — in a variety of conditions — say, the Grand Hetres (42mm) on rims like the Synergy (23mm width)?

guidoStow

I use the Honjo 50mm fenders on my GR with 42mm BaybyShoe Pass tires mounted on Pacenti SL23s. Works great! Classic fender line. Enough clearance to feel fine riding on dirt roads without worries about catching a stick or stone. A really nice combination.

ThermionicScott 

What in the world do you mean by "...safely"?

vwchad

I have a GR with Velocity Synergy rims, 42mm Compass Babyshoe Pass tires, and Velo Orange Snakeskin fenders. The snake skin look is similar to a hammered look. I ride on the road, gravel, and have even been known to end up on some single track when I've taken a wrong turn, and this set up has worked flawlessly for me. I have approximately 14mm of tire to fender clearance. The fenders fit well, look beautiful, and provide good coverage. No rattles of any kind.

seajaye

I'd like to preempt any discussion of the 'safety' of metal fenders/suggestions to just go plastic with these:


In all of my own fender-research through many threads, I didn't come across these PDW Safety Tabs at all until after I had bought, installed, and ridden on two different pairs of aluminum fenders. As soon as I did, I ordered a set and put them on immediately.

unterhausen

CJ, did you use those with some other brand of fenders? Do you know what size the hole in them is? My favored Bertoud fenders are apparently designed to break away at the dropouts because they have plastic retainers. Not sure if that's the way I want to go.

thebulls

I bought Velo Orange 700Cx48 fluted fenders because they were on sale and I figured they'd be in the ballpark of correct size. They have worked fine and apparently safely on: Soma GR; tires=Hetre's, Babyshoe Pass, or Pacenti Pari-Moto's; rims=Velocity Synergy or Compass Grand Bois. Same fenders have worked fine on a Gunnar Sport converted to 650B and on my Burley Duet tandem.

seajaye

I'm using these currently on Honjo fenders/stays. These tabs are for PDW's own Full Metal Fenders but they fit the Honjo stays, VO stays, etc.

Actually now looking at Berthoud hardware, the plastic R clips seems like it would have been a simpler replacement to make.... just swap out metal for plastic. In order to fit the PDW tabs, I had to trim about 1.5" off each end of the stay, which means I won't be able to go back to R clips.

RR3

I don't ride fenders too often but I had a set on a touring bike that would collect rocks at the fork crown. I was a little too greedy on tire volume. Caught rocks presented some handling and control challenges. I think this is the meaning.

ThermionicScott 

Makes sense, although I couldn't tell if the OP was asking about that clearance or some fear of the proposed tire and rim combo.

That said, I've run some pretty tight tire clearances on my bikes with no ill effect. Could be luck, but I've never had a wheel stop completely due to gravel ingestion, just get some funny sounds now and then.