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26 inch fender options?

Old 09-29-17, 02:15 PM
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26 inch fender options?

I built up a touring bike out of an early mountain bike. I have new 26 inch wheels and paselas on them currently. They are quite skinny 26x1.25.

I am now wanting fenders for obvious reasons.

I have used planet bike fenders on mountain bikes in the past and they come in a standard 60mm width which is HUGE / WIDE.

What other options for a bit skinnier width is out there for 26 inch wheels? I imagine i will get wider tires at some point but most likely like never so wide as to need a fender for 2.25 coverage from a standard knobby mtb tire.

Last edited by scale; 09-29-17 at 03:49 PM.
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Old 09-29-17, 02:31 PM
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Just get it about a CM or 2 wider than your tire. Bontrager has an adjustable strut, useful if you Go on a Tour where you Pack your bike in a carton.


sitting right on the tire reduces the packed size and potential they will break in transit. then they're easy to put back for riding clearance.





....

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Old 09-29-17, 02:41 PM
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I just installed a pair of SKS P55 fenders on my daughter's LHT (26"wheels).

They do look large with her 1.25 (32 mm) tires, but I was changing her tires to 1.5" (38 mm). They look OK.

I would rather of used 45 mm wide fenders, but the 55 mm fenders, were the norrowest fenders I could find.

Last edited by Doug64; 09-29-17 at 02:45 PM.
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Old 09-29-17, 02:51 PM
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Why not get some metal fenders at Velo Orange?
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Old 09-29-17, 02:54 PM
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I have the Planet Bike Cascadia on mine. They come in narrow and wide. The narrow are 50mm and claim a max tire width of 1.5".

Last edited by twodownzero; 09-29-17 at 03:06 PM.
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Old 09-29-17, 03:20 PM
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Originally Posted by twodownzero
I have the Planet Bike Cascadia on mine. They come in narrow and wide. The narrow are 50mm and claim a max tire width of 1.5".
Bada bing, bada boom.... This!
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Old 09-29-17, 03:41 PM
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Originally Posted by scale
I built up a touring bike out of an early mountain bike. I have new 26 inch wheels and paselas on them currently. They are quite skinny 26x1.25.

I am now wanting fenders for obvious reasons.

I have used planet bike fenders on mountain bikes in the past and they come in a standard 60mm width wish is HUGE / WIDE.

What other options for a bit skinnier width is out there for 26 inch wheels? I imagine i will get wider tires at some point but most likely like never so wide as to need a fender for 2.25 coverage from a standard knobby mtb tire.
Your problem is not a lack of choice of skinny fenders for 26" tires, rather your tires are too skinny (especially for loaded touring). Go up to at least 26x1.5 (26x1.75 even better), then get some Velo Orange 60mm Al fenders. Plastic fenders are OK but metal ones look and work better. I am unaware of any reasonably priced fender which will fit a 26x1.25 tire without a huge, unattractive gap. If you can wait until ~Xmas VO has an annual sale with something like 20% off.

Last edited by seeker333; 09-30-17 at 11:35 AM.
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Old 09-29-17, 03:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Leisesturm
Bada bing, bada boom.... This!
If you ever might want to use a 50m wide tire, you might want the wider fender. I use the Planet Bike fenders and they work fine with 50mm tires. When I switch to 1.5 (40mm) tires, the extra coverage does not bother me at all.

I have the wider fender with 26X1.5 Schwalbe Marathon (40mm) tires in the attached photo.
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Old 09-29-17, 05:32 PM
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I am going to be looking at wider tires in the future for sure. Perhaps ill just stick with the 60mm. I am thinking Marathons in the future and i have been keeping my eye out. The Paselas are new so i have to use them up first / in the meantime. I am undecided on what width i will end up getting but the picture just above looks like a winner to me.
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Old 09-29-17, 06:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Aubergine
Why not get some metal fenders at Velo Orange?
I prefer fenders that have the safety disconnect mounting on the front fork's dropout. As far as I know that safety feature is not found on metal fenders.

IME plastic and composite fenders handle the stresses of shipping a bike better than metal fenders.

Last edited by Doug64; 09-30-17 at 08:58 PM.
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Old 09-29-17, 06:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Doug64
I prefer fenders that have the safety disconnect mounting on the front fork's dropout. As far as I know that safety feature is not found on metal fenders.

IME plastic and composite fenders handle the stresses of shipping a bike better than metal fenders.
Fair enough. I use plastic fenders for our travel bikes as well.
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Old 09-29-17, 06:08 PM
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The planet bike fenders I use are aluminum and have a quick release on the front.
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Old 09-29-17, 07:31 PM
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Originally Posted by twodownzero
The planet bike fenders I use are aluminum and have a quick release on the front.
Thanks, I was wrong, and it is good to know.

I wish I knew that before buying new fenders for my daughter's bike.
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Old 09-29-17, 08:26 PM
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Originally Posted by scale
I am going to be looking at wider tires in the future for sure. Perhaps ill just stick with the 60mm. I am thinking Marathons in the future and i have been keeping my eye out. The Paselas are new so i have to use them up first / in the meantime. I am undecided on what width i will end up getting but the picture just above looks like a winner to me.
On that bike (in the photo in post number 8 above) I use 40mm wide Marathons (with Greenguard) on trips where I expect it to be mostly or completely paved. On trips where I expect more gravel like the rails to trails routes, I run 50mm wide Marathon Duremes on front and 50mm wide Marathon Extremes on the rear, the Duremes and Extremes are now discontinued.

The first photo below is the same bike, but with the 50mm wide Extreme on back, the bike is a bit dirty due to several days of rain on the GAP and C&O. (If the bike looks different than it did in the photo in post number 8 above, the largest chainring was different when this photo was taken.)

The second photo below is with the 40mm Marathons, you can see a small gap between the fenders and the tires because I leave the fenders adjusted for the 50mm tires all the time. That small gap does not look bad at all in my opinion.
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Old 09-30-17, 08:51 AM
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Ive used sks 55's on my 26 in. bike with 2in. tires on it, but purposely left a lot of room for mud clearance, and if I ever put slightly wider tires on or similar width but a more knobbie type tire.
I have 1.5in tires on the bike right now, and the space does look a bit goofy, but I dont really care.

the issue with the sks stuff, while its really well made, is that the attachment system for the struts to the fenders is made in a way that you have to physically cut the struts to the length you want. Other fender systems have the strut ends coming "through" , or actaully passing through the anchor points, and then you just tighten the bolt to where you need the fender clearance. The sks anchors have closed off tops, hence the need to cut them.

I guess the idea is that its a cleaner looking end result, and perhaps more robust, but Ive used PB type systems before and they dont come loose or anything, so I dont see a downside to them (and of course, I guess extra long bits sticking up that could snag on stuff--but you could easily cut them a bit.)

as much as I like the build quality etc of the sks ones, and the really nice finish of the silver ones I have, "regular" anchor point systems will be easier to adjust if you really want to change tire sizes while keeping a closer tire to fender distance.

My bike was set up as a tough, go anywhere type bike, so it didnt bother me with teh big gaps between tires and fenders.
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Old 09-30-17, 11:27 AM
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PDW safety tabs are compatible with VO fender stays:

https://ridepdw.com/collections/fend...t=24829153601#

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...ob/d9Ftwqg8kZQ
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Old 09-30-17, 09:28 PM
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I have done two lengthy tours and commuted for years on 700 x 35 tires with the appropriate Bontrager fenders. They worked well in rain but when locking the bike to a rack the single soft steel wire or rod brace on each side of the front fender easily gets deformed such that the fender rubs against the tire. Also they clog easily with mud, necessitating removing the wheels to scrape the mud (or dried mud later) off of the fenders.

voyageur.jpg

This here is my latest project, a commuter now but likely to be the bike on my next tour; a '95 RockHopper with some 26" custom-built wheels I had.

bike 1.jpg

...and see...

Attachment 582860

My preferred tires are 26x2.0 Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tours; about as bulletproof as a tire can be with a good road/offroad tread. Over them I have squeezed in SKS P65 fenders, the widest I could find that would fit, set as high as possible so as not to bind with mud. I have found they block the rain well, and though I have ridden through the brief stretches of dirt/mud on my 10 mile morning commute, they have yet to bind with mud.

Also, and this is important, they have two supports on each side to the Bontrager design's one, and the steel support rods on the SKS seem to be made of sterner stuff than the Bontragers. Sure is nice not having to bend the fenders back into place a couple of times a week. In fact it hasn't happened at all yet.

Mike

Mike

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Old 10-01-17, 04:40 PM
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I worried about the width issue also with the planet bike fenders on my 26". My Schwalbe tires are 1.6". They look fine and the extra coverage does not hurt a thing. I agonized about different types of fenders, the PBs are already put together and pretty easy to install. As others have said, if you decide to run a wider tire...

I went ahead and cut all my struts down, since I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be going with a bigger tire. PB does sell spare parts for the fender, they got ya covered if you cut them and later decide to upsize tires.
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Old 10-03-17, 08:13 AM
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Originally Posted by jonc123
I worried about the width issue also with the planet bike fenders on my 26". My Schwalbe tires are 1.6". They look fine and the extra coverage does not hurt a thing. I agonized about different types of fenders, the PBs are already put together and pretty easy to install. As others have said, if you decide to run a wider tire...

I went ahead and cut all my struts down, since I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be going with a bigger tire. PB does sell spare parts for the fender, they got ya covered if you cut them and later decide to upsize tires.
Mine are 1.6" as well, and I couldn't get the fenders low enough to be "tight" to the tire anyway because the tabs that bolt them on didn't have a long enough slot to get them that low. The 50mm fenders are only recommended for a 1.5" tire. I have a ton of clearance between tire and fender because I went with the 60mm fenders. Maybe I could have made the 50s work, but I thought the same thing about possibly using a bigger tire later.
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Old 10-03-17, 03:02 PM
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I've got these on my 26" LHT (60mm):

https://www.planetbike.com/store/pro...26-x-60mm.html

My 1.6" tire is about 41mm, add in about 5mm on each side for clearance you've got 51mm. That's about 4.5mm of extra space on each side. Look at that on a ruler, it's pretty small. I don't ever notice that the fender is too big. In fact, I have been asked what brand are they and where did I get them.
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Old 10-04-17, 06:11 AM
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Originally Posted by twodownzero
Mine are 1.6" as well, and I couldn't get the fenders low enough to be "tight" to the tire anyway because the tabs that bolt them on didn't have a long enough slot to get them that low. The 50mm fenders are only recommended for a 1.5" tire. I have a ton of clearance between tire and fender because I went with the 60mm fenders. Maybe I could have made the 50s work, but I thought the same thing about possibly using a bigger tire later.
How did you get your fender low enough if the slot didnt allow for it to lower far enough? Did you make and adapter to make it longer? That is what i was thinking.
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Old 10-04-17, 06:13 AM
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Originally Posted by jonc123
I've got these on my 26" LHT (60mm):

https://www.planetbike.com/store/pro...26-x-60mm.html

My 1.6" tire is about 41mm, add in about 5mm on each side for clearance you've got 51mm. That's about 4.5mm of extra space on each side. Look at that on a ruler, it's pretty small. I don't ever notice that the fender is too big. In fact, I have been asked what brand are they and where did I get them.
I will probably end up going with these. I have the earlier version of these on my mountain bike and they work well. I guess i wont worry about the size....especially since i might go wider tires in the future.
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Old 10-04-17, 07:58 AM
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Originally Posted by scale
How did you get your fender low enough if the slot didnt allow for it to lower far enough? Did you make and adapter to make it longer? That is what i was thinking.
I adjusted it as close as the slot would allow and left it. Fenders are never going to look like they are tailor made for your bike and tire combination unless they actually are. Close is close enough.
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Old 10-04-17, 09:10 AM
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Originally Posted by scale
How did you get your fender low enough if the slot didnt allow for it to lower far enough? Did you make and adapter to make it longer? That is what i was thinking.
I used a two inch roughly long piece of metal with two holes in it, got it from a bike store, to lower it down. On my frame, this was really needed as the fork can take up to 2.5in tires or more, so tons of room.

worked well and does the job.
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Old 10-04-17, 10:47 AM
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Last time I used a $1 pipe hanger from plumbing aisle of the local hardware store. Here's a fancier, less DIY solution - Problem Solvers Fender Flute:

https://www.jensonusa.com/Problem-Solvers-Fender-Flute

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