flian

The installation instructions I have for these have you install the plastic "Secu-Clip" to the fork and then insert the (assembled-to-the-mudguard) stays afterward. The Secu-clips are already on the stays as delivered and aren't readily separated by hand. Is there a trick to it?

I get the impression there's really no need to separate them for installation, but if so, before I get brutal with it, how to do it without bunging up the plastic part?

Thanks!

Cyclesafe

You need the stays to relatively easily pop out of the "Secu-clip". IOW's the fit shouold be just snug enough so it stays put during rough riding. This is so if your tire picks something up that jams between your tire and the fender, the stay pops out of the "Secu-clip" rather than freeze the wheel causing you to endo.

I'd keep pushing it in and out until the fit was merely snug.

morganw

I'm curious how this works with what looks like a non-breakaway mount to the front-brake bolt?

I had a bad endo (smashed face & tooth) with an old metal/plastic sandwich (like SKS chromoplastic) fender with no breakaway. A woodchip stuck in my tire, rode up inside the fender to the forks where the fender accordioned & made a great servoing wedge brake.

With a breakaway on the stays' connection to the fork eyelet, the fender would have moved away from the tire allowing the chip to move without starting accordion-ing or slowing the bike as much, but once it reached the fork, there would still be too little space between the tire, fork blades and fork crown for the fender and chip.

I had hoped that plastic-only fenders like Planet Bikes or the seemingly unavailable SKS Bluemels would rip rather than fold under stress, but in another thread, there's a report of a PB endo.

climbhoser

I'm the one who had the PB endo (I think). Twice, in fact. I was not moving at a high velocity, which is why the toe-clip overlap was an issue at all, but the fenders did not rip, and really didn't accordion, but folded up into the fork causing the endo.

I have the SKS P45 now with the clips, and I'm not sure if the secu clips matter or not. I did buy them partly because of the secu clips. I, too, sometimes worry about the crown bolt making the secu clips otherwise useless. My issue wasn't an object causing the accordion/folding, either, but my toe.

The one hope I have for the SKS is that they are MUCH sturdier, being the metal sandwiched between plastic. The PBs are very flimsy and fold easily.

I have hit my toe on the SKS fenders with little problem.

To the OP, no need whatsoever to remove the clips when mounting. Mine do take a little bit of umph to remove, but it shouldn't damage the plastic at all. That is, give 'er a bit if you really want to take them off that bad. They'll come off with a pop.

Hope that helps.

MichaelW

As climbhoser says, mount the fenders with the secu-clips on the fender stays, just like any other fenders.
The breakaway force required is quite high, I dont think you can remove the un-mounted clip from the fender stay by hand. Once mounted you can apply breakaway force by tugging hard on the stay. They just pop back in again with a hard push.
Mine have worked , twice, to save me from endo or crash.
Older plastic fenders used to shatter when something got stuck. Metal ones used to twist a bit. Chromoplastic sandwich construction ones used to fold up and jamb solid under the fork crown. Secu-clips are pretty essential for chromoplastic.