I've been having some trouble with this. The disc brakes were problematic, and bending the front stays was easy. The rear fender stays were more difficult, since the brake, and the disc, and the stay mounted kickstand are ALL interfering. However, I did figure out that geometry, only to run into a thornier problem.

I'm running an Axiom Journey Disc rear rack...very nice by the way...but as you'll see from the image the adjustable hardware that holds the posts that attach to the seatstays drops down fairly low.



VERY close to the tire, which has caused the problem. That being that the fender rattles something fierce against that. And I can't stand rattles and noises in my bike...I keep it running very quiet.

This is my seatstay bridge.



The stay presents the other half of the problem. It's considerably further from the tire than the rack is, so therein lies the assymetry and the rattle. It's hard to tell from the image, but the hole going through it FACES the tire, and does not face perpendicular to the seat stay like every other bridge I've ever seen.

Why would this be, incidentally? Does this facing have a purpose I have yet to divine? Currently with the provided hardware the bridge mounted fender clamp can only be zip tied to the bridge.

What I'm considering doing is drilling a hole through the fender, and then mounting it directly to that tire facing hole on the seat stay bridge with about a cm worth of spacers, and I believe that will take care of it.

Another option is similar, but if I can't take care of that clearance issue, simply hacksaw the fender before it conflicts with the rack. The rack will then have to serve as the back half of my fender, and I'll lose out on the last few inches aft of the rack.

So, my issues are:

I'm having issues with rack clearance.

Why is the seat stay bridge made this way?

What about my fender mounting plan?

Do I need the back half of the rear fender anyway if I have a rear rack?

Thoughts are appreciated.