Only 1 mount on fork for front fender!?
 

First & foremost, I want to openly admit that I'm not terribly familiar with tools, mechanical stuff, and the like... hell, back in high school I enrolled myself in woods class my sophomore year and on day 2 the principal took me out of it & moved me into computer programming ("you're smart, you belong in a more challenging, intellectual class... you're now in programming with the juniors"... since then I never went back & learned all those basic skills/terms/know-hows that I could certainly use now)

That said... I'm in the process of installing SKS Chromoplastics fenders on my 2010 Specialized Crosstrail, and I've come to a little bit of a roadblock. I got the rear fender installed & all figured out, and for the most part I understand what needs to be done for the front fender, but there are only mounting holes for a fender stay on one side of my fork... there's actually 2 mounting holes on that one side (to confuse & infuriate me I'm sure) and none on the other.

How can I mount a front fender stay to the side of the fork that has no mounting holes for it? Surely there must be some kind of clamp or something I can buy that won't look too tacky and will be safe & reliable... right?

*edit* After doing more searching with some different terms... I'm seeing something called a p-clamp... is that what I need? It looks right- I can visualize how exact & easy a solution it seems that would be... but is it really that simple (a p-clamp around the fork & the stay bolted to the clamp)??? Then again, the fork isn't round at the bottom... one side is rounded & the other is flat so do I need to look for a p-clamp, a specific kind of clamp, or something entirely different?

Pictures would help. I've never seen a fork that was intended to be used with fenders with mounts on one side. I suspect you're looking at the mount for a disk brake caliper.

Perfect... I took a picture with the intention of posting it, then completely forgot.
Here's what I'm working with, it's a standard SR Suntour NVX shock/fork.
-
[IMG]http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/7435/img8102q.jpg Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]

Thanks!

It's possible that you have a defective fork, but then again, you might be confusing a pair of disc brake mounts for fender eyes.

It's easy to tell the difference - fender eyes are usually a 5mm thread and down near the tips of the fork, often they're part of the dropout itself. OTOH disc mounts are a few inches up the blade, spaced a few inches apart.

EDIT-- yes, now that you've added the photo, those are brake mounts, and you don't have fender eyes.

It's possible to mount fenders on a fork like that with P-clips:
http://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...ttachment.html

You don't have to go through Velo-Orange to get these. Ordinary rubber-covered wiring clamps will do. It takes a little creativity with nuts and bolts and the fender struts, but it's pretty straightforward.

Yes, as a suspension fork they didn't think of full mudguards..
Disc Brake tabs are not really for fender mounts,, that is what is in the foreground.

a good mechanic could drill and tap (thread) a hole just above the axle,
to put a machine screw into..

as that wont interfere with the suspension Mech.

You wouldn't want to drill in the wrong spot..

the folks at Koga Miyata had a few modifications on the Spinner suspension fork
on My Trekking bike , for mounting Low ride Pannier racks ,
the rack then offered the lower Mud guard mount..

Check with your Bike shop ..

See those two plastic plugs on the rear side of the fork? Pop them out and they should be threaded. Take the eye of the fender stay and put a 90 in it right after the eye and you can bolt it to the back of the fork legs. had to do that with my hybrid. That was some time ago and if they weren't threaded I used self tapping screws and have run them for years. You can see them in the attached photo

SKS fenders have a plastic safety quick-release tab at the front. If you want to use those covered eyelets (see above), DONT bend the stay. You need to make a small 90 right-angle piece of steel to create a hole in the correct orientation. The safety release is a really important feature, it has saved my bacon twice.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=212035

this is what you are looking for, you can find them in the electrical conduit accessories area of any home improvement/hardware store. you will need to add a nut and bolt to attach the fender stay since these are not threaded

Just in case you forgot... you guys are awesome.

I definitely know I want to keep the fender stays straight so the plastic safety releases are allowed to function normally... I've never before seen or had a stick or anything picked up by the tire that might flip me, but as you said I want those releases there to "save my bacon" if needed.

Sounds like I'll be making a pit-stop at the hardware store this afternoon... I think I'm going to try the wiring clamps first, I just think I want/should attach the stays as low on the fork as possible (instead of using the eyelets a couple inches higher).
At least the wife shouldn't be too bothered about another bike-related purchase, since it's only $4 this time!

Visualizing my task for tonight, I guess my only concern is bending the wiring clamps to match the fork... it's flat on the inner side but I think it would be best to have the stays bolt onto the clamps on the outer side of the fork so they (and especially the safety clips) aren't bent too much.

Thanks again!

I'd Do that , safety clip outermost..

Well... I've gone to half a dozen stores around the city and none of them have P-Clamps in the size I need
(about 1-1/2" diameter). A couple even checked to see if they could have that size sent in from another store, but of course it looks like they've completely stopped carrying them.

So, I've given in to trying another solution and ordered some mounts from Velo Orange...

http://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...es-4mm-qr.html
I'm not entirely sure how everything's going to fit yet but at least a potential solution is on the way. At the least, I'll be able to angle the mount down or up to adjust where the stays are connected.

Finally, I'm a little concerned with making my nice new bike look "ghetto" with a weird hunk of metal being used to mount the fenders, but I'm thinking a little black fusion spray paint should hide it well enough.