Roll-Monroe-Co

...that you were gonna install your new VO fenders?

Aw, gee, no! There were so many things that I wanted to do more! Like remove all my skin with an orbital sander using #60 grit and then have a nice long soak in a bathtub full of rubbing alcohol. Or heat up knitting needles at the stove and force them through my hands. Or paint myself hot pink and go to a teabag rally and yell "Glenn Beck is a socialist!" Or pick out a color combination with my wife for the new exterior paint scheme on our house.

Frankly, I'm a little apprehensive about installing the fenders. From what I've heard, it sounds like real torture.

Ex Pres 

Teabag rally? I don't ever want to be teabagged

Roll-Monroe-Co

Tea party. Whatever they're calling it these days.

mkeller234

Obama's gonna take my bicycles!

Steve530

I installed a set of SKS fenders last weekend. It wasn't too bad, but it did take 3 times longer than I thought it would. And that was on my old Klein Performance bike that has lots of clearance and eyelets.

If the VO instructions are like the SKS instructions, you need to realize that they are for illustrative purposes only - you can't really install fenders that way. Since the fenders are supposed to fit lots of different bikes, you can be sure that you'll need to improvise to get them on the bike, and you'll probably need hardware that you don't have.

I had a problem keeping the fenders straight. Every time I tightened the stay bolts the fender would twist because the left side rotated up and the right side rotated down. So I adjusted and adjusted and adjusted. I finally gave up trying to get the fenders to match the radius of the tire after messing with it for a while. But, the good news is that they work pretty well.

Anyway, this post is worth reading.

bbattle

https://www.techne.net/bikes/fender-how-to.php

norskagent

Last night I started to install some honjo fenders I just bought, immediately running into problems. It seemed the center underside of the front brake caliper caused the front of the fender to dip down. Then, the fender stay screws provided didn't want to screw into the the fork eyelets. At that point, I heard a voice in my head say "put down the tools and step slowly away from the bike". I'm taking everything to the lbs and letting them either install the fenders, or determine they won't fit, before I damage something!

Roll-Monroe-Co

I got so frustrated that I had to quit, twice, essentially working in three 90-minute sessions over a week.

It was just a total Murphy's law kind of experience. Put in this side, that side slips out. Install the wheel, then you need to adjust one of the stay holders, and the tiny nut and or washer falls off and rolls away.

Then drill a hole in the fender. Ready, aim, aim again, aim again, FIRE!

DOH! 1/2-inch off center! How did that happen?!

Fiddle with the attachment point on the chain stay bridge. Squeeze the fender down to fit. Try the wheel.

DOH! Now it won't fit if there's any air in the tire.

Trim fender. Screw that up. Trim more. Now you've trimmed and flexed a lot. A lot. Realize that you could have just taken a piece of aluminum stock to extend and attach the fender, since you're going to use leather mudflaps anyway. Oh well.

Drill hole.

Off center! DOH!

Attach fender at chainstay bridge. Now try to attach at brake bridge for test fit. DOH! You forgot to slide the fender through the brake pads first.

On and on and on and on....

RobbieTunes

I think Machin Shin meditates his way through the process....

USAZorro

The only trouble I had was crimping the piece that holds the rear fender at the brake bridge. Still have to go back and perfect that. (and I'm all thumbs when it comes to drilling and such)

fender1

I have found that using a spring loaded center punch helps create a spot for the drill bit to bite into instead of skittering off the edge of the fender. As for the other stuff, not too bad. I mount the stays and attach to the bike, mark where I should drill with a sharpie and that is pretty much it.

Roll-Monroe-Co

Oh, don't get me started about THAT damn thing.

Since it's impossible to get those things tight enough, I had this great idea to make a leather shim that wraps around the fender (then the bendy piece of metal goes around that. Worked kind of nicely, kept the bracket from scratching the fender, etc. Except that the leather I had was too thin, so I had to make it double layered. And I didn't do anything to make them stick together, so I'm sliding this thing along the fender, and these layers of leather keep creeping out in all directions ...

Hmm. Maybe this is not the fault of the equipment ... but of the equipment OPERATOR!

Roll-Monroe-Co

Plainly attitude makes a difference.

I'll investigate this technology of which you speak. "Punch," eh?

Actually, I wasn't all that upset when I was doing it, but after about an hour and a half of one thing after another, I would say, OK, I don't want to fold this relatively expensive piece of aluminum into a granny knot out of frustration, so I'll just come back to this later.

Actually, they're still not totally done. I have one more hole to drill. Then fill the tires and see if everything still works. Then disassemble, clean up, and reassemble with leather washers, mudflaps, etc.

I'll report in again next year and let y'all know how it's going.

Eric/OUT.