SKS Fender Installation/Modification
 

I am about to install a set of SKS Chromoplastic fenders and would like to use a fork crown daruma for the front fender as sold by Velo Orange:

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-8422422..._2094_52274381

You bolt it through the front fender and it is help in place by the brake bolt right underneath the fork fork crown, making for a really clean look and solid and sturdy installation.

Problem is, the SKS fenders have an L-bracket already factory installed on the front.
My question is, is there anyway to remove this bracket? It looks like this (not my pic):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2378/...c80f389046.jpg

If there is no way to remove it, I was thinking of bending the L-bracket forward flat against the fender, and drilling a new hole for the daruma bolt. Or trying to hack off the vertical part of the bracket and drilling a new hole.

What do people think? Is it possible?

Those rivets holding the stock bracket on will drill out pretty easy, so yes, it is possible.

That being said, I think I would first cut the vertical part off first, and drill a hole through the remaining section so you have a better reinforcement point. Check to make sure the stack height will make it work and that the nut inside the fender wont drag on your tire.

Good luck!

I installed my SKS fenders with a daruma bolt but you have to do some fitting to make it work. A fender (like the SKS) intended to be attached with an L-bracket can't lie flat against the bottom of the fork crown, the way a daruma wants to hold it. It has to compensate for the fork rake and still follow the circumference of the front tire: if the fender is brought up against the front of the crown there will have to be a gap between the fender and the back of the crown. If you try to make the fender sit square on the bottom of the crown, the tail of the fender will stick way out past the tire where your foot will hit it (if the stays even reach that far.)

Metal fenders intended for daruma bolts are indented or "buckled" as they pass under the fork crown to provide this compensation. You fine-tune it by bending the fender further (after bolting it to the daruma) until it "gives". You can't do this to a plastic fender because it will simply crack.

So to make a daruma work with a plastic fender you have to insert some kind of wedge-shaped spacer between the fender and the back of the fork crown, drilled so the daruma bolt will pass through it. The wedge must be carefully shaped to just fill the gap with the fender in the correct alignment with the tire. (With all the fitting and filing you will find it easier to remove the L-bracket entirely, by drilling out the rivets.) Put a piece of rubber or leather between the wedge and the fender to protect the fender from pressure from the wedge as you tighten it up. You don't want any bending stress on the fender after you're finished: if the fender cracks it is likely to get drawn into the fork and lock up the front wheel. (Don't ask me how I know.:bike2:) The nice thing about SKS fenders is the breakaway attachments to the fork eyelets which prevent this type of disaster.

Thanks for great advice, both of y'all.

Sounds like quite a bit of work and fine-tuning, and I don't know if I am up for quite honestly.

I might just use either a Sheldon fender nut, or just file the L-bracket slot a little wider so I can mount the fender on the rear of the fork crown.

why not mount the fender in the front of the fork crown?

My intention was to mount it behind the fork crown to get a little big more fender coverage. Maybe its not worth it?

Mudflap?

+1000, a big long mudflap is the way to go. I installed a homemade one and it has really improved the performance of my fenders. It took me about 4 tries to get one that I was happy with and ended up making it wider than the fender the whole length. They may not be beautiful but the are the way to go IMO.

Here is one of the earlier versions I made. You can have it if you want, just send a PM.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/...c7b89b3d73.jpg

Bah, I don't think it'll be nearly as hard as has been represented here. The plastic ones have some flex to them - IMO having fitted several sets of SKS fenders, including one like you're saying (though there was room for a leather washer to give a bit more give) it doesn't require nearly the brain-surgery precision mentioned.\


A couple of my bikes also have fancy leather/cloth mudflaps and a couple of them have flaps made of cut up old waterbottles pop-riveted to the fender. Again, not really complicated.

C

Conspiratemus1's advice is dead on. It's probably more trouble than it's worth to use a daruma with SKS fenders, but that's up to you.

It was two years ago that I did the SKS+daruma thing, and yes in retrospect it was more trouble than it was worth, although it does look nice. Perhaps my head was still spinning from the whack it took when I went over the bars and the Keep-it-simple-stupid circuits hadn't rebooted yet. When it comes time to replace these fenders I'll either mount them with the L-bracket on the front side of the fork crown, or use a Sheldon bolt. Since I use a (home-made) mudflap anyway, mounting the bracket forward of the crown would give a few more centimetres of spray protection at the front.

Edit: Sorry. Should be "Sheldon *nut*"

ZOMBIE THREAD ALERT! (Nearly the same question but new year. The OP is probably long gone. )

It supposed to rain this weekend and I'm thinking of fitting some SKS fenders to my Mercian. Unlike any bike I've owned before, it has full fender eyelets and threaded fittings in the fork crown and chainstay and seatstay bridges. No brackets required.

Yeah, I know it's a zombie thread, but this way all the info will be together, and the question is basically the same.

Has anyone else fitted a set of SKS laminated fenders to a bike using a daruma or fork crown with threaded fitting? I'm debating whether or not to:

A) remove the front fender L bracket completely, and attach the fender to the fork crown underside with a screw, washers, and a leather washer as one would if using a daruma.

B) or to cut off the upright and use it to reinforce the attachment area, drill through it and attach as above. Is this overkill?

I think I'm pretty much stuck with method A for the back. I am not interested in ignoring the fittings and using the L bracket, as I don't want to readjust the brakes every time the fenders go on or off.

Are the geometry issues going to cause problems for you?

BTW- you don't want fender install advice from me- my first one came out magically awesome- but every single one afterwards has been unmitigated failure.

I'm not too worried about geometry issues, that looks like it will work out nicely. I'm just wondering if anyone has attached one of these using a simple hole and washers like one would do with a metal fender. Seems like it should be strong enough, but I'd rather not have it crack...

SKS longboard fenders with preinstalled mudflap reach nearly to the ground.

Correct.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nb...=w1268-h951-no

I used 2 rear SKS/Blumels Sovereign, {brand merger) mudguards (custom biplane fork , drilled & tapped under lower plate)

+DIY mudflaps..


I thought your 'daruma' thing filled the bottom of the fork steerer tube with a nut, to directly screw the mudguard under your fork crown..

which I accomplished with a flat lower plate drilled on the ends for the fork blades to pass thru..
upper plate, the steerer passes thru.

both penetrations and butt joints then Tig welded in place... FWIW.





'/,

OP; why not just saw off the top of the stock riveted in L bracket, so it is an open ended fork like you took a picture of.. ?

Using a heat gun, VERY CAREFULLY, once the SKS fender is attached will allow you to bend it more to your liking. I've done it and it worked great. Friends have done it also. Good luck.

That sounds like a great tip. I may use that trick if needed. Thanks. And yes, I understand the need to be very careful with heatguns. I sure don't want to bubble the paint of my shiny new Mercian.

OK, I think I know how I'm going to do this. Pics later tonight.

BTW these are the simple SKS commuter fenders, which are basically Bluemels style. I don't need longboards - I'm in LA not Portland. :) Brit bike needs Brit style fenders, but vintage plastic Bluemels are overpriced and were never that great. Esge function with Bluemels style is a no brainer for me.

And make sure there is enough clearance to allow for some fork flex without hitting the daruma. My wife's bike has pretty close clearance under the mudguard; I ended up trimming the daruma bolt and using one of the thin nuts from a presta valve stem to secure the mudguard.

.
...it's been a couple of years, but IIRCm I ended up with a stack of rubber washers cut from trashed tubular tyres (which end up thinner on the ends as yoiu move out on the washers) in order to get the proper seating angle of the fender where the daruma goes through it. I might have made my own daruma bolt out of an old Weinmann brake lever bolt, too (the one the pivot goes through). Because I can recall doing that a couple of times.

You do need a large enough steel fender washer to cover the bottom of your steerer tube, with something either leather or rubber between that washer and the steerer end, then you can add whatever you need in rubber so that you don't have to go messing around with bending the fender.