Has anyone tried moving the little tab on their front fender forward, so that the fender rotates back and provides more coverage?

The reason I ask is that I do sometimes need to use the bike rack on the bus (I know: soft). The bus drivers are really thingy about the racks and refuse to let any bike on if it has a fender which goes forward of the front brake at all. I was planning on cutting the fender off at the place where it passes through the fork, but then I had this hair-brained idea.

I guess I would need to drill out the rivets which hold the bracket on, and then rivet the bracket on near the front of the fender so that the whole thing sits back further around the tyre.

Has anyone tried this, or is there some good reason why I should avoid it? I'm talking about SKS P45 fenders here.

The only reason I can come up with is that when you're riding fast in wet conditions, depending on how far back you rotate the fender, SOME water is still going to get thrown up in the air off the tire and end up in your face. Not the end of the world.

Check out Sheldon's Fender Nuts, they will be helpful for this without destroying your fenders. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/fenders.html, about 2/3rds of the way down.

I've modded SKS fenders a lot, including making a rear one into a front one. Go nuts---you will gain coverage for your feet and bus-ability. One potential issue would be the small holes letting in some water. Also, drilling out the rivets could heat up the plastic and melt it a bit so you might want to go slow or use cool water.

Have done this on a couple of bikes myself and it works well. I either go to my local LBS that carries used bike parts, or if at another, ask if they have any orphaned rear fenders from an open set that they'd sell. You definitely want good coverage ahead of the fork, otherwise at any decent speed you'll just be riding into a fan of spray coming up and forward off the wheel.

Front fender length isn't an issue for any of the transit agencies in the Puget Sound area where I live. I always place the rack arm over the fender, as close to the fork as possible.

Thanks guys. I should have known Sheldon would have come up with something!

I'd like to think that the bus drivers would allow the fender, but they actually have a specific rule printed out which prohibits mudguards/fenders which protrude forward of the fork.

As for the spray from the front, I'm not sure there's anything I can do if I want compatibility with the bus, but I seem to notice that most of that spray comes at me from further forward on the front tyre than where the fender would come to anyway. Do people really notice a reduction in the spray from the front part of the fender?

I'm thinking that I'll try to move the bracket forward and give it a try. I'm grateful for the warning about melting the plastic, so I'll be careful with that.

I was thinking that a bit of electrician's tape would solve the problem of water getting through the original holes, and if that doesn't work then I can always just put some new rivets in and put some epoxy down the tiny hole in the centre of the rivets. That would take care of it for sure! I'm thinking that I'll need to rivet up from the bottom to reduce the risk of stuff catching in there, or, if the clearance is really tight, the tyre rubbing on the rivets.

Stupid question, what's the reason for the rule?

Am I alone in thinking that this rule was conceived by someone who has never commuted by bicycle?

What could possibly be the reason?

I'm guessing the thinking is the front hook can slide off a fender easier than a tire. Someone might have not put the hook on far enough back and they lost a bike, operator might have attributed the loss to the fender being present.

how much you want to bet a little ninny wannabe put their new bike on the rack and got a dent in the fender, then asked for a replacement from the transit district? New rule needed pronto!

Never thought of that angle, hehehe. Some people....

Yes it's a stoopid rule. I think ignorance has most to do with it though, since they also have a nice disclaimer that says they are not responsible for any loss or damage. So I don't think they care too much about the bike, or the ninny wannabe with a dent. Either way, this is bureaucracy we are talking about, so silly rules abound!

Yes, absolutely dumb, never heard of anything like that. On some bus racks I've been able to fit the wheel clamp arm under the front fender so it's on the tire, but I notice the newer racks have a wider clamp that won't allow this.

Wasn't there someone here on BF who didn't want to damage their fender, so didn't place the bus rack hook properly, so their Surly fell off and was run over by the bus?

Wacky notion, but could you Dremel off the part of fender forward of the fork, and find some way to make it re-attachable and removable as needed? Maybe Velcro would allow you to pull it on and off; maybe you could rivet on magnet brackets to each piece of the fender?

I dunno...just brainstorming solutions.

On one of my commuters, the portion of the front fender forward of the fork broke off some months back and I haven't yet replaced that portion, I get great coverage with the use of a mudflap at the bottom of the fender. I haven't felt the need to replace the forward-fork portion of the fender.

I considered the removable approach, but I think it's a bit tricky for me at the moment, so I'll probably give it a miss for now. I'm glad to hear that neverman gets by without the forward portion though. I think I'll give it a try with moving the bracket to rotate the thing backwards. If I don't like it, I can move it back later; I'll just have a couple of small holes near the front, which I can live with.

BTW, how did you break off that front portion neverman? I hope it was nothing painful!

Nothing painful, thanks. Just a weak piece of metal that broke after riding over an uneven brick road too many times. I basically had to cut it off at the fork. These are stainless steel fenders, though, not the plastic ones.

Anyway, good luck with the re-mount.

-K.