Bikeforumuser0011

I am looking into fitting some fenders for Lola. I have it narrowed down to a couple of different types. However, I am not sure that fenders will fit on Lola.

For some reason, I cannot get my pics to upload, so I will just give you the links, and hope they work.

Lola 1


Lola 2


Any thoughts?

I am leaning toward some beautiful wood fenders that I found on Woody's Custom Wood Bicycle Fenders, Planet Bike's Wood Fenders, or Planet Bike's Cascadia ATB Fenders.

Thanks!

ItsJustMe

It's a little tight but only about what my old hybrid had. I used both Planet Bike and SKS chromoplasts. I'm sure they'd fit. No idea on any others. The wood ones may be too thick.

If you're looking for pretty, check out Velo Orange as well.

jyl

The rack is pretty low over the tire, but there is still room for fenders. Velo Orange alloy fenders would be very pretty, would require LBS install unless you are reasonably handy with drill, saw, etc. Planet Bike Hardcore or Cascadia fenders would fit and require only a screwdriver and 8 mm/10 mm wrenches. Haven't used SKS Chromoplast.

DiegoFrogs

Are the wheels 26" or 700c? If they're 700c, you don't want to use the MTB size fenders.

I think some silver plastic ones would look great on that.

Medic Zero

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Tomorrow afternoon I'll snap a few pics of my girlfriends Novarra Safari that I got Woodys wood fenders for and mounted, in the hope that helps. They're absolutely gorgeous, I did shell out for the ones with radiused edges, I have doubts as to how effective the plain flat ones would be.

JanMM

Looks as if the rear reflectors are both aimed down?

justme23

Is there something attached to the rear tire?Is it a light? It looks like electronics with wiring wrapped around the spoke.I like your bikes name.Its much nicer than what I call mine but don't tell her that.LOL.

dynaryder

The PB fenders you linked to are 26",you need 700c. PB's hybrid size will just fit your tires. SKS makes a couple sizes(widths) that will fit,depending on how much clearance you have in your fork/frame.

Also note: PB's Hardcore and Cascadias,as well as SKS and other brands,have multiple struts that may interfere with your rack. PB's plain Freddy fenders(https://ecom1.planetbike.com/7004.html) have a cleaner strut design.

Bikeforumuser0011

I'm not sure what that is. Lola was on the kickstand, so that may be the angle, as well as the angle of the photo. I have not messed with the reflectors, since I purchased her.

Bikeforumuser0011

Thank you just me23! Those are Monkey Lights. To be exact, those are the Monkey Light 210's. There is one on each of Lola's wheels. I highly recommend them! I have only ridden once with them since they were installed last Tuesday (I've been stuck inside with a very bad cold), but I LOVE them.

Bikeforumuser0011

My wheels (as I understand it - I am still learning) are 700x38.

Bikeforumuser0011

Yeah, my Dad had a little bit of a hard time installing it! I am not sure why it is low over the tire. Do you think that it is simply because of how the way the frame of my bike is designed? It is a small sized frame, and I am 5'3 so I do not keep my seat very high.

Bikeforumuser0011

Thanks!

Bikeforumuser0011

Great! How do they hold up to weather? How do they hold up to parking/locking the bike up (specifically with an On Guard U-Lock)?

Thanks!

Murray Missile 

I just put PB Cascadia's on one of my 26" MTBs with front and rear Blackburn Mt. Racks and had no interference issues between the fender hardware and racks at either end. Then front fender was a little tight in the front fork but it is a 1980's and this particular fork is a touch on the narrow side.

JanMM

The reflectors should be straight up and down with reference to the ground. Loosen the mount with a screwdriver, adjust perpendicular to the ground, then tighten.

Medic Zero

No problems with the weather! They're well made of laminated wood, I don't expect any troubles on that front. Haven't had any problems with locking up, although I don't think any of the ways we've locked it up have had the u-lock resting on either of the fenders. That said, I don't expect you'd have any problems with that, the bike has had at least one mishap, going down crossing railroad tracks, and the fenders held up incredibly well. A few scratches, but no damage to the hardware or wood itself.

I'll upload the photos in a minute, got delayed!


BTW, the reflectors do look they are facing downward, if they aren't tight they may have slipped down a little just from vibration. They'd be most effective facing directly backward, or ever so slightly upward. Tightening up the fasteners after adjusting them should fix it.

MichaelW

Rack fitting is one of the many reasons why 700c is a bit too big for a frame your size. Ideally, the bike should have been designed around 26" MTB wheel size but marketing departments won't let that happen.

Given that this is the bike you have, I would be tempted to try a bodge: bend the cross piece of the rack to give about 5-8mm of clearance. You need to take care that the cross piece does not protrude above the level of the side rails, you need a flat top for carrying flat loads. The bend needs to be an even curve, not an inverted V shape.
Bending aluminium takes care. You may need to make a jig a bit like a pipe bender. You ma be able to use a large radius pipe bender belonging to a plumber.

In bending the cross piece, you may make the rack a bit narrower at that point. Check that your bags continue to fit but I dont see any problem for that design of 2-leg rack.

Medic Zero

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Sorry, got delayed again, by surprise company and then went straight to bed, here's the pictures!

Okay, not the best pictures! It was dark, windy, and rainy yesterday, and I never seem to be able to get enough light or a decent background for taking photos in the apartment, but hopefully this will partially illustrate the Woody's fenders.

I say "partially" as after gaining experience installing several more sets of fenders since mounting these, if I needed them closer to the tire like you do, or wanted them closer for aesthetic reasons, I'd cut down a wine cork as a spacer for where the front of the rear fender attaches, and this would allow me to bring the rest of the fender closer to the tire through the stays. I don't see any reason why these fenders couldn't be as close to the tire as any other fenders.







So, not the best example, because those aren't as close as they could be. You could run them closer to the tire gaining more room for the rack, I'm almost positive you'd have enough room for both on your bike. BTW, that is the rear rack that came with that years (2011?) Novara Safari. Although the bike didn't come equipped with disc brakes that year, previous years had, and they didn't change the spec other than going to v-brakes. It not only has disc hubbed wheels, but the frame is unchanged with all the extra metal tabbing for discbrake routing/mounting and the rear rack is clearly designed with extra clearance for disc brakes, which all contributes to this bike feeling very heavy for no benefit!


Sorry for the huge size of the pictures, I don't know what is going on there, I usually don't have that problem and didn't do anything different this time!

DunderXIII

For what its worth, I have a custom fender installation to fit under the rack. Basically, 2 fenders cut and bolted on the rack; one normal one going from the front of the wheel up to the rack; cut and trimmed nicely for a good job, and then a mountain-bike style fender going out the back.

The photo sucks as I took it with the bike on the rack :-) but it gives an idea. The difference between the 2 fenders is really made obvious in the photo because of the shot angle in the flash. In reality, its hardly noticeable.

It was the idea of a creative young fellow at the bike shop :-) I've had this setup for 7 years now

Bikeforumuser0011

Nice. Okay, stupid question: How are they (the fenders & the rack) to change a flat tire? Interference? Difficulty? I do not have quick release on my tires, I have locking skewers.

Thanks for the pics!

Medic Zero

Not stupid questions at all! Some people have problems with some bikes with fenders getting the rear wheel out. I personally haven't with my set-ups (I've got hammered Honjos on a converted mountain bike and hammered VO fenders on another converted MTB, in addition to the pictured Woody's I mounted on my girlfriends' Novara Safari, and some plastic SKS's on her converted MTB) so I haven't had to deal with that, but there is a way to incorporate a spring or something at the front of a rear fender to enable the wheel to come out if you do end up having that conflict. I think in some cases you can get around that by remounting the wheel and then inflating it, rather than inflating the tire off the bike and then installing the wheel. That may well be the case with the Woody's and this bike, I honestly can't remember, I think I've only had the rear wheel off once. My girlfriend doesn't like this bike much and hasn't ridden it much (she loves a different bike I built up for her), and hasn't had a flat on it. I think I only had the wheel off to mount the fenders and unfortunately don't recall if the tire had to be deflated to reinstall the wheel. I haven't had or heard of any problems with any fenders interfering with removal or reinstallation of front wheels.

I don't believe I've ever had any problems with a rear rack interfering with wheel removal. My Nitto Big Front Rack does require me to completely remove the skewer in order to get the wheel out, and if I remember correctly my Old Man Mountain brand, Cold Springs model rack also requires the skewer to be completely removed to remove the wheel. I believe OMM discontinued this particular model, but I think all their models are quite similar to it. No trouble at all really, just requires a few more twists of the skewer to get it completely apart and out.

Which locking skewers do you have? The Zefal "Lock and Roll", Pitlocks, or something else? I believe the Zefal's have a little bit of leeway in which direction they are facing, so they should work okay for you. I've got a set of these, and another additional Zefal locking seat post skewer, but have only mounted the seat post ones so far. I don't see how Pitlocks or anything similar to those would have any problems with interference from racks or fenders.

jyl

Looking more at the pictures, I think your rack is meant for a 26" wheel bike, which is why it sits so low over a 700C tire.

Anyway, a good bike shop will be able to fit fenders to your bike, regardless of the rack. If the rack needs to be raised, they can put P-clamps on the ends of the seat stays and bolt the rack legs to those, which will raise the rack a bit. Or they can bend the cross piece of the rack a bit, as mentioned. Worst case, they can fit a different rack, e.g. a 700C sized rack.

If your bike were in my garage, I would simply cut and drill 1" pieces of flat aluminum bar stock and use those to extend the rack legs by 1/2".

jrickards

My wife's rack was installed by the LBS very low, like the OP's but I can adjust them to be much higher off the tire in case she wants fenders. Perhaps the OP should have a look at the installation and see if there is a way to increase the height, that would allow many more fender options.

Pics of the two connections of the rack to the bike (the axle and the connection to the seatstays or seatpost) would help.

fietsbob

Looking at OP 1st pix, got the wrong rack , the struts are too short down to the frame .

being a mechanic , not a writer , I could fix it , but on this site that is not possible


its all show and tell . blind guessing, and the game of 20 questions..