SKS Front Fender Breakaway FTW!
 

There's a narrow 90-degree turn on my commute route that requires extra attention when cars are present as they
usually misjudge the sudden severity of the turn and overshoot the lanes. On this afternoon's commute home I was keeping track in my mirror of a car coming up from behind me as I navigated the turn just as a car was coming towards us from the left. I took the lane to keep the car behind me, but that put me closer to the center line, and as I stated, I see cars drift over it often at this turn.

Everybody squeezed past each other without incident, but I took my eyes off the road.

All at once the bike shuddered, the handlebars tugged from side to side and there was a loud wooden crack.

I looked down and the front fender was hanging a little loose an wagging. Then I saw the support rods had popped out of the breakaway mounts.

I stopped and looked up the street. Sometime during the day all the 8-10 large, mature elm trees that line the block had been aggressively trimmed, and all the branches and twigs had been neatly piled by the curb, except for the ones that littered the street and had been kicked down the road by passing cars.

Obviously I had run over a stick or thin branch which got caught up in the front spokes or very full-length fender.

Any way, I pushed the two supports back in to the mount and was on my way.

This was a much better outcome than what happened last year when I ran over a stick which got caught in the rear wheel spokes, bending the fender struts which bent the rear fender down, snapping it and causing the sharp aluminum inner strip to cut through my rear tire and inner tube. That led to buying a new rear fender, supports, tire, innertube and a couple of spokes.

Yay, SKS Longboard fenders and their break-away fender mounts!

Yup, I'm planning to get those breakaway mounts for my old SKS Bluemels. I took 'em off over a year ago and want to put the fenders back on. But I've snagged a few twigs into the wheels in similar conditions -- brush piles that were unavoidable due to passing traffic squeezing me into a least-bad choice and split second decision.

They are very handy, yes. I did some offroading on my touring bike with full fenders and somehow caught a old branch.

I did have to replace the front fender stays to get the fender to fit snugly and nicely again, but it beats going over the bars on rocky terrain and replacing the fenders.

Yeah, the breakaways work well; I will sometimes pop them when riding across open fields to bridge trails. It's a nice feature.

The breakaways make it easy to mount my bike on my "kneeling" Thule roof rack. Otherwise the fenders would prevent the fork dropouts from reaching the rack. Handy bonus feature!
Steve

I've never thought about this--do you secure the fender with ties of some sort after you get the bike up there, to keep it from flying around?

No need... the bottom of the fender stays nicely in the channel of the rack. :D
Steve

And you can add the SKS safety tabs to the rear as well. They're like $5 a pair.

Great...now you tell me. :lol:
(August 2017)

Well how do you think I found out? :lol: Hopefully someone will read this before they figure it out the hard way.

I picked up a stick in the rear wheel on my Rivendell, it grabbed the bottom fender stay, and the fender accordion-folded up under the brake bridge. I skidded safely to a stop, but that SKS fender is trashed.

Now it wears Velo Orange aluminum fenders, and I added PDW FMF safety tabs on all four stays.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4793/...9483a323_k.jpg

Glad that ended well, without trip interruption or injury. wonder if they make a similar product that would attach at the fender instead of at the fork or frame. my plastic fender (SKS FENDERS SKS F&R COMMUTER II B53) did not release & I wonder of I would be better off with a different setup. or since I survived, leave as-is

https://i.imgur.com/YTkifU9l.jpg

this is how they are attached at the rear

https://i.imgur.com/mxwk7cbl.jpg

or did I goof completely by not using the black caps that came with them?

https://i.imgur.com/vd3mnVAl.jpg

looks like the fronts have a plastic connector at the fork but not the rears

https://i.imgur.com/kcySJX0l.jpg

The SKS that Koga ordered in volume at the time my WTR was built , in 2004, got those bolts replaced with a slip friction fit

molded plastic piece, so the strut can come out,, and not lose the bolt & nut..

maybe you can fake that with plastic zip ties..

Nope, you mounted them correctly.

What I'm saying is that you can buy a pair of these:
https://www.modernbike.com/sks-front...ount-sold-each
And add them to the rear stays. The loop clips in to these plastic tabs. This shortens the stays a little, so you'll have to re-adjust and trim again.

SKS used the part I linked for the front stays up til a couple years ago. I don't know why they don't include a breakaway tab for the rear fender, regardless of design.

And I'm saying that these
https://ridepdw.com/products/full-me...rs-safety-tabs
work with the round aluminum stays on Velo Orange and PDW FMF fenders. They most likely fit Berthoud and Honjo stays as well.

oh really? cool! thanks!

looks like my fronts already have a plastic part that attaches to the fork, so they they might be "breakaway" already?

Yes, it looks like there's a breakaway tab installed on the front fender in the picture. I don't know why SKS doesn't include them for the rear as well, but you can add them.

The PDW FMF fender tabs are for other brands of fenders, just letting folks know.