cjenrick

not much of a fender, just a mini fender


when it rains the leaves and other debris gets picked up by the wheels and deposited into areas of the bicycle that really do not need it,

today we try fix this problem on the cheap,

location of problem area? front forks, brake caliper, and headset.

there is a hole in the bottom of the fork which gets packed with wet landscaping material,

the brake calipers that we just rebuilt look like the inside of a leaf blower,

and the headset gets a steady spray of water which tries to wash out the grease.

so we get some scrap aluminum and go to work>

cjenrick

now we form the fender into somewhat of a semicircle to fit the wheel,

a piece of angle iron, a broom handle, and a hammer do the trick>

cjenrick

next we trim the mini fender down to size and figure out a mounting bracket for the brake bolt.

since this is a shorty, we need not add a second radius to match the wheel circle.

this aluminum bracket shown was later replaced by a piece of galvanized steel, as the aluminum bracket was too weak, we do not want the fender to rub so it has to be held firm.

stainless #4 screws were used, flat head, not pan head, so they stay flush on the inside of the fender.

we don't want any screw heads wearing a groove in the tire.

cjenrick

fender is mounted,

no wind dams here.

sticks? they will never make it around the wheel to wedge inside this puppy.

weight? light as a feather.

toe strikes? yeah, right.

bent stays? not a problem.

aesthetics? looks pretty cool, kind of like a flat track BSA fender,

cost? nothing but a hole on my palm when the screwdriver slipped when tightening the bracket.

we are happy. no more cleaning gunk out of the forks and caliper every night, .

we will do the back tomorrow night.

wait a minute, what about protecting your feet and bottom bracket from spray?

we have clothing (DIY also) for that and the BB shell liner is packed with blue grease.

thanks for watching, hope you had fun!

Pop N Wood

Oh man, that does look nice.

I was going to say SK sells fender kits for something like $30. I have them on 3 different bikes. At that price it didn't make sense to try and roll your own, but the way yours turned out is very nice. Good post.

rsbob 

Perhaps a mini-micro-teacup-fenderette? Nice work

JW in AK

I bet your wah pedal isn't.

JohnDThompson 

Reminds me of the ESGE "Shorty" fenders. They keep your brakes and headset cleaner than without, but not much beyond that.

pcons713

looks cool

wphamilton

Nice minimalist fender, you've got to appreciate how it's so discrete and still blocks some of the spray.

You may not like this suggestion, but if you'll ride at night during a rain with your headlight on, you can literally see where on the tire most of the spray is coming from. A lighted fountain up in front. You'll likely need to extend it forward if you want to block most of it.