Modest Proposal

I am working on converting my conversion to a townie bike. I recently bought a pista which satisfies my fixed gear needs but I have a nishiki olympic that has eyelets for fenders front and rear. I wanted to know what the possiblity of outiftting this bike with racks, fenders, etc would be. I am not opposed to partial fenders but would rather not prematurely dash my dreams of some hammertone honjos.

ksyrius

planet bikes makes some good full fenders which are available at all performance bike stores. I have a pair that i use with my eyelets and i get zero spray from my wheels. which is one reason why having an old conversion can be a good thing. If those full fenders dont work, get the SKS Blades they are the most versatile strap on fenders you can get. They also dont take as long to install as the planet bike fenders

MIN 

Honjos will only fit with major reconstructive (read, chop in half and use brackets) surgery. Use SKS Race Blade. They are decent but obviously not as good as full coverage.

Modest Proposal

I was hoping to get some metal fenders I know most of those sks fenders are plastic

Modest Proposal

https://ecom1.planetbike.com/7028.html would these work with caliper brakes front and back?

MIN 

The construction is actually a plastic/alumimum/plastic sandwich. They are not flimsy and as durable as Honjos since they are flexible.

MIN 

Not without cutting it in half.

robot138

I managed to (just barely) fit some sks p35 full fenders onto my kona paddywagon which has eyelets. Plastic, yes, but seemingly some sort of metal/plastic laminate. So far, so good. I imagine they'd fit on a conversion much more easily and while not as nice looking as honjos you get better coverage than with raceblades.

They just barely fit under the brakes...

Ken Wind

What about wooden fenders? They will probably cost more than the Honjo fenders, but they are pretty strong, and they can be shaped or separated to fit most bikes. I have a pair from a guy on Ebay (Cody I think) that does custom jobs for $100 (at least he used to). Full Wood Fenders look quite nice too. They are more expensive though.

MIN 

The Paddywagon has almost an 1" more clearance than the Pista in the fork and rear stays.

Modest Proposal

MIN, I am confused, if my bike has eyelets wouldn't those planet bike fenders be designed for use with that type of bike? Why would I have to cut anything in half? I am doing this to my nishiki not my pista, the pista has ez on race blades.

sp00ki

i use honjos on a nishiki rally. The rear went on with no issues whatsoever (27" frame, 700c wheel). Looks gorgeous. the front took more work (700c fork). It didn't clear the tire with hardware (screws + bolts + bracket) but DID work with jbweld instead (weld + brackets). There was enough clearance to get everything working nicely. Other than that, there was no modification (out of the ordinary) necessary. I did shorten the front fender, but that was purely to avoid pedal overlap and might not be necessary for you.

one word of advice-- if you do go with honjos, mock everything up before drilling. I took that for granted and now have an extra hole where one isn't needed. It's covered by the fork, but still-- double check yr math.

PS, they're absolutely beautiful. my frame is silver paint w/ a chromed front fork. The polished aluminum fenders really make everything pop. So classy it hurts.

MIN 

Because unlike a touring bike or cross bike, the Pista has very very tight clearances between the tires and fork/stays. It was not designed to be used with fenders.

The reason why you'd have to cut it in half and use a reach around bracket is because of the fact that it will not fit in between the tire and fork/stay.

This is called a split fender installation and many people do this, however it's more flimsy and costs a little bit more.

If you are going to leave the fenders on a long-term to permanent basis, use the reach around method. If you want to have fenders only during the rainy season, then I highly suggest just getting SKS Race Blades and calling it a day.

markhr

salmon super profil

https://www.cyclesdsalmon.com/gbdemon1.html

https://www.cyclesdsalmon.com/boutique/BOUTIQUE.HTML

sp00ki

dude, pay attention. he's asking about the nishiki.

FazeOne

I have some SKS race blades and they are pretty thin. But they're quick release.

MIN 

Well OP should be more clear. (WHY IS THE TITLE CALLED 'FENDERS FOR TIGHT CLEARANCES?") I just saw the Pista part.... On that bike use whatever the hell you want.

Modest Proposal

Sorry, I tired to make that clear with an edit.

mander

You can gain brake clearance with P35's and similar foil cored plastic fenders by carefully marking where they are contacting, melting them with a soldering iron, and reshaping and scraping away material until they fit. This sounds sketchy but in practice it's very easy. The foil core preserves the fenders' integrity as they are heated and reshaped---you are only really disturbing one layer of plastic, as the metal protects the inner layer. I've done this to two sets of p35's. If you do it right (as I did) the resulting product clears your calipers with no fuss or muss, and all the melted area is completely concealed beneath the brake caliper.

I came up with this method after someone recommended cutting holes in the fender to gain caliper clearance. The melt/ reshape method is way better, as the fender remains watertight.

I have also fabbed up new ultra low clearance fork crown mounts, as the stock p35 mounts leave too little room to fit on my Noni. Again, this works great.

i love fender mods!

Modest Proposal

The nishiki seems to have tight clearances as well is my point, thats why I wanna be sure that I could still use full fenders with a front and rear brake.

MIN 

I'm going to smoke a bowl now. You stressed me out.

Modest Proposal

Sorry, bro.

mander

What is your brake reach? Mine in the pic above is 49mm.

dynaryder

Get a cailper. Squeeze your brakes and measure the gap between the arms. This will tell you how wide a fender will fit through. Most road fenders are about 35mm wide. You could also cut reliefs into the sides of the fenders where they pass through the calipers.

BTW,PB plastic fenders are pretty freakin' tough. My current and former polo bikes have PB full fenders on the back. I've had to bend the side struts back into place numerous times,but the fenders themselves have never cracked.

Modest Proposal

I think I can find something that will work, promenade bars, full fenders, brooks, and a rack. TOWNIE BIKEZ!