On 2/10/2021 2:47 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 10:05:10 AM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:
On 2/10/2021 10:52 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 2/10/2021 9:52 AM, jbeattie wrote:
On Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 5:02:31 PM UTC-8, Frank
Krygowski wrote:

FWIW, I have a bunch of EPDM rubber sheet left over from
a home
remodeling project. I now cut my flaps out of that,
instead of plastic
jugs. It's ever so much classier. ;-)

I've used all sorts of things for flaps, but check this out:
tinyurl.com/4hvuba6h

I've got Planet Bike fenders on several bikes. On most,
their flaps have been good enough for me. But the three
bikes most likely ridden in the rain now have longer front
flaps, of EPDM.

I had to cut the rear Planet Bike fender flap off our
tandem. That's because I store it vertically in our
basement, hanging from its front wheel. I sort of roll the
front wheel up the wall to get it hooked in place; but the
rear fender flap would drag or snag on the floor,
complicating that move.

But even if our club rides did go in the wet, it wouldn't
matter much of the time. It's a tandem, so on downhills
everyone is far behind us. On uphills, everyone is far in
front of us. :-/

Our "local" fender makers are Portland Design Works:
https://ridepdw.com/collections/fenders They have some
nice fenders, too, and add-on mudflaps (leather and
rubber) and a mind-bending selection of mounting
hardware. The PB are cheaper, but the good thing about
the PDW plastic fenders is that you start with a more
generous flap, and you don't have fender stay-ends poking
out and getting hung up on stuff.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/14...g?v=1553723764


I like the idea of the stays wrapping the outside of the
fender, and I like the look of their dropout hardware. I
assume it's intended both to adjust stay length and to
release if snagged?

We have PB's competing design on our Fridays - a plastic
friction collet that grabs the plain end of the fender stay,
and is held to the plastic fender by a tiny pointed screw.
It was touted as both an adjustment and a safety measure,
but it has several problems: The tiny screw has come loose,
the collet's collar requires a LOT of torque to prevent
slipping, that collar is too big in diameter and often
touches the tire, generating a squeak.

That latter problem is also because the only connection
between the right and left stay is the flexible plastic
fender, so there's lots of lateral movement. I think most
plastic fenders have a metal connector between the stays,
riveted in place. But I like best the look of a U-shaped
stay, and intend to modify ours that way.

Speaking of safety: Again, the collets and other design
tricks are used to allow fender stays to pop loose if (say)
a stick is snagged, to prevent locking the bike's wheel and
perhaps throwing a person over the bars. I've snagged sticks
only with my mountain bike and only in a minor way. How
common is that type of crash? Anyone encounter it?


I can't recall a case of rider injury from crud under
mudguard but it seems possible, horrible, and easy to design
around. The German standard requires such on the front so
mudguard sets sold there have to include a safety release.

Speaking of mudguard design, I prefer solid-strut welded
steel mudguards which AFAIK are no longer made anywhere.
They do not rattle. Adjustment, for those of you with
similar, is by changing the stay curvature slightly up near
the stay/mudguard interface.

I've dragged one or two front fenders into my wheel picking up blow-down. Because of my superior bike-handling skills and Ninja-like reflexes, I suffered no grievous bodily injury. More often than not, the inconvenience is loose hardware or having to readjust them to fit bigger rubber, etc. Riding through the Ozarks, my fenders packed up with tar and crushed rock riding on hot macadam roads -- or whatever that proto-asphalt is called. What a mess. I tossed the fenders.

-- Jay Beattie.


A nice name for it would be 'inexcusable':
https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-pl...tion/chip-seal

Yeah, tossing the mudguards was probably the best solution.
Yecchh.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971