Fender mudflap repair.

[rob_...@earthlink.net]

Dear Fendering Randons:
Hi! The moulded rubber (short) mudflap on the front fender of my road bike tore off. The polycarb plastic fender itself (sort of Planet Bikish, but I think their fender maker made these for JB or somesuch third or fourth party) seems to be OK, holes for fender flap bolting are fine.
Shall I Shoegoo it on, use cable ties, use both or fabricate a new fender flap, longer one, out of floor molding, stair runner, vinyl carpet protector or red rubber gasket material?

Robert "yup, fendered in San Diego!" Leone

[Charles Coldwell]

On Fri, 20 Nov 2009, rob_...@earthlink.net wrote:

> Shall I Shoegoo it on, use cable ties, use both or fabricate a new
> fender flap, longer one, out of floor molding, stair runner, vinyl
> carpet protector or red rubber gasket material?

You could buy a new, full-length mudflap from, for example, Headlands:

http://www.headlandbike.com/fenders/mudflap/mudflap.htm

I have a friend who does full custom work if you want something more
personalized ....

--
Charles M. Coldwell, W1CMC
"Turn on, log in, tune out"
Somerville, Massachusetts, New England (FN42kj)

GPG ID: 852E052F
GPG FPR: 77E5 2B51 4907 F08A 7E92 DE80 AFA9 9A8F 852E 052F

[Dark Horse]

Alternately, you could acquire a traffic cone or two and make flap(s).
The material has just the right taper and curvature already, it's
flexible, unbreakable, emergency orange, and LONG.
The cones up here already have two wide bands of SOLAS grade
retroreflectve on them. The only caution is to do your layout
carefully and cut those triangles parallel with the cone axis. If not,
the flap won't ever sit quite straight. Kinda' maddening in the front.
Leather punch makes dandy holes, and you can cut 'em as close to the
ground as you wish.

I've got bunches of miles on these, but I can't claim origination.
First one I saw was a Facepalm moment
(I shoulda' thought of that).



Dark Horse

[rob_...@earthlink.net]

Dear Steve:
No joy on that -- the roads don't drain well here because the planners don't expect 1/20th of our 11 inches of average rain a year to fall in two hours. I've experienced slowing caused by fender and fender flap drag in water (yeah, bottom bracket got submerged, too, so you can imagine how the feet were....).

Robert Leone

-----Original Message-----
>From: Steve Palincsar <pali...@his.com>
>Sent: Nov 20, 2009 1:28 PM
>To: rob_...@earthlink.net
>Subject: Re: [Randon] Fender mudflap repair.

>
>On Fri, 2009-11-20 at 13:15 -0800, rob_...@earthlink.net wrote:
>> Dear Fendering Randons:
>> Hi! The moulded rubber (short) mudflap on the front fender of my road bike tore off. The polycarb plastic fender itself (sort of Planet Bikish, but I think their fender maker made these for JB or somesuch third or fourth party) seems to be OK, holes for fender flap bolting are fine.

>> Shall I Shoegoo it on, use cable ties, use both or fabricate a new fender flap, longer one, out of floor molding, stair runner, vinyl carpet protector or red rubber gasket material?
>

>Was its performance that good? I suspect not, if it was like those wee
>little decorative Planet Bike flaps. Make a new long one that reaches
>almost down to the ground and give your feet a treat.
>
>
>

[Keith Kohan]

Another option I've used is cutting a short section out of an old foldable tire.  The beads hold it fairly stiff but it's flexible enough to give if it hits something.  One tire makes a lot of mud flaps :) --- On Fri, 11/20/09, rob_...@earthlink.net <rob_...@earthlink.net> wrote:

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[Bill Gobie]

Zip ties and an old water bottle:

http://www.bacchettabikes.com/forum2/photo.asp?photoid=341&asortType=6&apage=1

Bill

[sfuller]

Rubber stair tread and find someone with a pop rivet gun.

Steve

[Lynne Fitz]

1/2 gallon plastic milk jug works nicely, cut to the appropriate shape

[Bill Bryant]

+1 for black rubber stair tread.
It has, IMHO, the right balance of flexibility and stiffness for the
application. Plus, it lasts indefinitely, is lightweight, easy to cut
into the shape and length you prefer, very low cost, available in most
local hardware stores. I use two small zip-ties to hold it in place;
drill a small hole in either side of the fender for attachment points.

Bill Bryant
Santa Cruz Randonneurs

[DrCodfish]

Put me down as a traffic cone suporter.

Made for outdoor use, bright orange w/reflecto striping, pre-formed,
not too stiff-not too 'flappy', and pretty cheap to come by. I don't
recommend liberating from the local PW dept, but you often see these
in ditches and on shoulders of hwys or freeways. In that situation
they are litter that you can repurpose into a useful safety product.

Believe me, they last and last. Two of my bikes sport these however
my 'fancy' bike wears a custom leather Dr C model.

see my note here :
http://drcodfish.blogspot.com/2009/10/wisdom-in-sticks.html

Yr Pal Dr C.

[NickBull]

Another solution -- coroplast campaign signs. Cut it to whatever
shape you want. Drill holes through the coroplast and fender
(preferably having removed the wheel so you don't surge right through
and explode the tire). Ziptie. See Kent Peterson's blog for more
things you can do with coroplast:
http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2007/01/tobys-coroplast-panniers-fenders.html

(One problem: More and more campaign signs are now made out of a wire
frame with plastic hung over it -- useless!)

[Jon Muellner]

I still love the plastic from cat litter containers best for mudflaps.
Similar to some milk containers. Easy to cut and shape, unbreakable,
free if you have cats or friends with cats, one zip tie and two holes
in the fender and you're done for years to come. Nothing is lighter
and works as well. Stick reflective bits on them for safety.

Like the cone idea, but seems like the material is a bit too thick,
but I'm sure there are many versions.

Never understood those worthless pop-riveted molded rubber bits - they
have no use and just add weight. Why not just make the fender longer
and skip them? Seems like a waste of manufacturing time and cost...