Mounting Fenders on an All Rounder

[Kevin Lindsey]

Greetings.

I purchased a set of SKS fenders for my All Rounder, but see a couple of issues related to the rear.  Specifically:

a) There is no hole drilled in the bar that connects the chain stays up near the seat post, making me wonder how I'm to bolt the fender there; and 

b) The gap between the tire and that bar looks to be four or five inches wide, at least, which will call for a lot of spacers if the fenders are to follow the curve of the tire.

What have others done to solve these problems?
Thanks,

Kevin Lindsey

Alexandria, VA

USA

[J]

P clamp and a wine bottle cork has always been my go to, but I've never had to compensate for a 4-5" gap. 

[iamkeith]

I'll go take some pictures and upload in a moment.  I use a P clamp (with rubberized coating) on that chainstay brace, but didn't need a lot of spacers. I don't know how big of a spacer/spacers will work and stay rigid, but it's easy and cheap to try different things.

The other option - which might effectively be what I did - is to let that chainstay brace dictate the position of the fender, and then match it at the other mounting points.  In my case, that meant notching the fender at the bottom of the seatstay brace and bottom of the fork crown.  A bit of hassle, but it's also what allowed me to fit 2.1 and 2.3 tires.  (I've since decided I like sometĥing slightly smaller, but it's nice to have the option.)

Because every All Rounder was essentially a one-off, built-to-order, custom, it is likely that the conditions on your bike won't match mine or anybody elses, so you're going to have to figure it out through trial and error to some degree.  Because I like fenders, I feel like vertical clearance is too limiting on every Riv I own, but this one is particularly so.  I think the seatstay brace (and crown) is located at a height that would allow the use of caliper brakes, even though it also has canti mounts.  Kind of emphasizing it's versatility, but with reduced clearance that makes it not so easy to utilize modern, big-volume tires.

[Kevin Lindsey]

My initial estimate of 4-5 inches was a bit extreme.  The gap between where the fender should be and where the p-clamp would go is about the width of three fingers.  Not 4-5 inches, but still a considerably longer reach than other fenders I've mounted on Rivendells.

Kevin Lindsey

Alexandria, VA

USA

[Kevin Lindsey]

Hi Keith.

Thanks for the input.  I thought about letting the chainstay brace and reasonable spacer force the geometry of the fender, which I might yet do, but I think it's going to look a little strange.  But maybe not.

Kevin Lindsey

Alexandria, VA

USA

[iamkeith]

[iamkeith]

On Sunday, February 16, 2025 at 11:35:20 AM UTC-7 lindse...@gmail.com wrote:

[iamkeith]

[Kevin Lindsey]

Thanks, Keith.  That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for.  It's strange that the good folks at RBW didn't put holes in the chainstay braces for the fenders.  Well, they must have had their reasons.

All the best,

Kevin Lindsey

Alexandria, VA

USA

On Sunday, February 16, 2025 at 6:59:24 PM UTC-5 iamkeith wrote:

[Jim in Mpls]

Here's how I did it on my 26" wheel A/R with horizontal dropouts and how the fender line turned out.

Jim in Mpls

[Jim in Mpls]

fender line photo

[Kevin Lindsey]

Hi Jim.

Looks like your chain stay brace has a pre-drilled hole - I'm envious.  What's connecting the fender to the brace?  Is it just a long bolt, or some other device (it's hard to tell from the photo).

Best regards,

Kevin Lindsey

Alexandria, VA

USA

[Kyle Cotchett]

From what I gathered, the all-rounders were semi customizable with a menu of options when they were ordered. I have assumed that the chainstay bridge fender hole was an option, as my second hand AR didn't have one either. Mine had a couple dents that needed to be filled, so I had a fender hole drilled in my chainstay bridge at the same time.

[Kevin Lindsey]

Hi Kyle.

I was surprised to find the lack of a hole there - all my other Rivs have 'em and I assumed it was a standard feature given how many end up with fenders.

All the best,

Kevin Lindsey

Alexandria, VA

USA

[Jim in Mpls]

It's a bolt running from inside the fender to the threaded boss on the chainstay bridge similar to this VO offering. https://velo-orange.com/collections/fender-parts/products/spring-thing

Jim

[Jim in Mpls]

Mine is an early All-Rounder(1996), and there wasn't much for customization at that time, other than color. The frames were built in batches at Waterford, and mine was from the 1st batch of 61cm frames.

They may have offered more customization later.

Jim in Mpls

[Ryan]

Mine too...built in 1997. The rear chainstay bridge was drilled for fenders. @iamkeith's looks like one of the early customs that weren't advertised as such....giveaway is the JB paint. 

[iamkeith]

Actually, mine is one of the last ones.  1999 Joe Starck built.  It was probably waning as a model - especially with 26" wheels - so back to the one-off builds instead of batches.

One other comment, based on Kyle's beautiful coupled bike above:  you can see how the fender radius gets pinched inward at the seatstay brace and crown.  That's a perfect illustration of wh I notched mine at those locations, per my photos.  It didn't gain me a ton of clearance, but did get a tiny bit.

[Kevin Lindsey]

Jim -

Thanks for the tip on the VO device.  I ordered one and, with a p-clamp in hand, hope it does the trick.

All the best,

Kevin Lindsey

Alexandria, VA

USA

[Laing Conley]

Way back when, sometimes the chainstay bridge fender attachment was just a clip. Kind of like the outer half of a p-clamp, but made out of spring steel. I probably have one around somewhere if anyone wants to see a picture. 

Laing

Delray Beach FL

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[Kevin Lindsey]

Hi Liang.

When you have a moment, I'd appreciate a photo of the clip you mentioned.

Many thanks,

Kevin Lindsey

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[Bill Lindsay]

Here is an eBay listing for a kit of fender hardware.  The chain stay bridge clip that Laing refers to is there on the left in the four images.  It's a sandwich held together with two screws and nuts, and then it just springs over the chain-stay bridge.  In your case, where you think your chain stay bridge is farther away from the tire than ideal, you may not want to use a clip of this kind, because it necessarily locates the fender at the bridge. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226536344008?

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Kevin Lindsey]

Thanks, Bill.  I just ordered from Velo Orange that piece that Jim suggested.  If that doesn't work out, I might try the Ebay route.

All the best,

Kevin Lindsey

Alexandria, VA

USA

[lconley]

Here it is:

Also found it with Google:

Laing

[Nick Payne]

With chromoplastic fenders such as SKS, I use zip ties if there is no mounting point on the frame. Like so - the zip ties seem to last pretty much indefinitely - on that particular bike, the fender has been mounted with those ties for about 20 years. You can see that on this particular installation I've also spaced the fender away from the bridge with some small rubber blocks, to get a consistent fender line around the tyre:

Nick Payne