On Sun, 2008-12-07 at 06:45 -0800, JoelMatthews wrote: > It depends on how the buyer intends to use it. > > The bike is definitely a looker. Metal fenders are definitely better > looking than plastic. But plastic makes more sense in some > situations. > > When I read the description it really appears to me someone took off > the racks, but it is definitely kitted up for serious touring. I > have three bikes. The commuter has Honjos, the boulevardier has > Berthouds, and the camper has SKS. Not that I am slighting the > camper. I love the bike. The reason is when metal fenders get out of > whack, you really need to be at your home shop to get them back into > whack. SKS are much easier to pull or prod back into place, and are > more amenable to a duct tape or zip tie fix if it comes down to that.
But aren't the plastic fenders more apt to get out of whack? Over the years I've had plastic fenders snap off from brittleness from the cold, and I've had them take on a perverse curve from no obvious cause that was very difficult to correct. I've only ever had one metal fender mishap on the road. I was at Bike Virginia, had climbed a long hill, and as I crested the hill I spotted an old friend from the local bike club who'd moved away ten years ago. Naturally, I stopped to say hello. As I was chatting, holding the bike, back to the road, a guy climbed the hill and stalled right at the crest. He fell over sideways, right on top of me and my bike. I staggered but didn't go down; but I also didn't notice that my back fender had gotten pushed forward, the stays having slid through the R-clip, and was actually touching my back tire. As I started going down the hill after the break, I was surprised at how slowly I was going - and noticed a weird noise, and a smell of burning rubber. I stopped at the bottom of the hill to check things out and found the fender was very hot from where it had been rubbing on the tire. It took only a minute to loosen the R-clips, allow the fender to move back, re-align and re-tighten, and I was off. What other sort of fender mishaps have you experienced on the road, that would require shop tools to rectify? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
