On Sun, 2008-12-07 at 08:38 -0800, Andrew Karre wrote: > Aesthetics aside, the main benefit of metal fenders is that they, when > expertly installed, work MUCH better than plastic.
Let me modify that "expertly" to "competently" or "carefully". I've successfully installed two sets, and you can't find anyone farther from "expert" at this than me. I saw Peter White install one fender, and before I began I read what was available online at the Jitensha site, and purchased the two VBQ back issues that had articles on how to install Honjo fenders. I then spent a couple of weeks reviewing, visualizing, and going over the steps in my mind. The most notable thing I recalled from watching Peter White was that you have to take your time and be patient. You install the fender, mark it, remove and drill it, install it again, mark the next spot, remove, drill, reinstall, mark the next, remove, drill, reinstall. It takes time, and you can't be in a hurry. I specifically didn't say "measure" because real measurement, i.e., with a measuring instrument, wasn't at all required. That's a good thing, because I don't shine at real measurement. In fact, I almost never get it right, and can't seem to get the same measurement twice running. No fear, it's not required. And even real pinpoint accuracy in marking isn't required. Sometimes a sightly oval hole that allows for a little adjustment in case you were a trifle off and the holes don't quite line up works as well as if you'd had xray vision and nailed it perfectly. Outright crudity can work, too. My Kogswell P/R was designed to be mounted with a 1 cm spacer under the fork crown. I went looking for a drilled rubber spacer similar to what comes with the Berthoud fender mounting hardware (and similar to what they have in chem labs, a 1-hole rubber stopper) and couldn't find anything like it. The closest I came was what the hardware store called a "rubber plug". It was at least 1 cm too long, but a saw made short work of that: I just cut it in half by eyeball. The cut wasn't even, of course, none of my saw cuts ever is, but a few minutes with a coarse grade of sandpaper fixed that. I sort of drilled a "hole" - I put that in quotes because the result didn't look like any drilled hole I've ever seen before - for the mounting bolt (the front fender mounts with a bolt that comes up from below that runs through the fender into either a threaded mounting bracket on the underside of the fork crown, or from an eyebolt that comes down from the brake or front rack mounting bolt). It was more like a rip through the center, and it wasn't round or even straight. But when I bolted the fender up, it was perfectly adequate. So don't look at this and think you need to find an expert with the experience of Peter White or Mike Barry to mount these fenders. If you can install a picture hook you probably have the skills needed to install metal fenders, provided you take care, take the time and really understand each step before you go and drill or cut any metal. > This isn't to say > that plastic fenders are ineffective--not at all. SKS fenders are much > better than nothing, and I see why they and the Planet Bike > equivalents are popular with shops (more power to them) I agree. They're much better than nothing, but at the same time, Honjo and Berthoud fenders are in my experience as much better than the SKS (which I've used many times over the years) as the SKS are compared to no fenders at all. > , but now that > metal fenders are relatively inexpensive and more readily available > than ever, it does seem strange to me that they haven't become the > standard for more obsessively detail-oriented bikes like most Rivs. Part of this, I think, is that Riv's philosophy about fenders is informed by the climate at Walnut Creek. They have, I'm told, a distinct rainy season out there, and you install fenders for the rainy season, and remove them afterwards. Plastic fenders lend themselves to that approach; you wouldn't want to remove and reinstall metal fenders. They're a permanent part of the bike. Another thing: a really good fender line depends on the bike being designed for metal fenders. That includes bridges spaced exactly equally, and it also means a mount under the fork crown and a mount for fenders under the brake bridge. Rivendells aren't designed that way. In fact, the chainstay bridge on the Atlantis is so far from the correct location that when a friend of mine installed SKS fenders on her Atlantis she had to use a wine cork around 1 1/2 inches long to space out the forward edge of the rear fender. Also, Riv is a parts supplier as much as, if not more so than, a frame distributor. They're really big on customer service, and have a very generous return policy. Metal fenders aren't for everyone, and they can be a real headache to set up. I imagine they can be a huge customer service problem, too, given the wrong sort of customer. I have the feeling, from something I once saw in either a Flyer or a Riv Reader, that maybe at one time Riv had that experience and decided it might just be too much of a headache to support. > If > you're looking forward to shellacing your handlebar tape, then you'll > really enjoy the aesthetic bliss that comes with the perfect fender > lines possible only with metal. I absolutely agree. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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