On Thu, 2009-05-28 at 08:05 -0700, b hamon wrote: > > > Last batch of VO fenders I saw were not pre-drilled. How much of a > hassle IS it to drill your own fenders? Seriously. Is it an > all-day-at-home affair? >
It shouldn't be. You are a competent wrench, I am an all-thumbs hack. You have a proper place to work and I'll bet it even has good lighting, and I'll bet you have metric hardware, too. (The first set I did, I wasted hours trying to find metric fasteners. Home Despot? Forget about it! Those big joints have absolutely nothing that's metric.) The last set I installed, 58mm Honjos on my Saluki, came close to being an all-day job, but I was swapping out Oursons and replacing them with Hetres, removing a set of stainless 50mm Berthouds for later use on another bike, and I had to surgically alter the fender in order to get it to fit. You won't have to do that. I usually do this sort of thing outdoors in bright daylight, but that last time it was a dark, rainy day and I had to work in a dimly lighted basement. I must have lost an hour simply to dropping nuts and washers, searching futilely for them, then having to find replacements. Usually (I've done 3 sets, so based on my large experience base...) it takes 3 hours or less. It is fiddly. Whether it's a hassle or an exercise in zen-like patient plodding is up to you. You have to temporarily hang the fender, mark one spot, drill it, then install again. Mark the next place, remove the fender, drill, install. Mark the next spots. Repeat. If you try to do it all at once, you end up with holes that don't line up. It takes patience, and I find it can't be hurried. Relax, go with the flow, and it becomes more satisfying than frustrating. It gets a little tricky under the fork crown. Depending on the specific bike, you may need a rubber spacer between the fender and the fork crown (e.g., the Kogswell P/R was designed for a 1 cm rubber spacer at the crown). Also, it makes a difference whether you're going to use brackets (similar to what SKS uses) or whether the bike has fittings for fenders in the right places. My Saluki has a threaded vertical fitting under the brake bridge. At the fork crown I used a Berthoud "daruma bolt" that hung off the front rack tang; with sidepull brakes it would hang off the brake mounting bolt. On some bikes you need to create an angled flat spot directly under the fork crown so that the fender will snuggle up at the correct angle. You hammer that in with the handle of a hammer. The Honjos on my Velo Orange came with that angled flat spot already created. Another thing that makes a big difference is whether the bridges are in the right places. I've been lucky that with my bikes everything's all been in exactly the right place. I didn't have to fashion any kind of spacer for the chainstay bridge. I've seen an Atlantis that needed the full length of a wine cork as a spacer in that location, because the bridge was so very far forward compared to where the fender wanted it to be. You SHOULD do this. It would be a very useful skill for you professionally. There aren't many bike shops that know the first thing about installing fenders like this. and after all, you live in one of the most fender-rich places in the country. Here http://www.flickr.com/photos/97916...@n00/sets/72157617915097787/ are some photos of the Saluki, mostly concentrating on the fenders. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
