I think the relative difficulty of mounting aluminum fenders varies from one bike to another. I acquired my Honjo fenders before the YouTube existed, and I used a photograph in a book to get the fender struts positioned correctly (a photo of a very cherry Rene Herse Randonneuse bike in the book "Bicycling A Guiness Superlative Guide", on page 77). I'd previously mounted a set of Lefol fenders on my Paramount P-15 back in the day (photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37964304@N05/sets/72157627672432684/), so I had some experience with the process.
When I recently transferred the fenders to my Rivendell Road Standard, things got much more "interesting". I mounted the fenders using the stainless steel sliding bridge bracket on the rear fender. The installation went well and proceeded without any real problems. Later, however, I had a vexing problem with the rear fender rattling. I bent the stays trying to subdue the rattling with little effect. Finally, I used the fender mounting tap on the bottom of the brake bridge to secure the rear fender. Rattling gone.... I think aluminum fenders are very attractive, but they're not quite as utilitarian as some of the various plastic fenders IMHO. Jim Cloud Tucson, AZ On Sep 16, 3:27 pm, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > On Fri, 2011-09-16 at 15:07 -0700, Michael Hechmer wrote: > > Kelly, thank you, thank you, thank you for the honesty of your post. > > As both an amateur mechanic and amateur woodworker I have been > > repeatedly snookered by "expert" instructions that lulled me into > > thinking something would be straightforward and doable, only to be > > reduced to speaking anglo-saxon. Last night I installed a pair of the > > tektro canti brakes and discoverd that the instructions failed to > > mention that only a mutant with four hands would find this straight > > forward. > > > I have bikes with plastic, aluminum, and steel fenders but I wouldn't > > ever again install fenders without both rereading the instructions and > > remembering that it will be a PIA. > > Actually, installing Honjo fenders is pretty straightforward - there's > nothing really 'clever' or 'complex' about it - but it's slow and can't > be hurried. Reading the instructions about 20 times for a week or two > ahead of time, and working on visualizing what goes on helps. > Understanding on a deep-down level that it simply cannot be hurried or > sped up helps the most. > > One. Step. At. A. Time. First install. Mark. Remove. Drill. > Reinstall. Mark the next. Remove. Drill. Reinstall. Mark. Remove. > Drill. Reinstall. Breathe. > > Once you get your mind wrapped around the pace - the process as a whole, > but especially the pace - it's not really much of a pain in the a$$. At > least, not until your hand cramps and you drop the parts to the draw > bolt in the grass and can't find them again. It helps a lot to spread > some cloth under where you're working, because your hand is almost > certainly going to cramp and you almost certainly are going to > drop /something/. > > The instructions on the VO and Jitensha web sites are pretty good. So, > too, are the articles published in BQ. -- 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.
