"SKS" Fenders??

[Tourista829]

I have SKS brand fenders on my touring bike. I like them because they enable me to put the widest possible fender that would fit, incase I wanted to go with a wider tire.  I also have a bike or two that use Planet Bike Fenders and they are a little less expensive and work well.

[SilasTarr]

Hello again, everyone.

Well, I ended up purchasing some SKS fenders, but I may have made a blunder so I'm coming to you guys for some help.

Following the advice on the Peter White Cycles page on fenders, I purchased a set of SKS P50 fenders for my 26x1.5" wheels.  However, upon receiving the fenders in the mail, the noticed a list of all the SKS "P" models on the packaging that said P50 is for 28" wheels, and I was reminded that a P55 model exists that fits 26" wheels.  I guess all the model numbers got jumbled in my head when I made my purchase through Amazon.

I decided to go ahead and attempt mounting the fenders, but the problem I quickly ran into is the the stays hold the fender a few inches too far away from the wheel.  I considered calling it quits there, but then I was intrigued by the final sentence in the mounting instructions.  After instructing me to attach, adjust, and fasten everything in place, the directions say, "The protruding stay can either be cut off or fitted with an endcap."  Now, I realize the instructions were translated from German to English, so something may have been lost in translation here (like elsewhere in the instructions), but this seems to be suggesting that I can actually cut short the metal stays if needed.

What advice can you all give me?  Do you think shortening the fender stays by cutting them can make these fenders fit?  Is there another, better way to fit SKS P50 fenders to my 26" wheels?  Or, should I simply try to return my purchase and exchange for some P55's?

[bktourer1]

1.  Is it me, or in that picture the fender looks upside down?
2. Check out the Planet Bike site   for fenders

[Pat Lamb]

The curvature doesn't look like it's too far off, but your mounting is squirrely.

The first thing you need to do is rotate those fenders so they pass below the head tube.  There should be a bracket in your package that wraps around the fender, and mounts to a hole in the top of the fork where center pull brakes would mount, if they were being used.

Then loosen all the stay mounts, and slide them out until the fender is about a half inch from the tire.  Take off the plastic caps.  Tighten the stay mounts (this is a good place to use thread lock).  You'll want to cut the fender stays short, just a bit past the nut.  You may be able to do this with some sort of lineman's pliers, or just use a Dremel.  I'd suggest you take a file or sandpaper and round the edge of the stay, because the plastic caps won't really stay on.  Then put the caps back on.

[SilasTarr]

The curvature doesn't look like it's too far off, but your mounting is squirrely.

The first thing you need to do is rotate those fenders so they pass below the head tube.

The "mounting" of the front fender shown in the picture I provided simply demonstrates how far away the fender is from the wheel even at its closest setting (without having cut the stays).  Because of this distance, the fender won't fit under the head tube/fork at all, which is why I wasn't able to mount it correctly.

I understand the process of fitting the fender in place and then fine tuning its distance from the wheel; my problem is that I can't fit it in place at all!  So again, is it possible (and a good idea) to cut the metal stays short so that the fender can fit under the head tube, or is this an indication that the P50 fenders won't fit on my 26" wheel?

[tsteven4]

My advice would be to see how the fender fits, in the intended position with the front under the head tube i.e. with the fork crown fitting against the rear of the fork, without the stays attached at all.  If it looks good proceed.

Traditionally the "endcap" #1 was much simpler and really was a just a cap that slid on the end of the stay after you cut it to length. The disadvantage of the traditional cap is that it could get knocked off and lost.  An advantage was that you could slide the fender towards the wheel without any limitation from the endcap (although you had to cut down the stays anyway so they don't hit things like your leg and hurt you).  You might be able to assemble the fender without the endcaps at all before cutting the stays and make sure you are happy with the fit.  Make sure you route the stay outside of the bridge on the fender.  Then mark, cut and reassemble with the end caps.  I don't have any experience with these particular end caps, I am just looking at the instructions. 

On every pair of fenders I have ever mounted I had to cut all the stays to length.  This is normal.  I don't find the sentence you mentioned in the instructions here: http://www.sks-germany.com/download/6409800121/all/Chromoplastics-Installation.pdf

Alternatively, just take it to your LBS.  After nearly 40 years of working on my own bike I take this route more and more!  They know exactly what they are doing, they can do it very quickly without any mis-steps, and they have the touch (or a torque wrench for more complicated things) to get it all tightened up right.  I am lucky enough to live near http://www.vecchios.com/

[SilasTarr]

Thanks for the insight, tsteven4.  I didn't know that having to cut the fender stays is typical, so now I think I can proceed looking into the best route to take.

By the way, the sentence I quoted from the SKS instructions is indeed found in the online instructions you linked to.  It's the very last sentence on the second page.

Thanks again!

[Pat Lamb]

The "mounting" of the front fender shown in the picture I provided simply demonstrates how far away the fender is from the wheel even at its closest setting (without having cut the stays).  Because of this distance, the fender won't fit under the head tube/fork at all, which is why I wasn't able to mount it correctly.

I don't understand why the fenders can't come in further.  Back when I bought my last pair, it was possible to loosen the nuts on each stay, slide the mounting bracket down the stay, bringing the fender in closer to the hub, and sliding the mounts around the fender to wherever they needed to be.  Get everything arranged just so, tighten the nuts on the brackets, cut the stay, and you're done.  Has SKS changed their mounting so this isn't possible?

[SilasTarr]

I think it will be possible, I'll just have to keep the "endcaps" off until the stays are cut.  The instructions had me initially insert the stays into the endcaps, and that's what prevented me from bringing the fender in closer to the hub.

By the way, in case I decide to cut the stays myself, any suggestions on exactly how to do this or what tools to use?

[Pat Lamb]

By the way, in case I decide to cut the stays myself, any suggestions on exactly how to do this or what tools to use?

If you've got a Dremel, use a cutoff wheel.  Otherwise, a hacksaw or bolt cutters should work.

[driftlessregion]

The fender is NOT in the closest position but the furthest from the wheel in the photo. Loosen those nuts and push the fender down the stays. The length of the stays has no bearing on how close to the wheel the fender is. 

[SilasTarr]

The length of the stays has no bearing on how close to the wheel the fender is.

It does if you have the plastic endcaps on like the SKS instructions tell you to do first!  But when those are off, you're right, I can slide the fender as close to the wheel as needed, from which point I marked the stays and subsequently cut them short.  I ended up cutting off about 45 mm from the front stays and 25 mm for the back ones.

Thanks to everyone for helping figure it all out!  They look great; I can't wait to give them a try on a rainy day.

[happyriding]

Your fenders should be much closer to your tires.  If you look at your bike from the side, you shouldn't be able to see any daylight between the top of the tire and the fender.  In other words, the sides of the fenders should overlap the top of the tire.  Be careful about mounting the fenders too close to the tire, though.  You should have 10mm of clearance between the top of the tire and the fender.

[tsteven4]

I agree with happyriding that you have an extreme amount of clearance.  But I don't necessarily agree that you shouldn't be able to see daylight, or that you have too much clearance.  Here is what I would consider to decide:

More clearance is good for adverse conditions when mud/sand/dirt sticks to the tires and rubs between the tire and fender.  The amount of mud that can stick to a tire is about limitless, but at some point it doesn't matter because it is hitting other things like the chain stays.  More clearance is also good if you decide to throw on some bigger tires, for example some knobbies for off road touring or just some really fat ones for crappy roads like you might find in Russia.

In my experience there are two problems brought about by too much clearance.  The first is an overlap between your toe and the fender.  This usually happens on smaller frames with 700c wheels, but it might be an issue with your current setup.  At very low speeds you can turn the handlebars enough that the tire passes by your toe.  The fender may hit your toe.  This is not desirable, but with an experienced rider an overlap isn't the end of the world either.  The second problem is an issue with shipping.  We usually ship the bikes with the rear fender on, and it makes the bike longer which can be an issue with the box.  We loosen the stays and slide the fender towards the tire to mitigate this.  With the style of endcaps you have you might be limited in how much you can do this.  Also, with the rear fender far from the tire it can get caught on the box when you put it in and you can break the fender.  While I have never experienced it a third problem could be interference between the fender and the straddle cable on the brakes.  Note that changing the length of the straddle cable will change the mechanical advantage of the brakes, so it isn't necessarily something you want to do to create more clearance.

Time to get that thing on the road!  Happy Trails.

[popeyespal]

I too, have a Surly LHT 26er.

I have the SKS full fenders installed and love them. THEY ARE NOT PLASTIC! as several posters have contended. They are metal coated with plastic and very heavy duty.

Although I have yet to need this feature I love the quick release in case of something jamming between the tire and fender.