Extending fenders

Compare the fenders shown below with the ones in my page about full length fenders.


Side view of comfort bike with clip-on fenders Closer view of front wheel's fender

Close-up of fender clip-on point, attached to bicycle's seat tube

You might want to use fenders like this because:

Those fenders are less than ideal. One issue is that the fender's protection stops where it grabs onto the seat tube, as seen in that last photo above. The tire could still throw some gritty water, from that point downward.

Also, notice that the rear fender does not extend as far back as the tire does. I'm guessing that this is because the bike is larger than normal and has an unusual shape (it's a comfort bike, not a mountain bike).


Fender isn't long enough for bike's wheel - side view Fender isn't long enough for bicycle wheel - top view

The rearmost part of the tire will fling dirty water upward and forward in an arc, hitting my back.



I improved this situation by attaching plastic extensions to the fenders. Here's how I did that:

I measured how much to extend the fenders.


Using ruler to measure fender inadequacy at its front Using ruler to measure fender inadequacy at its rear

I visited a plastics supply store that deals with retail customers. I looked for thin, flexible plastic sheet that would look decent with the fenders; I found nothing good that they were selling. They suggested searching their scrap bin; I found something acceptable and they let me have it for free. I didn't have a power saw, so I paid the store US$7.50 to cut it. I ended up with these:


Long cut plastic piece, to extend from fender at its front Short cut plastic piece, to extend from fender at its rear

The material does not exactly match, but it's OK. I could have instead ordered custom pieces from a plastics website, but I did not feel the need to look for something better.

For that long piece shown on the left, I wanted to attach it to an available mounting hole I found down low, in front of the rear tire.


Mounting hole for fender, in bicycle's frame, near kickstand

That hole accepts the same standard metric bolt that is used to attach the water bottle holder to the bike's frame. I got one of those bolts from my local bike shop, then took it to a hardware store and got a washer to match.

I held my plastic piece in its destined location to see where I should make a hole in the piece. I should have drilled the hole, but I had no drill at hand. Instead I punched a hole in the plastic and widened it by twisting a screwdriver into it (this plastic was pretty soft).


Starting a hole in the long cut plastic piece Widening a hole in the long cut plastic piece

The add-on was now ready to attach. I had to partly remove the rear tire; that gave me room to drive the bolt in.


Washer with bolt through the hole in the long cut plastic piece Screwing in the bolt through the long cut plastic piece

I originally planned to glue this plastic piece to the fender, but that was not needed. The piece was forced to bend, and that kept it pressed against the fender.


Point where fender's front meets the long cut plastic piece

For the smaller piece, I tried simply gluing it.


Small plastic piece with glue on it

Small plastic piece glued to rear of fender, view from above Small plastic piece glued to rear of fender, now covers bike wheel

Too bad it broke loose almost immediately. I really needed to drill some holes and attach it with either rivets or short bolts. So that's what I did.


Small plastic piece bolted to rear of fender