mik carton mudflap

09-16-2004, 11:14 PM

I know the more savvy round here are quite familiar with this method...

It's been kinda rainy round here the last week or so, so I reinstalled the
zefal mudguards on the old Viscount racer and managed to get them rattle
free with a homegrown brake bridge mount (the original snapped) and some
zip-ties (I'm eyeletless (!)).

In the past on my (stolen

) city bike, I'd made spray flaps for the
fenders from the tongues of my old leather work boots. Worked great and
looked rock n roll. LOL

But with the fendered racer, I wanted a more streamlined way to avoid the
dreaded toe-spray. The Zefals already are pretty fully coverage, extending
to about 6 inches from the ground, but not enough to avoid soggy feet in
real crap weather. I remembered my crunchier friends' bikes with the awful
looking milk carton flaps and thought that I could do better. I cut a 6
inch piece of milk jug, let the first three inches be 2mm smaller than the
width of the fender, then made the rest flare out very slightly around
+3mm on either side in a decorative fashion, then glued the top 2 inches
to the *inside* of the fender and let the effective bits stick out below.
I used liquid nails small projects goop FWIW.

Looks brilliantly simple, I hand curved the thin plastic to match the
curve of the fender, and works so well I might have to have a moment
alone.

I did a 20 miler this afternoon with the setup and while my feet got damp
of course, they never got soggy, and this was in a nasty downpour. The
safety limit ended up being, in my extremely scientific research, about a
3cm puddle. Beyond than and the toes got a soaking. Not bad.

Any of you that use fenders, do extend the front fender with this method
(or another)and give your toes a break.