Front Fender Breakaway Options



A Muzi wrote:

> But not the metal loop of left stay, metal bridge, right stay. If you
> jam that against the tire at the crown you can have a real problem. A
> breakaway some place is a good idea.
>

I saw it happen 18 months ago on a local club ride. There was a loud
crack and bits of mudguard went everywhere. We waited 10 minutes while
the rider removed the stays and plastic remains (which are still in a
nearby hedge - well, how would he carry them?) Conceivably a stick of
the right size could jam against the stay, but the problem is most
serious with metal guards such as Salmon.

FWIW, my touring bike has the stays mounted about 1/3 of the way up the
fork. This is supposed to reduce the risk.
 
A Muzi wrote:

> But not the metal loop of left stay, metal bridge, right stay. If you
> jam that against the tire at the crown you can have a real problem. A
> breakaway some place is a good idea.
>

I saw it happen 18 months ago on a local club ride. There was a loud
crack and bits of mudguard went everywhere. We waited 10 minutes while
the rider removed the stays and plastic remains (which are still in a
nearby hedge - well, how would he carry them?) Conceivably a stick of
the right size could jam against the stay, but the problem is most
serious with metal guards such as Salmon.

FWIW, my touring bike has the stays mounted about 1/3 of the way up the
fork. This is supposed to reduce the risk.
 
Zog The Undeniable wrote:

> I saw it happen 18 months ago on a local club ride. There was a loud
> crack and bits of mudguard went everywhere. We waited 10 minutes while
> the rider removed the stays and plastic remains (which are still in a
> nearby hedge - well, how would he carry them?)...


Fasten the pieces to the bicycle with electrical tape?

WHAT! YOU DON'T CARRY A ROLL OF ELECTRICAL TAPE WHEN CYCLING?

--
Tom Sherman - Near Rock Island
 
RonSonic wrote:
>
> Okay, now that I've grasped this concept that fenders can easily become part of
> a jammed front wheel launch vehicle type problem....
>
> This breakaway thing. Seems that more than a little thought needs to be put into
> just what exactly is going to break away and what's going to be solid. Simply
> mounting the thing with nylon bolts or cable ties may only increase the
> frequency with which it tries to jam the tire. IOW debris that might only have
> slightly jammed a solidly mounted fender, may cause the breakaway piece and it's
> struts to get swallowed by the fork crown which then chokes.
>
> I don't recall classic british roadsters having that sort of problem. And there
> were a hell of a lot of them.
>
> Ron
>

But classic British steel mudguards with solid bar struts
can't fold under to engage the tread to start with. At least
not without a heck of a lot of pressure. They're formidable
compared to nylon or aluminum mudguards with wire braces.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
 
On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 00:06:42 -0600, A Muzi <[email protected]> wrote:

>RonSonic wrote:
>>
>> Okay, now that I've grasped this concept that fenders can easily become part of
>> a jammed front wheel launch vehicle type problem....
>>
>> This breakaway thing. Seems that more than a little thought needs to be put into
>> just what exactly is going to break away and what's going to be solid. Simply
>> mounting the thing with nylon bolts or cable ties may only increase the
>> frequency with which it tries to jam the tire. IOW debris that might only have
>> slightly jammed a solidly mounted fender, may cause the breakaway piece and it's
>> struts to get swallowed by the fork crown which then chokes.
>>
>> I don't recall classic british roadsters having that sort of problem. And there
>> were a hell of a lot of them.
>>
>> Ron
>>

>But classic British steel mudguards with solid bar struts
>can't fold under to engage the tread to start with. At least
>not without a heck of a lot of pressure. They're formidable
>compared to nylon or aluminum mudguards with wire braces.


Gotcha.

Yeah, there's a fender strength / geometry problem to be solved here. Good thing
I read this stuff. I've been considering fenders for a bike and now realize
it'll take a bit more thought implementing than I'd considered.

Ron
 
In article <[email protected]>, RonSonic
<[email protected]> writes:

>Help me out here. I'm having a hard time vidying what you'd ride over, into
>or
>pick up on the tire that requires the breakaway fender. At least what
>wouldn't
>be causing trouble already. Or that you'd hit with enough speed that it
>wouldn't
>just be a minor nuisance. I could see branches and such being an issue, but
>we
>usually aren't going fast enough over them that they'd do more than add drag
>until getting ridden off.


I've seen a chunk of wood catch in my wife's front fender, break the fender and
cause the saftey release stay mounts to do their job.

Tom Gibb <[email protected]>
 
Tom Gibb wrote:

> I've seen a chunk of wood catch in my wife's front fender...


Your wife has fenders? Did you marry a bicycle? ;)

--
Tom Sherman - Near Rock Island
 

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