Planet Bike Fenders

[bktourer1]

What's the general feeling in the Planet Bike "Freddy Fender Hardcore
(45mm) for touring/Hybrid bikes. The info on the site looks good but
do they mount as easy as they say?

Thanks
Ed

 

[Qui si parla Campagnolo]

bktourer1 wrote:
> What's the general feeling in the Planet Bike "Freddy Fender Hardcore
> (45mm) for touring/Hybrid bikes. The info on the site looks good but
> do they mount as easy as they say?
>
> Thanks
> Ed

They do but the support to the fender attachment is a little flimsy. I
think the SKS fenders are more robust.

 

[Vee]

bktourer1 wrote:
> What's the general feeling in the Planet Bike "Freddy Fender Hardcore
> (45mm) for touring/Hybrid bikes. The info on the site looks good but
> do they mount as easy as they say?
>
> Thanks
> Ed

They will mount easily if your frame is designed for full fenders that
size. Compare your frame to the one pictured in these instructions:

www.planetbike.com/pdf/7004-7013manual.pdf

If your frame has eyelets as pictured, and if you have enough room
between your tires and frame/fork, you should have no problem.

-Vee

 

[AJmtnbiker]

I have these mounted on a 1985 schwinn le tour luxe in the 35mm
version. I was impressed by the adjustable mounting system and continue
to enjoy their durability and performance. Sure, I would not take them
off road, but for the price ( I got them off of airbomb for 17.99) they
cannot be beat. As long as you have sufficient clearance, you should
be fine.

-AJ

 

[41]

bktourer1 wrote:
> What's the general feeling in the Planet Bike "Freddy Fender Hardcore
> (45mm) for touring/Hybrid bikes. The info on the site looks good but
> do they mount as easy as they say?

Toe clip overlap: the little mud flap sticks out even more than usual
and is easier to catch your foot. I haven't used them but people have
mentioned this, along with the fact that the flap doesn't seem to do
much good. Y

 

[SriBikeJi]

bktourer1 wrote:

> What's the general feeling in the Planet Bike "Freddy Fender Hardcore
> (45mm) for touring/Hybrid bikes. The info on the site looks good but
> do they mount as easy as they say?
>
> Thanks
> Ed
>

I have had the front of a front Freddy fender shear off.

The front fender is nicely long in front of the fork but that front part
is not supported by a strut. The back half of the front fender has only
a single strut - this, I think, makes the wobble potential greater than
if there were two struts.

On my road/commuter, the front fender would occasionally vibrate just
right to make a very loud banging noise. Nothing I tried would dampen
the thing. Then one day the front section suddenly disappeared. (I
have replaced the fender, but the new one bangs, too.)

The SKS fenders are more durable but the quick release front mount may
not fit on a fork with fatty blades. Depends on whether there is room
between the eyelet and the bottom of the blade. Grinding and cutting
the plastic fender attachment point worked for me.

The SKS P50s are shorter than Freddy 700C fenders. (I think the SKS
P50s are supposed to fit 26" wheels and 700C wheels.)

 

[Luke]

In article <[email protected]>, Qui
si parla Campagnolo <[email protected]> wrote:

> bktourer1 wrote:
> > What's the general feeling in the Planet Bike "Freddy Fender Hardcore
> > (45mm) for touring/Hybrid bikes. The info on the site looks good but
> > do they mount as easy as they say?
> >
> > Thanks
> > Ed
>
> They do but the support to the fender attachment is a little flimsy. I
> think the SKS fenders are more robust.
>

Agreed. My set of SKS fenders have a metal mounting tab for the front
and a metal bracket for the rear; the PB set has only a metal mounting
tab for the front, the rear bracket being plastic. While this hasn't
proven problematic, one does risk cracking the bracket's tab if overly
zealous when tightening the mounting bolt. Should that happen, PB does
offer spare hardware kits (at least where I go - www.mec.ca).

I forget which brand it was, but I vaguely remember a fender kit that
had a handy feature: the rear fender's mounting bracket had hooks
molded on its top that would clip onto the brake bridge - no bolts
required.

Luke

 

[dvt]

bktourer1 wrote:
> What's the general feeling in the Planet Bike "Freddy Fender Hardcore
> (45mm) for touring/Hybrid bikes. The info on the site looks good but
> do they mount as easy as they say?

I haven't had much trouble mounting Planet Bike or SKS fenders, but my
bike has all of the proper mounting points. I like the Planet Bike
fenders better than the SKS. My main problem with the SKS fenders (I had
at least 2 sets) was cold weather. Well below freezing, the fenders
would get brittle, and various incidents (contact with a bike rack, toe
overlap, etc) would cause the fenders to crack or shatter. The Planet
Bike fenders have been on for two winters, and no such problems.

I did break the rear Planet Bike fender with a stick in the spokes that
made the fender go through nasty contortions. Even so, I straightened
the fender and it continued to work for about a year after the incident.
Now I have one of the old SKS fenders on the rear, and with the warm
winter weather this year, I haven't yet broken it.

I agree that the built-in front flap is useless. Drill out the rivets
and use the holes to mount your own mudflaps. I suppose you could do the
same in the back if you want a "buddy flap."

I haven't had the same experience as SriBikeJi with the front fender
being too long in the front. In fact, I'd like to have it slightly
longer. I haven't bothered with putting an extension on the front, so I
guess it doesn't bother me *too* much.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu

 

I have a set on my cannondale mtb they are pretty lame far as strength, and
they are noisy

"SriBikeJi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> bktourer1 wrote:
>
> > What's the general feeling in the Planet Bike "Freddy Fender Hardcore
> > (45mm) for touring/Hybrid bikes. The info on the site looks good but
> > do they mount as easy as they say?
> >
> > Thanks
> > Ed
> >
>
> I have had the front of a front Freddy fender shear off.
>
> The front fender is nicely long in front of the fork but that front part
> is not supported by a strut. The back half of the front fender has only
> a single strut - this, I think, makes the wobble potential greater than
> if there were two struts.
>
> On my road/commuter, the front fender would occasionally vibrate just
> right to make a very loud banging noise. Nothing I tried would dampen
> the thing. Then one day the front section suddenly disappeared. (I
> have replaced the fender, but the new one bangs, too.)
>
> The SKS fenders are more durable but the quick release front mount may
> not fit on a fork with fatty blades. Depends on whether there is room
> between the eyelet and the bottom of the blade. Grinding and cutting
> the plastic fender attachment point worked for me.
>
> The SKS P50s are shorter than Freddy 700C fenders. (I think the SKS
> P50s are supposed to fit 26" wheels and 700C wheels.)
>
>

 

[Simon Cooper]

"dvt" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> bktourer1 wrote:
> > What's the general feeling in the Planet Bike "Freddy Fender Hardcore
> > (45mm) for touring/Hybrid bikes. The info on the site looks good but
> > do they mount as easy as they say?

I have 3 sets of Planet Bike mudguards, all have been really good,
especially the ones on my wife's hybrid bike that she uses to commute
everyday. They even don't seem to mind much when they get bent around being
put into the back of the car on the occasions I have to pick her up. Those
on our Tandem just don't get the abuse, and the new ones I have are just
that - new.

Installation is easy enough, and the metal bits seem well attached.

 

[bktourer1]

Now that I have the freddy fenders, one mounting question. I use both
front and rear pannier racks, should the stays go between the frame
and the racks or outside of the racks?

Ed

 

[[email protected]]

bktourer1 wrote:
> Now that I have the freddy fenders, one mounting question. I use both
> front and rear pannier racks, should the stays go between the frame
> and the racks or outside of the racks?

I assume this means you're sharing mounting screws at the dropouts.
(Some dropouts have separate braze-on bosses for fender stays and for
rack struts.)

The loads on the rack struts are much larger than the loads on the
fender stays. So put the rack struts right up against the dropouts,
and the fender stays on the outside. This way the rack loads induce
less bending stress on the screws. It's more of a "direct shear"
situation, which should be stronger.

- Frank Krygowski

 

[A Muzi]

bktourer1 wrote:
> Now that I have the freddy fenders, one mounting question. I use both
> front and rear pannier racks, should the stays go between the frame
> and the racks or outside of the racks?

Where possible, put the carrier against the frame (mudguard
stays outside) so the bolts are less likely to bend/break.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

 

[satan]

I have planet bike fenders on my dual 20" recumbent. The front one is
perfect. The rear fender rattles and squeaks and pops off it's struts
everytime I hit a bump. I tried gluing it, tie-wrapping it, driving
screws through it, even a special incantation from the Necronomicon,
and nothing worked.

I have removed it from the bike and I'm now looking for something else
to use.

 

[dvt]

dvt wrote:
> My main problem with the SKS fenders (I had
> at least 2 sets) was cold weather. Well below freezing, the fenders
> would get brittle, and various incidents (contact with a bike rack, toe
> overlap, etc) would cause the fenders to crack or shatter....

> Now I have one of the old SKS fenders on the rear, and with the warm
> winter weather this year, I haven't yet broken it.

The old SKS fender on the rear shattered yesterday in temps around
23 °F (-5 °C). My previous experience with shattering fenders was at
lower temperatures. The incident that caused the shattering was beyond
the treatment that a fender should normally endure, so I can't really
complain too much. On the other hand, I'm pretty darn sure that the
Planet Bike fender would have survived.

In the end, I took the mounting bracket from the SKS and riveted it to
the Planet Bike fender. Now I have the old Planet Bike fender mounted,
although I guess you could call it a FrankenFender. I hope that survives
for a few more years.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu