busted
I broke another Honjo fender last night… again in the rear and again on my Indy Fab. I am wondering if I just stress them too much, or the fit is too tight for those particular seat stays, or if they are just too weak of fenders for my needs. The pair I’ve got on my Salsa are still running strong, and I bought a brand new pair for the incoming Boxer bike, so I’m really hoping that I just have had bad luck in the past.
I might ask Dan to get creative with the mounting so we can spread some of the stress at the brake bridge. I don’t want to be in another situation where I am in the middle of a brevet and have to ditch the fender.
Chris and I went out and scouted a road last night. Microsoft Streets and Trips put it as the quickest route back in to South Park at the end of the 100K. I was worried that it might not be very bike friendly. Thankfully, I was wrong and it is even more fun than the original route. It adds a couple of rolling hills but pays off with an awesome bomb downhill with a fantastic view of Seattle from the top.
The sky was an amazing apricot color last night as some unexpected clouds rolled in. Because I took off my broken fenders, it rained of course. I was in shorts and a loose shirt. The spring rain felt wonderful though, especially after all of the heat we’ve had.
June 5th, 2009 at 10:30 am
I have broken 2 Honjos at the brake bridge. My current set is wider (a bit too wide vs. a bit too small with the 35s), has the sliding brake bridge attachment rather than the screwed on bracket, and has 2 drawbolts on the rear stay. So far so good. I think the sliding bracket makes it easier to get a stress-free installation and spreads the load more vs. the angle bracket. The best option is probably a drilled boss under the brake bridge so you can screw the fender right to it. Since your new bike is a custom I am guessing it will have this feature.
June 5th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Per Andy Speier – the hammered Honjo’s seem to perform better under stress than the polished ones. I myself run with the hammered Honjos and have never had one break – despite removing them many times and stressing them pretty badly (had to drill them to attach via the fork crown daruma and also had to bend the rear one to remove the bridge so that I could attach the hanger in order to better stabilize it.) For what it’s worth.
June 5th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Jeff – I’m using the sliding bracket on my Salsa, so that might make the difference. It is noticeably noisier than the bracket solution though. Hopefully I can find some middle ground.
Jack – Sadly, both broken fenders are the hammered versions. My new fenders that are going on the Boxer are the fluted ones. I have my fingers crossed still.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:13 am
consider gluing a bit of inner tube material to the inside of the sliding bracket, will quite things down. I’ve broken other fenders (plastic) from the stress of tension in the mounting. Also, Jan had a nice article on getting the correct radius on the fenders before mounting. If you radius them before mounting you are effectively pre-relieveing the stress before mounting. More to it than just bending them over your knee.
Apricot Sunset? Sounds like the perfect color for a custom rando steed. Think pearl apricot. Though if you go with such an elegant color you won’t be able to nick name the Boxer, ‘Tyson’, or ‘Spike’, … but maybe Ali!
Yr Pal, Dr C