Well, I've got everything installed. Is it absolutely perfect? No. Would I notice if I didn't subscribe to Bicycle Quarterly and thumb through the Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles? No. It looks very good.
I did try Jan's advice of bending the fender by hand. That didn't seem to be working out as well as I had hoped, so I tried to hammer a flat spot. That didn't quite do the trick either. At that point, I wished that I had either used the L-bracket or gone to by a nylon washer as was suggested. I'm glad I'm using the inexpensive Velo Orange fenders. I probably should have also taken the advice to mount the fenders first, but I thought I had eyeballed the rack and fender well enough to install the rack first. Now I wonder if it will be at the wrong height if I ever by pre-dented fenders. Anyway, drilling the stainless steel was no problem thanks to all the advice. I still can't seem to drill exactly in the center of anything, but it's close enough. It looks good, and no one would notice the quirkiness of the install unless they knew what they were looking for. It's very Wabi Sabi. The rear fender was actually more trouble than I expected it to be. I couldn't mount it against the chainstay bridge because there was not enough width there. I mounted it a little back of the chainstay bridge, (using zipties because I had them on hand. If they fail there, it won't cause much of a problem, and it's quickly fixed). The H-bracket doesn't quite hold the fender up high enough. My Marathon XR's scrape on the bracket ever-so-slightly. I can bend the bracket and fiddle with the fender, and the scraping stops, but bouncing the bike in my office, (we're still iced in here), causes the scraping to start again. I might just have to get some smaller tires. Anyone using Jack Browns? I tried to mount the rear fender stays to the lower dropout eyelet, but my rear rack was in the way, and then the fender stay hardware was just barely in the way of the rear quick release nuts. I finally had to move them up to the upper eyelet with the rack, mounting them up and to the inside. I'm about 95% happy with the installation. My bike won't be in a coffee table book any time soon, but it's good enough for me. Thanks for all the advice. I'll try to get some pictures up on the web next week. Paul B. Cooley Santa Fe, NM http://carfreefamily.blogspot.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bicycle Lifestyle" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bicyclelifestyle?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
