On 06/09/2016 01:27 PM, Bill Lindsay wrote:
I have five thoughts on this subject
1. I agree that metal fenders look nicer than plastics. I have no
gripes with anybody who chooses to use metal fenders exclusively.
That said, I think plastics look fine, and are good enough for many
things. I use metals and plastics about 50/50 in my stable.
I only replaced the SKS fenders on my Longstaff because the weight of
the Pixeo tail light kept breaking the fender. I had them on that bike
for over a dozen years and thought they worked fine, looked like they
belonged (I mean, Longstaff is as British as it's possible to be, and
plastic fenders pretty much are "the British way") and I went with metal
because I was afraid the breakage issue would continue with other brands
of plastic fenders, and because they were on sale, the price was within
ten dollars of the plastic ones.
2. If you are doing it right, metal fenders take a bit longer to
install than plastics. If it took 3 hours, you were doing it wrong.
If it required 3 arms and a box of ambidextrous luck, you were doing
it wrong. Doing it right should take about 40 minutes for plastics
and about 60 minutes for metal. Maybe 80 minutes for metal if they
are not pre-drilled. I'm speaking roughly and generally because
usually this process is meditative, and involves a glass of wine or
dram of whisky.
If you're doing it for the first time and you're serious about being
meditative, 3 hours would still be within the realm of reasonable.
Printed instructions and photographs only go so far. If you've never
seen it done, you're right to appreciate the delicacy of the materials
you're working with and the costly harm you can so easily and so quickly
done. Taking the time to stop, play it all again in your mind and calm
yourself down, can be time well spent. Of course, subsequent installs
are faster and easier, but this is one area where being in a hurry is
wrong in every possible way.
3. I agree 100% with Steve Palincsar that the very best fender
installs happen on bicycles designed perfectly to accept metal
fenders. That means equidistant bridges, with a threaded boss already
present at the seatstay bridge, the chainstay bridge and under the
fork crown. That install takes a while because you need to custom
drill your fenders for the bike, but that's the very best way, in my
opinion. Everything else is a workaround. The relative goodness of
that workaround is in the eye of the beholder. All of my Rivendells
have nice threaded bridges in back. None of my Rivendells have a
proper fender attachment point at the fork crown, so I have to use an
L-Bracket there. That's a workaround, but I think it's an acceptable
workaround.
"My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts..."
"My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts," - See more at:
http://www.startrek.com/database_article/mind-meld-vulcan#sthash.5IQbk0p5.dpuf
4. The most common way of "doing it wrong" in my experience, is
trying to do a proper fender install with the bike on the ground.
Choosing to try to install your own fenders without having the bike
in a proper workstand will definitely make the job more challenging
and probably more frustrating. Metal fenders in particular, with
perfectly designed attachment points, require you to remove and
reinstall the wheels multiple times. I don't recommend attempting
that without having the bike in a stand. If the bike is on the
ground, then that motivates me to try to do everything with the wheels
on, and that just makes it harder.
Agree 1,000%. I can't even imagine attempting to install metal fenders
without a proper workstand. Talk about "this won't end well..."
5. I agree with Michael in his OP that whether or not to choose to
use a product has little to do with the product itself and almost
everything to do with the person holding the wrench. Michael doesn't
like installing plastic fenders, so he won't do it anymore. Bravo.
Similarly, I find doing a bleed on mineral-oil hydraulic brakes far
easier than doing a bleed on D.O.T. fluid hydraulic brakes, so I
choose to avoid D.O.T. hydraulic brakes. My choice says little
objectively about D.O.T. brakes. My choice says something about my
mechanical abilities and proclivities. People who find themselves
similar to Michael in ability and experience might also decide to stop
using plastic fenders. That's totally cool. I don't like roofing or
drain-side plumbing, so I pay people to do those things. I like
construction framing and supply-side plumbing, so I do those tasks
when they arise. Those choices have more to do with me than they have
to do with the nature of the tasks.
Like some guitarists like Martin Dreadnoughts over J-series Gibsons, and
vice versa. Neither is wrong, and both are splendid guitars. If you're
doing it for the love of it, you shouldn't work on or use what you don't
love. That is a burden only professionals must carry.
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