I'm not the world's best bike mechanic, but neither am I a novice. The
first pair of plastic fenders I worked with were Bluemels, from the late
70's. Around the turn of the millennium I first installed a pair of SKS
fenders. It seemed pretty straight forward and simple. You attached them
to the brake bolt and drop outs, threaded the stays through a metal hole,
and tightened a nut. You could trim the stays if you wanted to or just put
a little plastic cap over the end. Finally you fussed with the alignment.
You were done, until they came out of alignment. I migrated to metal
fenders. They are just a bit more challenging, I needed to be more careful
in getting them aligned, but once that was done, they would stay put for
years.
Two years ago I bought a pair of the cream "longboys" to replace a broken
eight year old Honjo on my Ram. At that time I discovered that SKS had
decided to make one small change and complicated installation immensely.
The little plastic cap that fit over the end of the stay has been replaced
with an integrated plastic anchor. Presumably these will keep the cap on
the stay, but they also require threading the stay while holding the screw
and bolt in place. They also limit how far the stay can go past the bolt,
so that the stay must be cut before you get a good look at how long you
want them to be. All together annoying.
Anyway, it turned out I didn't like the cream against the Ram blue, so I
replaced them with VO aluminum. Yesterday I put those SKS fenders on my
daughters new Chevy-ut. What a PIA. The third time one or more of the
little stay bolts popped out all over the floor while I was trying to mate
up its sister I swore I would never work on plastic fenders again. Then,
with the stays perhaps a few mm too long I struggled for a long time trying
simultaneously to line up the arch and remove a persistent twist.
Give me a good metal fender any day. They just require care, not three
hands and a box full of ambidextrous luck.
BTW, just bar tape & kickstand to go on the Cheviut. Hopefully pictures,
later today.
Michael
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