DIY Mud Flaps - NW Rain Edition

[dmc]

Gonna keep my kicks clean this year.

Shower pan liner. Home depot.
http://i.imgur.com/rYapa.jpg

Took measurements. Drew out some designs on notebook paper. One design was selected and scaled to the material.
http://i.imgur.com/7korV.jpg

Cut out design with utility knife. Used saucer to the right for the radius. (Now has a brown marker line around the edge of it. Didn't tell roommate and put it back in the cupboard)
http://i.imgur.com/iWA8H.jpg

Close enough.
http://i.imgur.com/5KNPr.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/lHcyM.jpg

Colored my roommate a picture of Chia Dog and taped it on their laptop. http://theinterrobang.com/wp-content...g-chia-pet.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/MBS80.jpg

Drilled two holes above the existing hole in the fender.
http://i.imgur.com/vTuI6.jpg

Used the orange plug that came with the stock mud flaps and a lovely green zip tie that I purchased in a multi colored variety pack from dollar tree
http://i.imgur.com/kRaYQ.jpg

Underside
http://i.imgur.com/Z5Dpa.jpg

It hangs about two inches above the ground.
http://i.imgur.com/unnFa.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/N6N15.jpg



Works great.

[AJ08]

I recently bought some Planet Bike Cascadia fenders because they have a mudflap but the flaps are still about 9" above the ground. Are they going to do their job or is that too high?

[K'Tesh]

I feel that this was better in the Tip & Advice forum. I moved it, and added it to the "Perpetually Relevant Threads..." post.

Nice work...

I'm wondering if you could attach the images to the post?

[Alan]

Originally Posted by AJ08

I recently bought some Planet Bike Cascadia fenders because they have a mudflap but the flaps are still about 9" above the ground. Are they going to do their job or is that too high?

That sounds a bit high, at least for the front. If you pull a string from under the tire/ground contact patch to the bottom of your bottom bracket, the bottom of the fender flap should intersect the string, for best results. It might be even better if the string went from the contact patch to the bottom of the chainring. The string is approximating the roostertail of sludge kicked up by the tire, and the idea is for the fender flap to catch as much of that spray as possible before it gets on you or the drivetrain.

I have SKS "Longboards" which went so low that they caught debris, curbs, etc. (within an inch of the ground), so I re-riveted the hanger about 2" farther back, but the mudflap still goes down within 3" of a flat surface.

Nice work, dmc! Thanks for sharing. BTW, I went with lime green bar tape recently, too.

[dmc]

AJ08, Alan's advice is spot on.

K'Tesh, thanks for moving the post the to more appropriate forum. I had plans of attaching the images to the post but the images were massive and I was only allowed to post four.

Nice choice of the bar tape Alan! I am convinced the lime green tape makes my bike go faster!

[Alan]

Originally Posted by dmc

Nice choice of the bar tape Alan! I am convinced the lime green tape makes my bike go faster!

Oh, really?!! That is totally BONUS for me because I put it on to carry heavier loads up steeper hills.

[Psyfalcon]

Originally Posted by AJ08

I recently bought some Planet Bike Cascadia fenders because they have a mudflap but the flaps are still about 9" above the ground. Are they going to do their job or is that too high?

My cascadias are about 6 inches off the ground and are mostly vertical. I attached the eyelet to the back of my fork. At that height, they work in almost all rain conditions although during a particularly heavy pour or riding through puddles my feet get wet. Most of that is probably coming around the side of the fender though, given that my feet are out of line with the spray.

[AJ08]

I finally got a rigid fork so I could install the front fender and it's 5" off the ground. I rode through some leaves and didn't pick up any gunk on my feet or pant legs like I did before the fender was installed. There was some gunk that got on the underside of the bike where my pedals connect to the frame so I'm going to do some more riding in wet conditions to see if I may need to extend the mud flap somehow. Thanks for the advice and the tips.

[Alan]

Some gunk will always get on the underside (even fully enclosed drivetrains get gunky, just not as fast or as bad), so your solution to see how it goes seems eminently reasonable. Thanks for the follow-up, I like hearing how problems get fixed.

[scaryseth]

I too recently made a mud flap.
I choose to make it out of some old inner tube. Seemed fitting to recycle bike parts to serve a new purpose and the all black batched the all black bike. Used 3 layers of inner tube glued together with some adhesive I already had.

So far over the past week and half, it is holding up. If and when I have to re-make them, I will get a jar of rubber vulcanizing adhesive. I might also go for 4 instead of 3 layers as well. One of the inner layers I would probably flip facing the opposite directions to make it a little more straight. Only time I have noticed it going backward was when getting up to 35+ mph on a windy downhill stretch.

The shape so far is doing the trick. My bottom bracket is so much cleaner then it was prior to putting it on.

Comparison of the flap I made vs the one that came with the fender. The finishing washer, nut and bold I got at home depot, think I need to get a slightly longer bolt and make a second hole. It does not move much, just a hair side to side.
http://s38.beta.photobucket.com/user...80106.jpg.html

http://s38.beta.photobucket.com/user...81029.jpg.html

http://s38.beta.photobucket.com/user...80834.jpg.html