FD interferes with rear fender

A couple months ago I got some good assistance from the group here on how
to narrow the "Q" factor on my old Specialized Sirrus which I've converted
to a town bike (upright bars, nice wide saddle, basket, rack, fender,
lights).

But I ran into a snag when mounting triples with narrower Qs on a short
spindle: the front derailler could not move close enough to the seat tube
to shift the chain the the inner ring.

It was suggested here that I try an old school bottom-swing mtb FD. I got
a Shimano LX Bottom swing FD from eBay but hadn't gotten around to putting
it on until this morning when my knees announced that I better get around
to narrowing that tread--or else. So I put it on with a narrower crank set
and it all works great. The FD does swing closer to the seat tube which
means that the chain can now drop onto the inner ring.

However, the new FD has more bits behind the seat tube than the old, so I
had to remove my rear fender. It was already pretty crowded behind the
seat tube, what with this being a small frame and me putting on some 35mm
commuter tires...I was lucky to be able to squeeze the fender between the
tire and the BB in the first place. Now there's no chance.

So it seems that my options are to not use a rear fender, or chop off the
forward portion of the fender above the FD.

The (Planet Bike Freddy) Fender came with an accessory slip-on clamp that
I needed to use anyway to keep the fender from rubbing on the tire midway
up the seat tube (cable tied it to the seat tube), and I suppose I could
try to depend on it to fix the forward portion of the fender, but I dunno.
Seems iffy w/o the nice bolt that held the front of the fender to the
brazed-in mounting hole thing between the chainstays.

Cut a hole in the fender to make room for the FD, maybe?
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"
Bend, Oregon

I don't know if it will help your situation or not, but in the past I
have heated Planet Bike fenders with a heat gun and dented them for fork
and brake clearance. You have to keep them deformed in the correct
position until they cool and don't forget to wear gloves, they stay hot
for a while.


Marcus

Mike*Rocket*J*Squirrel writes:

Cut a hole in the fender to make room for
the FD, maybe?

I think aesthetics & function may lose out to practicality in this
case.
You need a lower Q factor 100% of the time. You only need full fender
protection [ ? ] % of the time. Cut the fender.

These are the little details we all encounter while making _a_ bike,
into a _our_own_ bike.

The purist may have a fit but it is _your_ bike! I'll never tell.

Best Regards - Mike Baldwin

On 10/26/2008 8:04 PM Michael Baldwin wrote:

Mike Rocket J Squirrel writes:

Cut a hole in the fender to make room for
the FD, maybe?

I think aesthetics & function may lose out to practicality in this
case.
You need a lower Q factor 100% of the time. You only need full fender
protection [ ? ] % of the time. Cut the fender.

These are the little details we all encounter while making _a_ bike,
into a _our_own_ bike.

The purist may have a fit but it is _your_ bike! I'll never tell.

Best Regards - Mike Baldwin


Thanks, Mike. I'm not real worried about the aesthetics. I'm mainly
wondering that if the front of the fender is cut off so it can no longer
be anchored by the bolt between the chainstays, whether it can be neatly
affixed behind the seat tube using the provided slip-on clamp and a couple
of wire ties.

Only one way to find out, I reckon. Someone hand me that that hacksaw!

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"
Bend, Oregon

On 10/26/2008 8:04 PM Michael Baldwin wrote:

Mike Rocket J Squirrel writes:

Cut a hole in the fender to make room for
the FD, maybe?

I think aesthetics & function may lose out to practicality in this
case.
You need a lower Q factor 100% of the time. You only need full fender
protection [ ? ] % of the time. Cut the fender.

These are the little details we all encounter while making _a_ bike,
into a _our_own_ bike.

The purist may have a fit but it is _your_ bike! I'll never tell.

Best Regards - Mike Baldwin


Thanks, Mike. I'm not real worried about the aesthetics. I'm mainly
wondering that if the front of the fender is cut off so it can no longer
be anchored by the bolt between the chainstays, whether it can be neatly
affixed behind the seat tube using the provided slip-on clamp and a couple
of wire ties.

Only one way to find out, I reckon. Someone hand me that that hacksaw!

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"
Bend, Oregon

On 10/26/2008 8:04 PM Michael Baldwin wrote:

Mike Rocket J Squirrel writes:

Cut a hole in the fender to make room for
the FD, maybe?

I think aesthetics & function may lose out to practicality in this
case.
You need a lower Q factor 100% of the time. You only need full fender
protection [ ? ] % of the time. Cut the fender.

These are the little details we all encounter while making _a_ bike,
into a _our_own_ bike.

The purist may have a fit but it is _your_ bike! I'll never tell.

Best Regards - Mike Baldwin


Thanks, Mike. I'm not real worried about the aesthetics. I'm mainly
wondering that if the front of the fender is cut off so it can no longer
be anchored by the bolt between the chainstays, whether it can be neatly
affixed behind the seat tube using the provided slip-on clamp and a couple
of wire ties.

Only one way to find out, I reckon. Someone hand me that that hacksaw!

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"
Bend, Oregon

On 10/26/2008 7:57 PM Marcus Coles wrote:

I don't know if it will help your situation or not, but in the past I
have heated Planet Bike fenders with a heat gun and dented them for fork
and brake clearance. You have to keep them deformed in the correct
position until they cool and don't forget to wear gloves, they stay hot
for a while.


Marcus

Handy tips, Marcus.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"
Bend, Oregon

Mike Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
A couple months ago I got some good assistance from the group here on
how to narrow the "Q" factor on my old Specialized Sirrus which I've
converted to a town bike (upright bars, nice wide saddle, basket, rack,
fender, lights).

But I ran into a snag when mounting triples with narrower Qs on a short
spindle: the front derailler could not move close enough to the seat
tube to shift the chain the the inner ring.

It was suggested here that I try an old school bottom-swing mtb FD. I
got a Shimano LX Bottom swing FD from eBay but hadn't gotten around to
putting it on until this morning when my knees announced that I better
get around to narrowing that tread--or else. So I put it on with a
narrower crank set and it all works great. The FD does swing closer to
the seat tube which means that the chain can now drop onto the inner ring.

However, the new FD has more bits behind the seat tube than the old, so
I had to remove my rear fender. It was already pretty crowded behind the
seat tube, what with this being a small frame and me putting on some
35mm commuter tires...I was lucky to be able to squeeze the fender
between the tire and the BB in the first place. Now there's no chance.

So it seems that my options are to not use a rear fender, or chop off
the forward portion of the fender above the FD.

The (Planet Bike Freddy) Fender came with an accessory slip-on clamp
that I needed to use anyway to keep the fender from rubbing on the tire
midway up the seat tube (cable tied it to the seat tube), and I suppose
I could try to depend on it to fix the forward portion of the fender,
but I dunno. Seems iffy w/o the nice bolt that held the front of the
fender to the brazed-in mounting hole thing between the chainstays.

Cut a hole in the fender to make room for the FD, maybe?

It's de rigeur to cut the fender to fit it between the chainstays if it
doesn;t fit, so go for it.

On Oct 26, 9:09*pm, Mike Rocket J Squirrel
wrote:
A couple months ago I got some good assistance from the group here on how
to narrow the "Q" factor on my old Specialized Sirrus which I've converted
to a town bike (upright bars, nice wide saddle, basket, rack, fender,
lights).

But I ran into a snag when mounting triples with narrower Qs on a short
spindle: the front derailler could not move close enough to the seat tube
to shift the chain the the inner ring.

It was suggested here that I try an old school bottom-swing mtb FD. I got
a Shimano LX Bottom swing FD from eBay but hadn't gotten around to putting
it on until this morning when my knees announced that I better get around
to narrowing that tread--or else. So I put it on with a narrower crank set
and it all works great. The FD does swing closer to the seat tube which
means that the chain can now drop onto the inner ring.

However, the new FD has more bits behind the seat tube than the old, so I
had to remove my rear fender. It was already pretty crowded behind the
seat tube, what with this being a small frame and me putting on some 35mm
commuter tires...I was lucky to be able to squeeze the fender between the
tire and the BB in the first place. Now there's no chance.

So it seems that my options are to not use a rear fender, or chop off the
forward portion of the fender above the FD.

The (Planet Bike Freddy) Fender came with an accessory slip-on clamp that
I needed to use anyway to keep the fender from rubbing on the tire midway
up the seat tube (cable tied it to the seat tube), and I suppose I could
try to depend on it to fix the forward portion of the fender, but I dunno..
Seems iffy w/o the nice bolt that held the front of the fender to the
brazed-in mounting hole thing between the chainstays.

Cut a hole in the fender to make room for the FD, maybe?

Run 28mm tires so you can move the fender away from the mech? ;-)

My PB fenders rub the mech when I use the granny--doesn't hurt
anything. Top swing, btw.

On 10/28/2008 1:57 PM landotter wrote:

On Oct 26, 9:09 pm, Mike Rocket J Squirrel
wrote:
A couple months ago I got some good assistance from the group here on how
to narrow the "Q" factor on my old Specialized Sirrus which I've converted
to a town bike (upright bars, nice wide saddle, basket, rack, fender,
lights).

But I ran into a snag when mounting triples with narrower Qs on a short
spindle: the front derailler could not move close enough to the seat tube
to shift the chain the the inner ring.

It was suggested here that I try an old school bottom-swing mtb FD. I got
a Shimano LX Bottom swing FD from eBay but hadn't gotten around to putting
it on until this morning when my knees announced that I better get around
to narrowing that tread--or else. So I put it on with a narrower crank set
and it all works great. The FD does swing closer to the seat tube which
means that the chain can now drop onto the inner ring.

However, the new FD has more bits behind the seat tube than the old, so I
had to remove my rear fender. It was already pretty crowded behind the
seat tube, what with this being a small frame and me putting on some 35mm
commuter tires...I was lucky to be able to squeeze the fender between the
tire and the BB in the first place. Now there's no chance.

So it seems that my options are to not use a rear fender, or chop off the
forward portion of the fender above the FD.

The (Planet Bike Freddy) Fender came with an accessory slip-on clamp that
I needed to use anyway to keep the fender from rubbing on the tire midway
up the seat tube (cable tied it to the seat tube), and I suppose I could
try to depend on it to fix the forward portion of the fender, but I dunno.
Seems iffy w/o the nice bolt that held the front of the fender to the
brazed-in mounting hole thing between the chainstays.

Cut a hole in the fender to make room for the FD, maybe?

Run 28mm tires so you can move the fender away from the mech? ;-)

Nope, nope. I like the chubbies.

My PB fenders rub the mech when I use the granny--doesn't hurt
anything. Top swing, btw.

With my previous top swing, the fender had /just/ enuough room to avoid
rubbing the tire. This here bottom swing is bulky. No more'n 4 mm between
the cable pull thingy and the tire. I might just chop a hole in the fender
to give it some breathing room.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"
Bend, Oregon