danko

Hey,

Recently finished a frame-up resto-mod of a Trek 520 from around 2005 or so. I'm looking for suggestions for full coverage fenders for the bike.

The issue is that the front fork doesn't have a ton of space. See picture.




There's about 35mm of space between the fork legs at the top of the tire. It's a Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700x35C tire (measures ~34.5mm) and ideally the fender would be about 1cm wider.

Different tire? Go down to a 32mm? Cut the sides of the fender? Some combo of the above?
Thanks

FBinNY 

Buy a close but no cigar set of fenders. Carefully notch the sides to clear the fork. Then use a rat tail file on the mounting tab so you can pull the fender up against the crown.

Another option is to ignore the mounting tab entirely. Fit an expander plug up into the bottom of the steerer. Then drill a hole into the fender and use the plug's screw to mount the fender.

Or shop around, hope for the best, and (maybe) use a smaller tire.

oldbobcat

Bontrager (Trek) has a fender set for 700c x 32-35 mm tires. You might still have to notch them to get around the fork crown and rear stay bridges on your bike. https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/e...llowvisibility

Arrowana

If you want to maximize tire clearance, consider swapping the fork. A Surly Cross-Check fork fits 700x41 with fenders.

Crankycrank

There are/were a couple mfrs that made fenders that were cut into two pieces and joined by a metal bracket that allowed them to be raised above the fork and rear stay mounting points for tight fitting tires. I think GIANT made one but can't find it in my short search. You could also fabricate your own setup like this for standard fenders. This SKS version is close to what I'm talking about but I know the OP wants one with stays for braze-on eyelets and wider. Gives you an idea of how to make your own brackets though. RACEBLADE LONG SET - SKS GERMANY (sks-germany.com)

danko

Great suggestions guys, I'll see if I can track down the Bontrager fenders and notch them if needed. I might also go down to a 32 but don't want to go much smaller than that.

Swapping forks is a good idea too but I'll leave that as a last resort if nothing else will work.

grumpus

That looks like loads of space to me. The fender doesn't need to be wider than the tyre, water flings off towards the centre of the tread, so that's where you need cover. As long as the tyre fits between the fender stays without rubbing it will be fine.