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Trek 750 and fender clearance

Old 09-03-19, 04:34 PM
  #1  
scale
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Trek 750 and fender clearance

I have finished out my old 90s Trek 750 touring build. It is a tank. 36lbs unloaded. I took it out for ~20 yesterday with stuff on the rear and today i took it out for ~25mi today with ~25lbs on the front rack. What a beast. Its suprisingly smooth. I think the triple is an old suntour xcm 46/36/26 as far as gearing. I was able to goat up some steep hills around here with ease. I am happy so far.

Once concern i have is with my schwalbe marathon plus tires (40mm) and my planet bike fenders. The fenders are very very close on both sides and on top. The fender cant go up any higher into the fork crotch. I am using the original trek titan rims which are not skinny bu they are not really wide either. I am wondering if getting a wider 700c wheelset would allow the thread to come down a bit in the center?

Today i ran over some berries the size of blueberries on the trail and small gravel both bound up in the tire and fender as they went around. I should have threw some coffee beans down i guess. It would grind them up nicely

I am wondering if there is a way to get a bit more clearance on my fenders?

The way i see it

1 different tires (i wanna stick with the marathons if possible. I dont have time for flats and these are fast rolling and quite cushy at 60psi)
2 wider rims (seems like this might work)
3 grind out the unicrown (horrible idea)
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Old 09-03-19, 07:21 PM
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#3 sounds like a desperate measure but might be doable if all else fails.

I'd recommend smaller tires. I'm happy with 32C tires but most of my bikes won't take larger.

Try one of your existing tires on a bare rim of the type you're considering and compare with the tire still on the stock wheel. Measure carefully to see if there's any significance difference. I'd wager not.
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Old 09-04-19, 07:20 PM
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My commuter has regular marathons 35mm, and ride very well. They are most likely lower than the 40s, but I’d look into trying to reduce the fenders by a few mm’s, can you modify the strut that bolts to the crown?

will be tricky for you to determine if x tires or x rim brings the tire lower, but maybe look into 35mm tires also, again might be hard to compare unlesss they are put on your rim.

could you show a photo that shows your tire/fender clearance? From angles that show it well.
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Old 09-04-19, 07:23 PM
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Ps a guy on here showed once how he cut the front fender and mounted each part directly to the crown, so no fender under the crown. Would gain a fair amount.
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Old 09-05-19, 04:53 PM
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scale
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Originally Posted by djb
Ps a guy on here showed once how he cut the front fender and mounted each part directly to the crown, so no fender under the crown. Would gain a fair amount.
i have thought about this as well. That would allow the fender to raise up a few more mm and would probably work. I dont much like the idea but it surely is better than grinding on the crown itself. THats a horrible idea.

I took it out for another 30 loaded miles yesterday and it was fine. I was on perfectly smooth paved bike trails the whole time though. Life isnt that good usually.
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Old 09-05-19, 05:18 PM
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Can you post some pics of the crown/fender area? I had a similar situation where I only had to take a dremel to both sides of the fender to take out two 1/2 moon type notches which let the fork ride higher into the crown. The fender was still one piece and used the same mounts. It did not require sectioning said fender/ figuring out new front/rear of fork mounts.


The other suggestion- is of course- is keep riding it until the tires wear flat spots on the centers, which should fix the problem as well!
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Old 09-05-19, 07:55 PM
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Originally Posted by djb
Ps a guy on here showed once how he cut the front fender and mounted each part directly to the crown, so no fender under the crown. Would gain a fair amount.
You might be talking about what @rumrunn6 did. Excellent work and great pictures in his posts.

@scale, maybe check this post here where he put up links, and maybe check out that whole thread about the same question.

https://www.bikeforums.net/hybrid-bi...ck-accept.html

I ended up with a 1994 730 but don't have fenders so I can't add much about that. Went with 38s, Michelin Protek Cross, 1mm puncture protection strip. These are true 38s on Araya PX-45 rims with 17.5mm inner width above the bead well.

Last edited by rseeker; 09-06-19 at 12:07 PM.
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Old 09-06-19, 08:45 AM
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@rseeker thanks for the mention. I got better w/ each set I did. even did it w a mountain bike! I love the clearance!





which btw way is a good illustration how, if you want big fat rubber + fenders, you might be better off w/ a 29er (with or without a fork)
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