Bikeguy1

I need to cut part of the fender out to fit my wheels and was wondering if anyone has done it? I dont want to ruin the whole thing.

I know that they are just plastic and am worried if I tried cutting it that it would split or crack or something. I would also like to drill a couple holes in it for mounting it.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

juicemouse

Just so you're aware, fenders are supposed to fit around the wheel.

Seriously though, you shouldn't have too much of a problem cutting them up however you want if the plastic isn't too brittle. Try to make the cut as clean as possible. My SKS fenders are pretty brittle and I don't know if I'd attempt something like that on them.

Marylandnewbie

I had to drill some holes in my fenders to make some short term repairs. The big thing is to make sure the area where you are working is fully supported when you are drilling or cutting. Clamping things down can help or at least tape the fender to a piece of wood that will fit the inside width to give everythign some strength.

I would use a hand hacksaw to cut, go slowly and make sure you don't twist the blade from side to side too much which might make the plastic crack. When drilling go slowly and let the drill cut through rather than push too hard.

Bikeguy1

The plastic seems pretty sturdy, I was thinking of that marylandnewbie, maybe getting something stiffer to rest the fender on and cutting through both. It should help in the cutting and maybe not shatter it.

I got a set of these: https://www.rivercitybicycles.com/images/split3_lg.jpg and was going to give them a try.

There is no way that I could get the fenders through under the brakes. I tried over an hour and it just wouldnt work. The tire is to big.(trek1000 with 25c armadillos which are really more like 28c ).

I was just looking for someone who maybe cut theirs for some reason or another and if they had any problems doing it. Thanks guys.

cascade168

I just mounted a front SKS fender and I had to cut some holes in it to make it fit up into the fork and still give me proper tire clearance. These fenders are not a smooth curve and the fork I was trying to fit has a very narrow smooth curve and would not let the fender seat snugly against the crown. To solve this problem I had to make some oval holes on either side of the fender where it was making contact with the bottom of the fork crown (it's a CF fork). I also had to remove the original hanger (mounted to the top of the fender with two rivets), as it's thickness was also interfering with the fender to tire clearance. I replaced it with the same SKS hanger (called a "brake bridge clip") that they give you for the rear fender. It grips the sides of the fender and costs you no clearance on the top. These hangers should work on any fender and you can get them in four different widths at Harris Cyclery. They are flexible and can easily be bent. See:

https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/fenders.html#hardware

-- scroll down and look for "Brake Bridge Clips"

The plastic that these fenders are made of is extremely tough stuff (but still easy to drill). I cut out my holes by first drawing an outline of the ovals I wanted to cut out. Then I drilled small pilot holes. I then used a UniBit to drill the majority of the rest of the whole. UniBits are great for soft materials and sheet metal, as opposed to regular drill bits which stink. To go from the round hole to the ovals, I finished the cutting with the Dremel tool. I then finished the edges with a couple of grades of emery cloth. I also tried cutting with aircraft/tin snips and they worked just fine but were too big to really get into the holes I had cut, so I ended up with the Dremel tool. I could have done the whole thing with the Dremel, but I am sure the UniBit saved me a lot of time. I had to keep fitting the fender to the fork until I got the holes I needed.

Since there are only a few inches of fender that protrude in front of the fork, the holes I cut out did not weaken the fender to any significant extent and the hanger holds up the front just fine.

This exercise gave me a new perspective on what to look for in a bike or fork that you will be installing fenders on. Those huge, wide open spaces under a Rivendell fork look very nice right now ;-)

Good luck with your project !!

cascade168

I just looked at your (???) picture and it is a very similar problem to the one I had. It's possible that the same solution I came to would work for the "won't fit under the brake caliper" problem. If you cut ovals on either side of the fender to eliminate the ridges, then you can get the fender further away from the tire. You would then need a brake bridge clip like I referred to the my last post. This method would eliminate having to cut the fender into two pieces (arrrgh!).

Bikeguy1

Thanks Cascade. I will have to check that what you did will work on mine. It sounds like a better idea. It has a carbon fiber fork and is pretty thick at the top so I would probably need to cut out 3 inches or so lengthwise I think.

The picture isnt my bike, it is the instructions showing what it should look like when complete.

I am with you on the wide forks. I wouldnt of started on this if I knew what a pain it would be. But now with money tied up into the fenders I at least gotta give it another go.

cascade168

I did that job for a friend and I'm going to have that bike back over the weekend. I will take some pictures and post them up. It was one of those jobs that I thought would take ten minutes and turned into about three hours ;-)

chuckfox

Looks like you are well on your way to a solution. I have cut a Freddy Fender to fit the front of a touring bike, so the front fender would stop right at the bracket and thus not interfere with the brake. The plastic material cuts quite nicely with a hack saw and I used a file to shape it, so it didn't just look chopped off.

Unfortuntely, the downside to shortening the front fender was that while it protected my feet and bottom bracket, the front tire would still sling water with gook in it forward. The gook laden water would fly up toward my chest and face. Even though it was slinging the stuff forward...I would end up running through this little fountain created by the front tire. I guess what I'm saying is that front part of the fender is there for a good reason.