phtomita

Very happy with my home made flap, 1 inch to surface and keeps my shoe cover and bb area clean.
2 zip ties and piece of table mat

epnnf

Cool! Let us know how it rides/works

rumrunn6

that's great, I love DIY mudflaps!

pdlamb

Looks a bit better than my old part-of-a-shampoo mudflap. That one only lasted about 10 years -- yours may well last longer.

phtomita

I've had before a piece of gallon milk container that is harder, so when I saw the mat at dollar shop I though will give it a try

79pmooney

Good work. Passes the key criteria - being less stiff than the fender so when you wheel the bike off a sidewalk to the road to start your ride, you don't break the fender with your lever of a flap on the curb.

I don't run my flaps quite so low so they don't hit quite as much road debris but are still good and long. Been using drafting and graphics film (thin mylar and the like) for the past 20 years, cutting two flaps and taping them together with packing tape around the edges. This makes for a flap that is stiff enough to take the curl of the fender yet easily crumple on that curb hit and pop right back. I remove the fender rivets, place the flap between the inside of the fender and the bracket for the stays and secure with pop rivets or screws and nuts.

For me, making the flaps thin and with minimal fastening thickness is important because toe clearance is a factor on many of my bikes. Bigger tires also drives this. Fix gear doesn't help! When that fender hit from my toe is coming, there is no way to stop it except stop and lie down on the pavement. (Usually, not very gracefully.) I tend to go simply "Screw you, fender." And do better next time at clean fastener heads and minimal clearance inside to the tire.

Fenders. The great English invention. (?) I don't know that they invented them but they sure knew how to make good ones that worked! 60 years ago. With real flaps that worked. And the Japanese who made so many good bikes with fender eyes. Many sized for 27" wheels so running 700c, large tires and fenders worked really well.

Edit: Cut down water bottles are the popular Portland flaps. I always wonder how many curb hits with a flap that stiff the fender can take. (That is going to depend a lot on the fender material. The rather flexy Planet Bike fenders should be able to take many hits. The stiffer and more brittle SKS not so much. And stiffness, for front fenders is a real benefit as it cuts down on vibration, something that can be driven by flaps with curl that cause wind eddies at speed. (Curled flaps also are narrower, potentially more aerodynamic and channel the water better. Don't blow back at speed. Fenders with 2 sets of stays are far better at preventing oscillation with curled flaps. A good solid bracket at the fork crown also helps. (Here's looking at you, Planet Bike. Poor mount, flexy plastic and one set of stays. And thank you, SKS.)

rumrunn6

I have one I made from a Walmart mousepad & it's held on w/ binder clips

I don't always use it. but it does help sometimes on my MTB

but not always

GamblerGORD53

Da hell, that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Crazy ridiculously low as well. Your fender will not last long with that monstrosity. The stays sticking out are nuts as well.
Here are my PERFECT and beautiful mud flaps. 4 3/4" off the ground. Made from my high rubber boots worn in the winter. >>



This bike came with alu fenders and wrap around stays with 1 bolt in the middle. Very poor for toe overlap and adjusting.
The front fender is older than me, 70 years at least. LOL. Back one is off my 1973 Raleigh that had 630 rims.
The flap in front of the rear wheel is also very useful to keep from splashing the chain, kickstand and maybe my feet.

BobbyG

Nine years ago, prompted by a similar thread I experimented with a DIY front fender flap. I ended up with a yoga mat secured to the fender by three nylon bolts. I thought I'd have to replace the mat every couple of years but here it is nine years of all-season snow and rain commuting and it is still intact. A couple of years ago I added a thinner black flap to the outside (a dollar store floormat) mostly for cosmetics, but also to keep the flap from flapping at speed.


When I bought my new main commuting bike in 2015 I also bought SKS longboards in the longest size and mounted them to the rear of the fork crown to rotate them further down in the back...no additional flap was needed.


My other fendered bike is my 2007 Dahon Boardwalk folder. Its front fender needs to be longer, but reduces road spray enough to keep my feet relatively dry, but not as well as the other two bikes. At some point I will probably see how lengthening it affects its foldability.

I-Like-To-Bike

DIY is fine; I'm also happy with the traditional.

Chuck Naill

Fenders and mud flats are the best accessory a biker can own.

mcours2006

Very cool!

Here's mine:


An old mouse pad.

HenryhHuber

Excellent DIY solution! Keeps your feet dry and more importantly your bike clean