SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

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Psamathe
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Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by Psamathe »

Maybe some "P" type clip (as often used for attaching mudguard stays/racks/etc.).

Ian
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foxyrider
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Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by foxyrider »

It is the correct way of fitting, the sliding bridge is the bodge! :D
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
Brucey
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Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by Brucey »

if a screw-through mounting is done well it is good, but if it is done badly it is a worse idea by far IMHO.

The reason for this is that when something breaks, if the mudguard is fastened vertically through a drilled hole, it will almost certainly be the mudguard that is broken. Game over, new mudguards required.

Should a bridge clip break, it can be repaired or replaced quite easily; the mudguard itself very rarely fails at this position if a bridge clip is used.

In any event I think that two pairs of stays are necessary for a good rear mudguard. I also think that it is easy to fit a mudguard under some strain, which hastens its failure regardless of type.

A tip; if fitting a bridge clip, I like to use a decent sized washer each side of it, so that the bottom of the slot in the clip cannot see a bending load. If this simple policy is adopted, failure of the clip is extremely unlikely.

cheers
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reohn2
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Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by reohn2 »

Valbrona wrote:
reohn2 wrote:Or it can be a matter of carefully drilling the m/guard in the correct place using a buttonheaded S/S bolt through it,with a large washer either side to protect the mudguard.
Then using more washers or threaded valve securing nuts,or rollers from old chains,or a piece cut from the barrel of an old S/S pen,or a concave and convex pair of V brake pad spacers,or oversized S/S nuts,etc,etc.All or any comination of the above can used to space the mudguard the desired distance from the tyre.
It's also a direct fit and neater than a mudguard bridge :wink:


Oh, easy.


Certainly is :D
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IanW
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Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by IanW »

In the past, regardless of whether using a mudguard "bridge" to-be-drilled-through+bolt fitting mudguard,
I have used a "bridge" or a temporary bodged bridge type thing.

This is what I did on 3 separate bikes with 3 sets of SKS mudguards

With the bike upside down (and the wheel(s) out)

1) I fitted the mudguard at the bottom bracket first. Typically not super-securely though, at least not yet.

2) Then I fitted the bridge *loosely* allowing the mudguard to move fairly freely through the bridge
(Use a zip-tie, garden wire, string, insulating tape or whatever)

3) Then I *approximately* fitted the twin rear stays, finger-tight only / enough so they don't fall apart

4) I then replaced the wheel and put the bike the right way up.
(Gravity now helps the mudguard fall towards the wheel, for a close fit)

5) Adjust the rear stays to the correct length, sliding the mudguard through the loose bridge as needed.
This allows you to set the correct shape / clearance of mudguard with minimum stress.
You will now find out whether you bought the correct size of mudguards and have not damaged or cut or pinched-tight any tabs.
Remember to check the clearance at the seat-stay bridge at this time. This *may* involve tightening the bridge mount a bit.

6) Then and only then consider the correct longitudinal placement of the bridge
and exact height of the mudguard above the tyre at the seat-stay bridge
Remember to allow for bolt head + load spreading washer inside the mudguard if using the through-bolt-type mounting.
This is the time to work out exactly where to drill the mudguard if this is needed and measure how much spacing will be needed
Or it is the time to work out where to pinch-tight the bridge tabs to now stop the mudguard sliding through the bridge.

7) Invert the bike, remove the wheel and mudguard (undo the bridge + bottom bracket and at the hub-end of the stays)
and drill mudguard / pinch-tight the tabs somewhere *away* from your precious frame / paintwork

8) Reassemble (with appropriate length spacers, you did measure at step 6, right)
and re-fit the wheel and you should now have a well fitted, minimally stressed mudguard.
This will not necessarily leave *you* unstressed, but a well fitted secure and happy (unstressed) mudguard do help.

This is what seemed to work for me, so it may or may not be 2p-worth.

P.S. try and always use stainless bolts washers round mudguards, particularly on the *inside* / tyre-facing side,
because road grit + water + road salt make for a very short life for mild and even galvanized steel.
fastpedaller
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Location: Norfolk

Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by fastpedaller »

'Mudguard' or 'Penny' washers, as other have said are a good thing to use if putting a fixing straight through. I recently did the same, and this tip may be useful......
find an old piece of heavy steel tube or bar with a diameter that fits snugly into the mudguard (if that makes sense). Using this tube and a piece of softwood, sandwich the penny washer between the two, and put it in a vice. Squeeze the lot hard, and you will end up with a penny washer perfectly shaped to fit your mudguard (and a smashed up piece of wood, but that's a small price to pay!).
reohn2
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Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by reohn2 »

fastpedaller wrote:'Mudguard' or 'Penny' washers, as other have said are a good thing to use if putting a fixing straight through. I recently did the same, and this tip may be useful......
find an old piece of heavy steel tube or bar with a diameter that fits snugly into the mudguard (if that makes sense). Using this tube and a piece of softwood, sandwich the penny washer between the two, and put it in a vice. Squeeze the lot hard, and you will end up with a penny washer perfectly shaped to fit your mudguard (and a smashed up piece of wood, but that's a small price to pay!).


An actual (new)penny makes a good washer too.Drill it,then with two pair of pliers,hold it at opposites then bend to the m/guard profile :)
It won't rust either :wink:
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beardy
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Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by beardy »

It will rust nowadays. Unless you manage to find one of the old "coppers" instead of the current plated steel ones.
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Mick F
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Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by Mick F »

I'm on my third set of mudguards on my Mercian. Oct 1986 to Nov 2014.
All of which were drilled and fitted with a SS bolt, valve nuts for spacers, and a single plain washer.

The only mudguard broken in 28years was the one damaged in my spectacular OFF in 2007. :shock:
...... and that didn't break, it "only" bent a bit. :lol:
Rear Mudguard.jpg
Mick F. Cornwall
reohn2
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Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by reohn2 »

beardy wrote:It will rust nowadays. Unless you manage to find one of the old "coppers" instead of the current plated steel ones.

EEK! :shock:
I haven't used one for a while,but I thought they were all copper alloy
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
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beardy
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Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by beardy »

You could be twenty years out of date there, just try some with a magnet.
fastpedaller
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Location: Norfolk

Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by fastpedaller »

beardy wrote:It will rust nowadays. Unless you manage to find one of the old "coppers" instead of the current plated steel ones.


Indeed - check them with a magnet. I've been tempted to take a big magnet into the seaside amusements to see how many 2p's I could get off the shove-em-offs, but never tried it :wink:
Brucey
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Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by Brucey »

the first composite copper coinage (after 1992) wasn't so much 'plated' as of 'sandwich construction'. If you take a section of one, it had a thin lozenge-shaped steel piece between two copper discs. I guess about 1/3 of the coin is steel, maybe a touch more. A few years ago it started to become worth more as scrap than as coinage, because the price of copper went so high.

For the past several years the banks have only been returning coins into circulation that will stick to a magnet; gradually all the real 'coppers' (pre 1992) are being filtered out.

The current version of the coinage is copper plated to about 25um thickness, using a process known as 'aRMour' plating, so is nearly all steel by comparison;

Image

from the Royal Mint webpage.

I think that you may be able to tell the difference in magnetic pull between a current coin and an older steel-bearing one, but I've not tried it.

cheers
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aljohn
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Joined: 7 Sep 2012, 9:39pm

Re: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards

Post by aljohn »

The mudguard bridge is just sitting there, waiting to be bolted to the brake bridge by the brake bolt. Th advantage is that you don't need to take the rear wheel out to remove mudguards :? Why try to re-invent the wheel? I know the solutions mentioned are neater, but rarely seen on a tourer 'cos of panniers, saddlebag,capes (anyone still use a cape, mine's been strapped to an old Carradice bag for years and never used - I don't get out much...)
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