Fenders When You Have No Clearance.

As I posted earlier, I bought these Big Apple tires to see if they really give you a full suspension ridehttp://utilitycyclist.blogspot.com/2009/09/big-apple-tires-do-not-give-full.html. Well, they didn’t, but I did leave them on my Dahon Yeah because they are way better than the stock Kendas it came with.

One problem: I was not able to refit the stock fenders that came with the Yeah. The Big Apples are so big/wide that the tires just clear the forks. Regular fenders won’t work with these Big Apples. You know I love fenders because they allow you to ride in the rain and keep your clothes dry.

I found these fenders sold here: http://www.suntekstore.com/black-plastic-bicycle-front-and-rear-mudguard-set.html. These items come and go so I also saved a .pdf of the page for reference http://mysite.verizon.net/vzet7ek9/suntek.pdf. The price was pretty good, too, around $5 shipped.

I actually bought two pairs of fenders. I used the 2 of the smaller mudguards to cover the front wheel. The larger one worked on the rear. I had a larger one left over. I cut a small hole in the back one so that the reflector post would fit through the fender and “lift” away from the tire. Again, it would have rubbed the tire if I had left as is. I thought about hack sawing that reflector post from the rear rack but I’m glad I didn’t.

I know the front one looks kinda funky. But this is for function not fashion.

Aside from turning the screws to go the other way, it was a fairly easy procedure. The screws pointed toward the tire and they rubbed the tire when it rotated. I can’t wait to try these out in rain conditions!