| Author | Message | ||
     Smiley1eye |
Taking a cue from the BMW GS650, I've rigged up a rear fender/mudflap that keeps me from getting covered in crap. Ingredients: 1 scratched up airbox cover 8ft of 1/8" aluminum bar stock but only used about half of that (Home Depot) 4 rubber grommets from a water fitting repair kit 3 bodywork screws from the bike rattlecan of black paint from Wally-world Tools: drill 12" crescent wrench to bend the bar MIG welder with alum wire Dremel tool with cutting wheel hacksaw hand file heat gun Sharpie pen grinder Directions: Wreck your bike so that you have a spare airbox laying around. Line up the airbox on the back tire and guess-timate the shape. Draw the shape out. Follow lines as close as possible with Dremel tool to cut out the shape. Lay the cut out on the ground and step on it while heating cutout with heat gun to remove unwanted curves in the plastic. Once the shape matches the curvature of the rear tire, set it aside. Remove upper belt guard (retain screws) and disconnect brake hose holder on left side of swing arm. You might still need this holder to keep your brake line out of the tire, but I have a TT brake line on mine and its longer. Retain screw. These are your new mounting screws and attachment points. Bend alum barstock to the contour of the rear tire. Leave about 2 inches over the rear tire for clearance and mark where atachment points will be. I used the upper screw on the right side since it lines up very closely to the left side hole. Remove, drill, cut bracket until it fits. Attach bracket to check fit. If things are good, continue. If not, back to the drawing board. Once the bracket is rounded and screwed onto the swing arm, take your crescent wrench and use it to tweak the bar stock over the rear tire. Lay the fender cut out over the bar and you'll be able to mark out where attachment screws will be placed. Also cut and drill two 3" pieces from barstock and use the same attachment points. These will keep the fender from vibrating into the rear tire, catching it, ripping it off and getting lodged in the back of your helmet. Drill the holes for attaching the fender, drill the holes for mounting to the bar, place rubber grommets inbetween plastic and aluminum and bolt it together. Once mounted and fairly solid, measure out the angle for the right side lower screw hole. This will provide stability for the bracket and keep it from rotating around the tire. Once measured and cut, weld bracket in place. I also ran a bead on the backs of the 3" brackets to keep them from rotating. The grinder is for cleaning up all those nasty welds, then round off the rough edges on all the cuts. Go behind the grinder with the file (the file is also good for smoothing out the edges on the plastic fender) Paint, dry, assemble, attach.  | ||
| Smiley1eye |
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| Smiley1eye |
Honestly, I still have mixed feelings with this. I agree that I need something to keep the slop off my back, and I've always like the BMW solution. However this does something to the overall attitude of the bike and I'm not sure I like it. I tried to follow the lines of the bike and I spent alot of time just looking at it from every angle. In the end, I just wanted to finish it so I could see it all done up. It's better with paint. Hides it pretty well. ...and it does come off if I decide I can't take it anymore.  | ||
| Sparky |
Pretty ingenious! I've always admired the BMW approach. Have you thought of just adapting one of those (if you change your mind about yours)? The challenge, of course, is to balance aesthetics vs effectiveness for fending off rooster-tail muckage from your back. In that regard, how well does yours work? There was once a carbon fiber hugger fender offered from American Sport Bike for the tuber S1's that followed the contour of the tire but ended up short at the end of the belt guard. It looked really nice but, I imagine, wasn't really as effective as the huge, ungainly looking stock license-plate-mounted fender. Speaking about aesthetics, I once made an effective debris-deflector out of clear plastic to protect the rear fenders of my '63 Corvette when it had big meats on the rear. I wanted it clear to be as unobtrusive as possible. Of course, that idea worked out OK as long as I didn't drive through a mud puddle.  | ||
| Blueeyedsin |
not a bad fabrication job congrats | ||
| Smiley1eye |
Well I did accidentally get a chance to test it out. Got caught in the rain the other night. Fender worked GREAT. It does vibrate at idle. Some angled stock on the inside edge would fix that though. Earlier that day I had a girl tell me that the bike looked great except for that dorky looking flap on the back. Can't win.  As of now I've decided to take it off when the weather is really nice. I also run with a Ventura rack most of the time, and that helps the dorky look too. I did look at just getting the one off the BMW, but decided to go this route first. And I'm thinking about trimming it down some to make it less, well... HUGE. The tire huggers won't solve the problem I have. The newer XBs have a larger hugger & I looked at it too. My problem is that the rear tire sticks out so far it flings crap regardless of how far the hugger goes back. | ||
| Sparky |
The Ventura rack is a good idea. I too run one on my S1 sometimes and put a piece of plastic thru the horizontal bars to act as a "fender". One thing you might consider is that the deflector doesn't have to be as wide as the tire. It probably only has to be a bare minimum wide, say 2 to 3 inches, to fend off water spray. Then too, it only has to stick out back no further than a vertical line from the edge of the tire. And if it needs to provide more protection than that, one can attach a small lightweight lip to the bottom edge extending straight back about an inch or so. I think some dirt bikes used to come with a small lip like that. Like you said, if the fender's flat black, that will help make it look less conspicuous too. | ||
| Smiley1eye |
This dorky looking fender works great! Everything was wet today (didn't stop me though!) Took the bike out and down some graveled and semi-paved roads. Was riding 2-up, (never NEVER use yourself as a test subject!) When we got off, I got a good look at her backside  and could only see two specks! I also got a close up look at the rear fender from the BMW GS, that thing is all plastic! Mine's actually sturdier than that. I have been thinking about trimming the blue part down. Just to help the looks of it. | ||
| Sparky |
Ya know, the more I look at those pictures, I think you're on to something. What if, let's just say, "What if?", you could get a blue tire... Wouldn't it all come together? | ||
| Smiley1eye |
actually... http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2005/02/09/color -tires-for-motorcycles/ http://www.rubbermag.com/news/050128_03n.html (Message edited by smiley1eye on February 24, 2009) | ||
| Smiley1eye |
Update: the fender bracket broke right above the weld, most likely caused by overheating the metal and then twisting it and the vibration finally got to it. came loose during a ride and i had to carry it home. so if you decide to copy this, use some thicker metal or reinforce it at stressed points. overall it worked great and i'll put it back on when i get a chance. | ||
| Rydberg |
this is the only issue i have with my Buell as well. i got an '07 Ss. not sure if it is less of a problem or worse since the tire is out their further but so is the tail. Been lookin and thinkin about doin htis as well. very good attempt. my first atempt was going to be similar but to use the thicker, harder plastic which the stock hugger is made of. but it was the bar that broke on you not the plastic, i figured in the long run it would be the plastic that went bad. if i ever get around to make an attempt, i will defintly post pics. |
