Hello
@bulldog1935 . In the 65 year old proofhide thread I noticed you have a very nice silver bike with white fenders. Can you tell me what kind of fenders (and bike!) and if you think hey would fit physically and aesthetically with this this Super Course? I've been looking for a pair of Bluemels in white but they're hard to find. Also, general question for road bikes: as dust and dirt are the enemy for exposed geartrains, do fenders keep bike/geartrain any cleaner on dry roads ? At least I would think it protects paint from pebbles and stones. Here in the northern states freeze/thaw/lack of maintenance cause much the roads are crumbling and I would like to keep this SC looking it's best!
hi friend,
These are actually alloy Honjos on my '74 International - they're really fully-coverage,
though certainly more French-style than English
I do have white plastic Bluemels (ok, an equivalent - RW Clipper) on my '57 Lenton Grand Prix
These are the classic Brit fenders
The Bluemels/ Clipper/ SKS-Esge plastic fenders are easier to install, cheaper, and they work fine (especially if you add a front mud flap.
No question you could easily add a pair of these to your Super Course.
They hang on the brake bolts, the rear fender clips to the chainstay bridge, and you have fender bosses for the stay mounts on your dropouts.
when you need to shape alloy fenders, it's metalwork. When you need to shape your plastic bluemels, gentle-use of a blow-drier will get you there.
The French style fenders, Honjo (Japan) are superior for riding in slop, have better designed mounting hardware, and more work to install - and bit more expensive.
I've done both style fenders on a few bikes, and know all the tricks especially for getting the metal fenders right.
https://www.jitensha.com/eng/honjinstl.html
Velo Orange sells cheaper, slightly heavier alloy fenders made by Tanaka, and are also pre-drilled, but I much prefer making all my own holes in new undrilled fender blanks.
The longer French-style fenders need more attachment points to keep them from vibrating and buffeting.
a classic bike-boom touch are shorty fenders, which do only one job well -
- keeping road grime from all the nooks and crannies in your center pull brakes.
some people complain about noise with their metal fenders, but they just haven't figured all the tricks to mount them securely and dampen out vibration.
One thing for sure about the plastic Bluemels - no noise.