Monsoon

It appears it's time to accept that Des Moines may never see the sun again.  60 degree temperatures and rain are the new 85 degrees and sunshine.  The trails will always be under water, and the city will have to scoop the mud out from under the railroad trestle on the Neal Smith at least once a week.  I'm only kidding, of course.  We will have our mid-western summer eventually.  For the time being, it is a good idea to take some measures to fight the dampness!  While ordering a new bottom bracket for Brother Trucker, the bike, I added a set of SKS Beaver Tail fenders to my shopping cart at Amazon.com.  That half of the order arrived on Thursday, and I still await the delivery of the drive train component; so this weekend's BikerBlogger tutorial will involve fender installation!  One is never supposed to say this, but...these look pretty easy to attach.  Let's get to work!!

Tools you will need:

Socket Wrench

Pliers or Adjustable Wrench

These are plastic fenders designed for 26" to 28" wheels.  They are a perfect fit for a mountain bike with slick tires, though I am sure they would work for off-road tread as well.  As you can see in the slide show, the bracket system is very simple.  The design allows installation through factory mounting holes.  Let's start at the front.  The mounting hardware consists of two screws and two metal brackets.  The longer of the two screws seems to be measured with the front fork in mind.  Slide the screw through the bracket, then through the frame.  Attach the nut using your socket wrench, while using the pliers or adjustable wrench to hold the head of the screw in place.  Once the nut is fairly snug, the height of the bracket can be adjusted to fit the wheel.  Once the mounting bracket is in place, installation of the fender is pretty simple.  Just slide the metal bracket through the opening on top of the fender.  The fit is snug enough that there is no need for any other fasteners.  Once the fender is on the mounting bracket can be bent to the ideal angle for your wheel.  Rear installation is basically the same.  I don't know if all mountain bikes are made this way, but it seems the holes in the frame are drilled with this sort of thing in mind.  This install was flawless!  

After a two hour test run on soggy, paved trail through woods resembling Dagobah; these fenders seem to be my best $15 purchase in recent memory.  My feet stayed dry, and so did the water bottle in the cage.  Maybe this bike deserves a bath?...Naaah!  

I expect to see that bottom bracket any day now.  The next tutorial-ish post will be drive train maintenance.  Until then....See you on the trail!