Fendered Karate Monkey owners - Help needed!

enicma · Oct 10, 2007

Hey there,

I've seen a few nice looking KM setups for wet or muddy commuting that look sweet. This is a plea for closeups of how you attached them, specifically in the 3 problem areas I've had:

1) Up front - our forks are suspesion corrected, and our Cascadia 29er fenders are not. Shiza. I hacked down an aluminum "tool" for extracting car stereos that fits this purpose. It looks ghetto. But it also seems to work well.

2) Out back, at the stays, where we have that awesome verically drilled hole. Grr. Unresolved for me - leaning towards tying w/wire.

3) Out back, on the seatpost. This is just ugly no matter how I slice it. I've tried putting 2 holes in a bottle cap and running wire through there, but it rubs on my 2.2" Halo Twin Rails. ****er. Again, I'm flummoxed.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks much

Nick

benwitt11 · Oct 10, 2007

1. I made my "fender lowering unit" out of a stainless rack strap. Looks fine, works well.

2. Simply mark the fender under the whole. Drill, poke, stab or otherwise make a hole in the fender to line up with the whole in the frame. Use a 5mm X .8 stainless button head bolt with a thin washer and attach the fender.

3. Use a stainless rack strap and bend it to line up with the bottom bracket cable guide bolt hole under the bb shell. Use stainless steel hardware and attach the strap the the bb shell first, then bend the strap to line up with the hole in the bottom of the fender. Attach the fender to the strap. By bending the attached strap, you will be able to pull the fender from the front of the tire, fixing your clearance issue.

Good luck.

enicma · Oct 10, 2007

Very nice! Thanks for the help - your solution for #2 had ocurred to me, but the thought that kept me from going there was "you won't be able to tighten it with the tire on." Well that's easily enough solved. Cheers

steevo · Oct 10, 2007

When i have time I'll dig up the pics I posted of my setup. But in the meantime you can search in the single speed or surly forum for my pics.

1/ I saw a few posts about the problem of having a suspension corrected fork with the cascadia fenders...what exactly is the problem? I just put mine on the way it is. Seems to work fine.
2) and 3) rear fender: i used the cable ties that came with the fenders to fasten them to seat stay bridge, used another cable tie to wrap around bottom bracket shell. All good and tight and no rattling. I'm also using the twin rail tires. I had to move the wheel as far back in the dropouts as my hub would allow (shimano gear hub). This moved the tire far enough away to not hit the fender.

Hope that helps

JUNGLEKID5 · Oct 10, 2007

any pics

Niner_Nutt · Oct 11, 2007

brontotx · Oct 13, 2007

SKS Fenders, but had the same mounting problems

Here are my solutions:

1) Longer stainless bracket made from scrap and riveted in original holes.

2) Drilled hole and used button head screw as suggested earlier. First screw worked itself loose and I lost it - I used lock-tite on another screw and no problems so far. Also used two presta valve stem nuts between the fender and the seat stay bridge to provide clearance for the brake noodle.

3) Bent and re-shaped the original bolt on bracket and fastened it to the seat tube using two zip ties cushioned by a small piece of an old inner tube.

steevo · Oct 13, 2007

why is everyone taking special measures to get the front fender as close to the tire as possible? I just put mine on as is.

Niner_Nutt · Oct 13, 2007

steevo said:
why is everyone taking special measures to get the front fender as close to the tire as possible? I just put mine on as is.

Because I am anal retentive.

I had the bike set up to commute, now if I was going to use it off road, with different tires, I would mount it like you did. (But I never use fenders off road)

benwitt11 · Oct 13, 2007

I mounted mine like that for purely aesthetic reasons. It just looks better if it matches the rear.

kapusta · Oct 13, 2007

enicma said:
Hey there,

I've seen a few nice looking KM setups for wet or muddy commuting that look sweet. This is a plea for closeups of how you attached them, specifically in the 3 problem areas I've had:

1) Up front - our forks are suspesion corrected, and our Cascadia 29er fenders are not. Shiza. I hacked down an aluminum "tool" for extracting car stereos that fits this purpose. It looks ghetto. But it also seems to work well.

2) Out back, at the stays, where we have that awesome verically drilled hole. Grr. Unresolved for me - leaning towards tying w/wire.

3) Out back, on the seatpost. This is just ugly no matter how I slice it. I've tried putting 2 holes in a bottle cap and running wire through there, but it rubs on my 2.2" Halo Twin Rails. ****er. Again, I'm flummoxed.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks much

Nick

Question for the Cascadia fender users....

I have the 26" version of this (I think it's called the Harcore ATB?) on a rigid mountain bike I use for commuting. I like it, but when things get even slightly rough, like riding over a bumpy lawn at speed, they seem to bounce around a lot. Nothing I am worried about, and they are great for what I use them for, but have any of you used them for real serious off-road riding? How do they do? I am considering them for my KM this winter, but I am worried that the 29" version will be even more wobbly than the 26" version.

Thanks

RustyKnale · Oct 14, 2007

they wobble

kapusta said:
Question for the Cascadia fender users....

I have the 26" version of this (I think it's called the Harcore ATB?) on a rigid mountain bike I use for commuting. I like it, but when things get even slightly rough, like riding over a bumpy lawn at speed, they seem to bounce around a lot. Nothing I am worried about, and they are great for what I use them for, but have any of you used them for real serious off-road riding? How do they do? I am considering them for my KM this winter, but I am worried that the 29" version will be even more wobbly than the 26" version.

Thanks

I used some on my El Mariachi for a couple of months last winter, and they wobble enough that the side knobs of Rampage tires rub against the stays where they meet the fender. This did not appear to cause any damage, and I got used to the noise. I will put them back on this winter. They let me ride as fast and as far as I want in the rain and mud.

therealbovine · Jun 24, 2008

I know this is an old post, however it was of great help to me. I thought I'd post-up my rig after the fenders were installed, maybe it will help others. I had double-issues with both disc brakes being in the way AND a front fork with zero attachment points for fenders. I ended up using Adel Clamps for almost every connections and it worked out great!

kapusta · Jun 24, 2008

therealbovine said:
I know this is an old post, however it was of great help to me. I thought I'd post-up my rig after the fenders were installed, maybe it will help others. I had double-issues with both disc brakes being in the way AND a front fork with zero attachment points for fenders. I ended up using Adel Clamps for almost every connections and it worked out great!

I thought about these for my KM, but I got a set of the 26" version for my commuter bike, and while they are OK for commuting, I could not see taking them off road, they just rattle around too much. Also, running a Rampage in the back, I did not see how a fender would fit between it and the stays. It looks like you have smaller tires. Could you post some close ups of the rear? Thanks

jgsatl · Jun 24, 2008

i used a hi-tech zip tie. i can't be bothered with fancy aluminum parts.

therealbovine · Jun 24, 2008

I'll try to get some photos soon (close-ups). I don't know what a "rampage" is, so I can only tell you what I had to do...Since I have disc brakes, I could not use the rear frame mount without A) using a threaded collar to extend that connection outward to get past the width of my disc brake caliper OR B) I just attached the fender with an adel clip (a flexible metal clip with a rubber cover available at most hardware stores for use with wire or hanging pipe). This allowed me to mount the fenders at any point along the frame.

The front (nearest the bottom bracket) I simply zip-tied to the seat tube on my frame. I put some bar tape under the zip tie to protect the frame at that location.

I drilled a hole in the center of the fender where it met with the existing hole in my frame (near where a caliper brake might normally mount) and attached that with a bolt and plastic washer.

If you look in the photo, you can see the adel clips on the front fork as well. I hope this helps. If you have a photo of your bike I'd be happy to help with other ideas that I have tried also. As far as riding off road with the fenders, you are correct in saying that they rattle around a bit, but not so bad I don't do it occasionally for kicks.

And yes, I am running some 700c cross tires on 29er rims.

Hope this helps!

farmerfrederico · Sep 20, 2008

tire choices...

Can one run Schwalbe Big Apples under Cascadia fenders on the Karate Monkey?

Thanks!

Guitar Ted · Sep 20, 2008

Shouldn't be a problem to run Big Apples with Cascadia fenders. I ran Bontrager XR's with mine (2.25")and they currently have Specialized fast Tracks under them now. The fit is fine.

Fendered Karate Monkey owners - Help needed!

enicma

benwitt11

enicma

steevo

JUNGLEKID5

Niner_Nutt

brontotx

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steevo

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benwitt11

kapusta

RustyKnale

therealbovine

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