Front fender jammed and over the bars I went

[weaponsgrade]

Who here has gone over the bars as a result of something getting stuck between the tire and front fender?

I've got a set of fenders on my townie bike. For years, part of my route has included a small stretch of dirt. A few days ago something jammed between my front tire and fender. In an instant, the fender scrunched up and the front wheel came to an immediate halt. I went over the bars and landed on my side. Luckily no damage to me or the bike (except for the fender which shattered). It was an older fender that had a metal core and plastic shell - no breakaway attachments.

[Clean39T]

Yikes!

Curious how the Rando crowd deals with this for solid-mount fenders?

[fogrider]

Glad you're ok! I've never liked fenders...but then I don't have a townie and don't go to the store (coffee shop, whatever) on my bike in the rain...but then I'm less than a block from the supermarket and a coffee shop...

[donevwil]

Glad you're OK.

Curious what your tire to fender clearance was. Most applications I see are run far too close.

[d_douglas]

I can't live without a fendered bike - I live in the PNW! My clearance is pretty tight - Honjos and 32mm Paselas- and the fender is rattling a fair bit - this makes me think I should tighten it up before it drops onto the tire!!

Glad you are OK...

[R3awak3n]

Glad you are ok.

I dont have a fendered bike anymore but when I did this was always on my mind. I think people run their fenders way closer than they should. I did that too. I dont commute on that bike anymore sonfenders came out, that bike sees some gravel and fenders and gravel scare me.

[velotrack]

so how does one avoid going over the bars? is gravel + fenders just a no go?

[R3awak3n]

so how does one avoid going over the bars? is gravel + fenders just a no go?

Its always a possibilty with fenders but people have been running 20mm + on gravel bikes. Some havent and have been fine though.

I had 10mm on mine but when I was doing something like d2r2 they came off.

[skouri1]

same thing happened to me--in a group ride. :( it wasn't my idea to take a dirt path. Stick got scooped up and locked up my wheel.
Having said that. I did NOT have the quick release installed on my SKS (the plastic part). They would not easily clear the dropouts on my seven 5e fork.
I think it still would have been bad regardless but who knows.

heel up. not a fun experience.
I did reinstall fenders. For winter, and on paved roads, they are are hard to beat. don't lose faith.

[Peter P.]

I had this happen to my REAR fender. A small stick was picked up by the wheel and instantly threw me into a skid, the bike doing the Watusi! I didn't crash, but wore the tire right down to the casing!

[Mzilliox]

It happens to the best of em... Peter set up these fender (id assume) not me.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5198/29584699053_5416208060_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/M5ijja)fender mishap (https://flic.kr/p/M5ijja) by Matt.zilliox (https://www.flickr.com/photos/41573599@N06/), on Flickr

hope you are ok after the mishap. I run a bigger gap now on my fendered bike.

[oldpotatoe]

Who here has gone over the bars as a result of something getting stuck between the tire and front fender?

I've got a set of fenders on my townie bike. For years, part of my route has included a small stretch of dirt. A few days ago something jammed between my front tire and fender. In an instant, the fender scrunched up and the front wheel came to an immediate halt. I went over the bars and landed on my side. Luckily no damage to me or the bike (except for the fender which shattered). It was an older fender that had a metal core and plastic shell - no breakaway attachments.

Not a fender guy but fender QRs are pretty essential, I would think..:eek:

[seanile]

i'm not convinced the fender QRs would do anything though. it's still a firm mount at the fork crown..the QRs just allow the dropout connections to come loose, and what does that gain you but more flailing fender?

[Big Dan]

I usually just get wet.

[classtimesailer]

Dirt roads and fenders = go slow. I picked up a stick without fenders. The stick went into my spokes and up into my fork and ober i went.

[kevinvc]

Riding a bike on the streets without fenders during the winter in Portland is antisocial, if not outright sociopathic, behavior. :butt:
Just this morning I had to stay 10' behind a guy without fenders to avoid getting completely sprayed.

Riding on gravel is another story. I wouldn't hold it against anyone who chooses to pass on fenders if they're going offroad.

[unterhausen]

I just can't see riding on gravel with fenders even with Jan Heine's recommended 25mm of clearance. Picking up a stick of that size is pretty common here in Central PA.

My road bike has too little fender clearance. This time of year it has been a problem because of all the late winter snow, and the gravel they put down. I had one incident where the bike decelerated pretty fast because of some gravel, but it cleared before it was a real problem. Need to put together a fender bike with more clearance, that's obvious.

[weaponsgrade]

Not sure how close the fender was to the tire. This little stretch of dirt is maybe 800 feet. I've been crossing it for the past three years without incident. I was actually going pretty slow when I flipped because I had just navigated past some parked cars. I got the fenders mainly because this is the bike I use to tow a kid's trailer. The rear fender helps to prevent dirt from getting all over my kid.

[2metalhips]

It happened to me on gravel recently in the rear. Tire locked right up, fender was plastic and I was able to cobble it back together. Was really thankful it wasn't the front. Probably won't use fenders on gravel again.

[ripvanrando]

Yikes!

Curious how the Rando crowd deals with this for solid-mount fenders?

Low pressure, supple tires.

Lots of saddle setback

Firm grip.

[HTupolev]

so how does one avoid going over the bars? is gravel + fenders just a no go?
Use fender clearance bigger than what your tires can realistically pick up. If you're sometimes hearing things scraping on the inside of the fender, it's too close.

If it's muddy to where knobbies are required, then traditional fenders are probably impractical, since the tires pick more stuff up and the clearance will quickly be gobbled up by mud buildup.

[SlowPokePete]

I've got 25 mm clearance on the Ahearne with GravelKing SK 43's.

SPP

[benb]

QRs are really worth it. Even if they never protect you they make it a lot easier to throw the bike on a rack on the car. ;)

If the QRs come loose it's just a bit more unlikely the stick is going to get jammed all the way up in there.. it's gotta rotate all the way around without falling off the center of the tire. A rock would be even more unlikely to fall off the sides if the QR releases.

If sucking gravel into the fender is the concern it doesn't seem there is much you can do about that but it's incredibly unlikely you have to roll over 25mm+ sticks on a gravel ride, or even maybe taking your fendered gravel bike out onto MTB single track. Just ride around the stick/branch.

Really you have to be running over a bundle of branches, not a single "stick" to get it to suck up into the bike.

The other risk would be being in a group and another person kicks the stick up into your bike.. that happened to me and explains the only broken chain I've ever gotten... it got kicked up by someone else, if I was alone no way I would have rode over it.

I don't think mud buildup is a big deal. A rock or stick that gets sucked up is going to rip right through that mud.

I'm not really terribly likely to be putting any fenders on with knobbies that really pick stuff up.