DIY Bike Fenders

For the most part, I enjoy fiddling with bikes more than riding them.  I'm really a big baby and I hate riding up hills.  That being said, a bike is a great thing to have when you need to get across campus.  I recently bought a 20" folding bike and it's a great little bike, but it didn't come with fenders.  What did you expect for $330 shipped?  I put up with the mud spray for a month but enough was enough and I decided i needed to fix the problem.

So off to my local bike shop and sticker shock!  $44 for a bit of plastic and some mounting hardware!  I knew I could beat that AND have make it look better.  Good thing I planned for this occurrence in advance.  So off to Ace hardware across the street and 4 minutes later, I have a spool of 14 guage steel wire and a .125"x1.5"x4' strip of aluminium stock.  I already had the mounting hardware I needed.  Total cost?  $13

I made the fenders and didn't document the process, so I'll walk you through with the pictures I have and draw the rest.  

I'll walk you through the process of making the rear fenders and then give a guide on how to do the front ones.

Let's get started!

Step 1: What you need...

Now, I labeled the list required and optional, but you really don't need most of it.  Remember, this is instructables.  If you're feeling ghetto skip to step 10


Required
3x M5 machine screws (can be socket, phillips, flat, torx, w/e you can find and have a driver for)*
6x Washers (or more)
1x Aluminium flat stock (3mm/.125" thick)**
1x Spool of 12 or 14 guage steel wire***

Tools
A drill
A hand saw or band saw
Flat file (you can use any kind you want, but flat is easiest)
Wire snip
Drill bits (1/4" & 3/32")
Pliers

Optional
Sand paper (120grit)
Masking tape
Steel wool
Center punch (a wood screw will do)
Hammer

Some puddles to test your shiny new fenders on!



* Depending on your bike, you may have trouble with really long screws.  I would suggest something between12mm and 16mm or you may run into your hub or kickstand mounts.
** Depending on your wheel size, you may need more than 1 piece of aluminium stock.  My wheels are 20" so I only needed one 4' piece for both wheels.
*** how much you need depends on your wheel size, but a good rule of thumb is the radius of your wheels times 5.

Comments

[langweer]

Very nice solution! Looks very good! Thank you for the inspiration!

[Commander Shepard]

Be careful when you use coathangers! They corrode easily AND quickly. I would suggest putting a couple of layers of clear-coat spray paint.

[augur45]

Nickles, dimes and quarters for corrosion resistant washers. Just drill a hole in them. The are often equal to or cheaper than stainless steel washers in small quantities: Especially if you figure the cost of the trip to pick them up.

[Angus MacGyver]

Small caveat to add. Most US coins are a copper nickle alloy, ironically the "copper" cent is mostly zinc. 75% copper and higher

I don't know the the exact construction of American coins, but due to the metals market, many Canadian coins are moving towards plated steel or other metals. Drilling through a coin could expose the (potentially) anodic interior. Not an issue on a dry bike but in the wet...well, good luck.

There are plenty of materials that could also be used, plastic bottle caps whatever. On the axles you really should buy some manufactured washers but elsewhere where centering is less critical why not.

Regarding the legality of "defacing" money. It's perfectly legal as long as your purposes aren't fraudulent, which washers wouldn't be unless you try to use them as currency. The defacing laws are more about fraud then some "sanctity" of the coins

[augur45]

Plated steel coins are easily detected with a magnet. Pennies are indeed essentially copper plated zinc. Nickels, dimes, and quarters are good candidates for corrosion resistant washers because they are approximately equal to, or less than, the retail cost of these size washers in small quantities thru retail hardware stores.

Once, I needed four 1" dia, 3/16" hole, 20 cent stainless steel fender washers. Trip to store to get them would have cost $4.00 in gas. So I used four quarters.

I've never had trouble spending damaged coins (unless damaged beyond recognition.) When businesses are making bank deposits, the bank will not accept more than $.99 cents worth of coins in the deposit. (Cost of handling issues.) So coins the store receives just get handed out as change to customers. And customers frequently like oddball coins as curiosities or just don't care -- as long as it spends.

Note: Coin operated businesses are exception - and they have to invest in coin counting and wrapping devices because bank only accepts wrapped coins for deposit and requires assurances of accuracy. One bank I talked to would do coin counting and wrapping for you at an hourly rate - $60/hr at that bank.

Many (most) people regard physical money as some sacrosanct religious relic - equating destroying a penny with mass murder or high treason or worse. Here is a useful link, with citations to Federal Statute, regarding altering or defacing money.

http://www.ehow.com/info_7849191_defacing-money.html

[sconner1]

Good tip. Nickel clad coins are very corrosion resistant.
Avoid putting pennies up against different metals due to galvanic corrosion.

[eggplanthunter]

sounds like a great idea. Just have to get a nice vise. Just don't let the treasury catch ya ;)

[Spokehedz]

http://www.parkpennies.com/pressed-penny/penny-pressing-legal.htm

I'm sure that punching a hole in them is just as legal as smooshing a design into them.

[augur45]

Pair of pliers is sufficient... Grip the coin by the edge, hold the coin of a block of scrap wood (pliers off the edge, center of coin on the block), and drill. I use a slow speed so that, if it gets away from me, it isn't spinning at warp speed.

[windeltorte]

Where can i get this?

[Spokehedz]

You must be new here...

[windeltorte]

you have it.
i am a girl, sorry! :-)

[eggplanthunter]

If you are asking where to actually buy the completed fenders, you're pretty much out of luck as spokehedz said already.

As for the parts, you can get all the items you need at home improvement stores like ACE, OSH (west coast), Home Depot, Lowes and possibly any mom and pop hardware store.

If you need more help in finding the materials, send me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

[Spokehedz]

Oh, I didn't actually see that you were new as in signed up today. I apologize...

WELCOME TO INSTRUCTABLES!

This website tells you how to make things, not necessarily how to buy things. If you can't make these things, then you might want to find someone you know who is handy enough to make one of these.

Please stay a while longer and see what else you find that you might be able to make. There's hundreds of things posted every day, so you can always find something that might be right up your alley.

[soundmotor]

Well done, that looks great!

[reptedjess]

Not only do these look good, they are possibly even better then store bought fenders. Since they are flat, they might catch less drag

[eggplanthunter]

I'm not too sure about the aerodynamic properties of the fenders, but the curved over edges of OTS fenders might be better to prevent turbulence around the wheel (laminar) instead of the flat profile that doesn't cut through the air as well.

[cdncycler]

I have also seen this using black ABS piping. The pipe is warmed using a solder torch to heat and bend it to the shape you want. Coat hanger wire was used for the fender supports.


All in all...ya got a great idea there...

[customrobo]

Bellissimo!!!

[Alexizupinhea]

Good idea! Very nice.

[harmless matt]

I like the simplicity of the process.

Very well done.

[desertsniper]

I like it, great idea!

[eggplanthunter]

Thanks all. I'm glad you like it.

[l8nite]

great looking fenders ! thank you for sharing

[Kaptain Kool]

Cool idea! It looks awesome!