This is your bike fender. You spent $15 on it so you don't end up with the freshman racing stripe painted on your ass when there are puddles on the ground. Congratulations, I applaud your purchase, and your resolve (or lack of automobile) that keeps you riding through inclement weather. Now let's go over how to use this thing:
Your back tire is kicking up mud and water. You would like it to not hit you in the back. You install a 3 inch wide piece of plastic between you and the tire. The tire is 2 inches wide and your back is 14 inches. Well, my back is, and I don't really care how muddy you get.
If you place the 3" fender right next to your back, all you've done is protect a 3" wide strip of your back, leaving an impressive 11" inches of you spattered in mud and leaving people behind you wondering who that skunk kid is. This would classify as a poor use of 15 bones, in my book.
On the other hand, lets say you put the fender closer to the tire instead of close to you. The downside to this is that you no longer look like you're sporting a hefty radio antenna on your ride. The upside is that mud isn't going to hit you. period. Here, I drew a diagram. It's all about cutting down the angle that mud can fly off the tire at.
Ok, that was a lot of words. Now here are a lot of pretty pictures for you visual learners:
OK Fender
Overkill Fender
Stupid Fender
What happened, couldn't kick down for an entire fender?
I just plain don't get this one. Maybe some sort of winglet for aerodynamic stabilization?
3 comments:
The "overkill" style of fender is mostly about being nice to the people around you, especially those directly behind you. On the front wheel, good fenders also tend to prevent spray onto your frame, drive-train, and feet.
I like your PSAs
i used to laugh - loudly! - at stupid bikers with the big stripes up their backs at stanford. some people just don't learn.
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