Mtl_Biker
Active Member
I know there are generic threads for both mud flaps and mirrors in other sections, but since this is specific to my Giant bike, I'll post details of what I did here...
First, I wanted a mud flap for the front to keep muck from being thrown up onto the motor, chain and my shoes. I commute, and part of my route is along a nature park trail and there are often muddy and wet sections with no way to avoid them. I found the BuddyFlaps site and what they offer looked good, but the way the flaps attach to the fender made me think there might not be enough clearance between the fender and tire. But I took their image of the different shapes, put the one for the front flap into PhotoShop, resized it to what I thought would be appropriate and then printed it out. I cut out the shape and held it on the fender and then revised the size a bit and printed again. Then the question was what thin but rigid enough and non-brittle material to use. I searched and searched... big plastic bottles, a sheet of rubber, and finally came across what I thought would be ideal... A plastic binder from Staples (which I actually had). The cover was flexible but not brittle and I used double sided tape to attach my printed template onto the cover and cut it out with a pair of scissors. I carefully drilled two holes and then used aluminum rivets with aluminum washers (both sides) to put it in place. Other than for the color, (I would have preferred black) I'm quite pleased and here is what it looks like:
The only down side of my mud flap is that if I remove the front wheel, I can no longer rest the bike on the front forks. I need to use a small bench or something or else have the bike up on a support. Small price to pay.
The other thing I'd been struggling with was a mirror. I gave up on helmet mirrors (several reasons) and wanted something that would fit onto the bike. I found that I could unscrew the ergonomic bar ends from the handlebars and used a Mirrycle bar end mirror. I've got it angled up sort of like the original bar ends and I think I'll be comfortable with it. Here's what that looks like:
Hope this is of help to someone.
First, I wanted a mud flap for the front to keep muck from being thrown up onto the motor, chain and my shoes. I commute, and part of my route is along a nature park trail and there are often muddy and wet sections with no way to avoid them. I found the BuddyFlaps site and what they offer looked good, but the way the flaps attach to the fender made me think there might not be enough clearance between the fender and tire. But I took their image of the different shapes, put the one for the front flap into PhotoShop, resized it to what I thought would be appropriate and then printed it out. I cut out the shape and held it on the fender and then revised the size a bit and printed again. Then the question was what thin but rigid enough and non-brittle material to use. I searched and searched... big plastic bottles, a sheet of rubber, and finally came across what I thought would be ideal... A plastic binder from Staples (which I actually had). The cover was flexible but not brittle and I used double sided tape to attach my printed template onto the cover and cut it out with a pair of scissors. I carefully drilled two holes and then used aluminum rivets with aluminum washers (both sides) to put it in place. Other than for the color, (I would have preferred black) I'm quite pleased and here is what it looks like:
The only down side of my mud flap is that if I remove the front wheel, I can no longer rest the bike on the front forks. I need to use a small bench or something or else have the bike up on a support. Small price to pay.
The other thing I'd been struggling with was a mirror. I gave up on helmet mirrors (several reasons) and wanted something that would fit onto the bike. I found that I could unscrew the ergonomic bar ends from the handlebars and used a Mirrycle bar end mirror. I've got it angled up sort of like the original bar ends and I think I'll be comfortable with it. Here's what that looks like:
Hope this is of help to someone.
