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| Big Oak Broke Down My Resistance and Now We've Got Fenders and a BIG Front Rack |
In January, Big Oak, up in got some Velo Orange fenders for his Tricross. That was not too long after my own Tricross rear fender broke. Unlike Big Oak, however, my Tricross has no Brake Bridge drilling in the rear so the VO fenders wouldn't work for it, and it really doesn't call out for polished aluminum components.
HOWEVER, as I considered the very low price for the VO metal fenders, it occurred to me that the fenders would go very well on one of our bikes; namely my wife's bike. What's more, when I looked further, they had their front Porteur Rack on sale at a good price as well.
Before you could hum the fight song to either Indiana University or Purdue, the fenders were here. Luckily for me, before I put them on, a cautionary note about trimming the fender stays came and I was doubly careful not to repeat the oops of my pioneering mentor.
Actually, I think the combination came out rather nice and the bike can carry more stuff now than I think I'd really prefer to carry. Heck, I'd be all set up if I were to get a paper route.
After I bought these, they had another special on top of the special which has now ended, but the basic fenders are still on sale and a real bargain. I'll have to make another hardware store run to better attach the rack, but everything mounts very solidly. I even got a set of cross levers that I'll use in combination with those "Shifty Shiftless" swap meet levers to finally retire the vintage, virtually useless "suicide levers."
After I did all this, I looked at the weather forecast. More ice is in the offing. In retrospect, perhaps I should have considered that the time spent finishing all this off might have been better utilized in getting my knobby cross tires mounted on my spare rims - just in case...
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| The Bike Before Its New Additions |
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| Looking at the Fenders From the Rear. VO Sticker is Still On and the Rear Fender Stay is Untrimmed |
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| Warned by Big Oak, I Got the Fender Entirely Set Up Before any Trim |
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| A Sharp Pair of Snips and the Stay was Set. No Hacksaw was Needed for This Baby |
I love that front rack. Now you can bike over to the local fed ex, ups or bus depot if you have some shipments to make.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, it looks almost the perfect size for a 12-pack of bottled beer. Urp!
ReplyDeleteThe bikes looking good. $28 is a great price for those fenders. I'm glad that they decided to start pre-drilling the holes. Mounting those things used to be a real pain in the butt.
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ReplyDeleteRTP: I agree. Those fenders are a great buy at that price. I've a pair on one bike, and a pair of VO hammered fenders on another.
ReplyDeleteSteve: Is that bike a Nishiki International from about 1975? I always liked the color of that bike, at least when it was new.
That front rack looks like a light bar to me. You could mount some projector lights and a battery to power them up there...
ReplyDeleteSpiffy. You're gonna like those fenders...hopefully the rack also.
ReplyDeleteThat is indeed an amazing deal on the fenders. The fenders and rack look awesome on that bike! Love it.
ReplyDeleteThat now is what that bike was meant to look like when it was first built. Just took time until it finally "arrived". It looks great!
ReplyDeleteThe Porteur rack also lends elegance. You could get up a half hour earlier and deliver papers on your way to work!
Like Justine, above, says, that is a sweet color. The shiny fenders really compliment it.
This is a gorgeous set up. The fenders and rack really make the bike a complete package.
ReplyDeleteNice!
ReplyDeleteI'm needing me some fenders right about now.
The bike is a Nishiki Kokusai. The Kokusai was the predecessor to the International. Imported from Japan for American Flyer. I do have thoughts on light mounting that mostly involve looking at other blogs again and PVC pipe.
ReplyDeletePredrilling would have been nice when I installed mine- I was really disappointed in how poorly they lasted though- Mine cracked after only about a year. That was on an everyday rider, so they should be fine for a less frequently used bike. They're nice looking though.
ReplyDeleteI think if I ordered VO fenders again I'd get the SS ones though.