It had always been my intention to fit a Fatbob style rear mudguard to my bike. In my ageing mind I just knew it would look right. After months of searching for a decent second hand mudguard and failing I gave up and bought a fibre glass Fatbob mudguard at a very reasonable price. Not being made of steel wasn't going to be a problem, with no passenger seat the only weight supported by the rear guard would be a tail light.
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| Rear mudguard just looks plain ugly. |
With my new mudguard to hand I dragged the bike out of the corner of my tiny garage to spot where I could work on it. I excitedly positioned the grey fibre glass mudguard over the rear tyre and took a step back, bloody hell it looked horrible!. I tried adjusting the position forwards and backwards but nothing helped, it just didn't suit my little XS. I sat on an upturned crate staring at the bike and that pig ugly mudguard for about half an hour before I saw a simple solution. I tried to imagine the mudguard shorter and mounted in reverse. In my head I thought it would work, but let's not forget, in my head I thought a Fatbob would look good!. Still, nothing ventured nothing gained so, out came the hacksaw and soon I had a much shorter mudguard with a matching angle to either side of what had now become the rear section.
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| I really like the simpler, less fussy look of the reversed and modified guard. |
A simple bracket was fabricated to support the mudguard from the rear frame loop, another will be made to add strength when I get the battery and electric box fabricated. I'm intending to mount both items off the same bracket.
I'll need to cut another slice off the mudguard where the Fatbob tail flick begins but I'll wait to apply the hacksaw again until the battery box is made and I can best judge how to blend the two parts together. For now I very happy with the look of the rear end. Next job is finding a suitable headlight. I had a small lamp that I tried but it's size and the way it mounted made the front forks look too long for my taste. I need to find something larger that can be positioned lower on the forks to help fill the empty area between the upper and lower yokes.
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| Add caption |
I'll need to cut another slice off the mudguard where the Fatbob tail flick begins but I'll wait to apply the hacksaw again until the battery box is made and I can best judge how to blend the two parts together. For now I very happy with the look of the rear end. Next job is finding a suitable headlight. I had a small lamp that I tried but it's size and the way it mounted made the front forks look too long for my taste. I need to find something larger that can be positioned lower on the forks to help fill the empty area between the upper and lower yokes.
