Have You Broken Your Evo Rear Fender Yet?

[bikerpet]

I did a similar modification to @Sir Real Ed

I found I could use the regular rear mounting holes for the cable ties if I trimmed a little of the sealing foam from below the RH hole, put a kink in the tip of the tie and it feeds through easily.

It's a bit hard to see in Ed's photo if you've trimmed the whole hook section (pic below), or just the ends? It looked to me like the hook would hold on too tight, so I trimmed the hook section pretty much right off and put on a Gorilla tape flap to stop muck flicking past. I also made a rough copy of the Trick Bits clear airfilter cover out of an old folder cover to keep a bit more dirt out of the filter if/when it does get past.

I did away with the airbox lid screw and just use clear tape to hold it on. I heated the bottom of the screw hole so I could form a dome in the plastic to fit over the bolt head below - if I ever want to use the original bolts again I can.

Although this has saved the guard at least once already (fell sideways onto a log, broke both cable ties, sent the airbox lid flying, and twisted the guard way out of shape), I still think the front bolts are a bit too secure - I've ordered M6 x 12 pan head nylon screws through Ebay, hopefully if things go really pear shaped the entire guard will come off before it breaks.

My next step is to work out how to make magnetic catches for it. I made some of these for my Sherco and they worked really well. When the guard gets pulled off it automatically reattaches itself as soon as the pressure is released, nothing breaks, nothing to carry or replace.

It's nice not having a floppy guard, but I'd rather more flexibility and less fragility!

On 5/11/2019 at 9:52 AM, Sir Real Ed said:

Mucho thanks to everyone who has posted on this topic, in this thread and others.  Since I have a fair amount of experience crashing Shercos, I went the following route.  Pictures speak better than words in this case.

 

 

[Sir Real Ed]

On 9/18/2019 at 7:59 AM, bikerpet said:

I did a similar modification to @Sir Real Ed

I found I could use the regular rear mounting holes for the cable ties if I trimmed a little of the sealing foam from below the RH hole, put a kink in the tip of the tie and it feeds through easily.

It's a bit hard to see in Ed's photo if you've trimmed the whole hook section (pic below), or just the ends? It looked to me like the hook would hold on too tight, so I trimmed the hook section pretty much right off and put on a Gorilla tape flap to stop muck flicking past. I also made a rough copy of the Trick Bits clear airfilter cover out of an old folder cover to keep a bit more dirt out of the filter if/when it does get past.

I did away with the airbox lid screw and just use clear tape to hold it on. I heated the bottom of the screw hole so I could form a dome in the plastic to fit over the bolt head below - if I ever want to use the original bolts again I can.

Although this has saved the guard at least once already (fell sideways onto a log, broke both cable ties, sent the airbox lid flying, and twisted the guard way out of shape), I still think the front bolts are a bit too secure - I've ordered M6 x 12 pan head nylon screws through Ebay, hopefully if things go really pear shaped the entire guard will come off before it breaks.

My next step is to work out how to make magnetic catches for it. I made some of these for my Sherco and they worked really well. When the guard gets pulled off it automatically reattaches itself as soon as the pressure is released, nothing breaks, nothing to carry or replace.

It's nice not having a floppy guard, but I'd rather more flexibility and less fragility!

Great ideas Bikerpet.  I only trimmed the ends of the plastic hook.  I thought about trimming more, but it seemed to slide off pretty easily as is, but I can always adopt your approach if needed later.  I should have went your route with heating the airbag cover, but I could not see ever going back to stock.  Crash proofed and crash tested bikes bring more on the used bike market here.

I like the magnet idea.  A similar approach would be adhesive backed velcro (hook & loop to some folks).  Great source for such things, at least here in the US is mcmaster.com.  Hopefully there are similar Strine suppliers.  ?

I hope things are well in Straya.  ?

[bikerpet]

On 9/19/2019 at 11:16 PM, Sir Real Ed said:

Great ideas Bikerpet.  I only trimmed the ends of the plastic hook.  I thought about trimming more, but it seemed to slide off pretty easily as is, but I can always adopt your approach if needed later.  I should have went your route with heating the airbag cover, but I could not see ever going back to stock.  Crash proofed and crash tested bikes bring more on the used bike market here.

I like the magnet idea.  A similar approach would be adhesive backed velcro (hook & loop to some folks).  Great source for such things, at least here in the US is mcmaster.com.  Hopefully there are similar Strine suppliers.  ?

I hope things are well in Straya.  ?

I like the velcro concept. 3M do a "Dual Lock" velcro - both sides are mushroom top stiff fibres, it's a bit more positive than normal velcro. Sells as Scotch brand Extreme Fastener on hardware stores here in Oz. I might give that a try.

VELCRO EDIT: I got hold of some Dual Lock and tried it on the guard - fail. Despite this stuff being much more secure than regular velcro it was still a long way from strong enough. There's a fair bit of leverage at the back of the guard, I could pop it off with one finger.

I modified my duct tape mudguard "lip" yesterday after reading some of the comments here, made it a lot more of a hook like the original, with some tags to enable me to pull it over the back of the airbox. Looks like it should work pretty well to keep muck out, but also let the guard unclip easily. - although it seems the clear filter cover is doing it's job pretty well anyway, Now just waiting for some reticulated foam (aquarium filter foam was the cheapest I can find) to seal off the front end of the filter box as per the SSDT prep doc.

Next in line will be a GasGas fork brace to replace the silly fractured integral plastic Beta one. Plastic is obviously a new and unfamiliar material in Italy!

Edited October 10, 2019 by bikerpet

[section swept]

Someone in the the Beta design team has produced a nice little profit earner with brittle mudguards.

[lineaway]

 Over the years I have broke a few brittle Beta fenders, as I got my first Beta in 1990. But my current 2016 Factory rear fender has somehow survived multiple hard crashes. I`d say the current fenders are just fine. Too much talking and not enough riding these days.

[bikerpet]

3 hours ago, lineaway said:

 Over the years I have broke a few brittle Beta fenders, as I got my first Beta in 1990. But my current 2016 Factory rear fender has somehow survived multiple hard crashes. I`d say the current fenders are just fine. Too much talking and not enough riding these days.

I had ridden my new (to me) 2017 Evo about half an hour before I put the first (very small) crack in the rear fender from a relatively minor off - and that was with my modifications which undoubtedly saved it from worse. So I'm not overly convinced they are quite onto the right plastic formulation/design.

My long experience as a professional skier has also taught me that it's the intermediate level people who cause the most damage to equipment and self - they have the skills to get into trouble, but not the skills to do so gracefully! I suspect it's the same in trials. Someone like me is probably far more likely to "test" durability than someone like you @lineaway ? 

And I try to ride every day, with about 50% success rate I guess. I'll strive to do better!