I've heard of people trimming the edges that make it rigid still keeps its shape but will bend instead of snapping.

Ha, broke mine today! A few posts back (last year) I wrote that I hadn't but that I probably would now....well now I have. £70 quid to replace :-( 

Plastic bolts are the way to go, a couple of quid for a bag of 50. Best to also trim the bit of the guard that hooks under the frame so it doesn't snap off, you can get away without this bit but it helps keep muck away from the air filter.

On 12/04/2017 at 11:47 AM, totty79 said:

Plastic bolts are the way to go, a couple of quid for a bag of 50. Best to also trim the bit of the guard that hooks under the frame so it doesn't snap off, you can get away without this bit but it helps keep muck away from the air filter.

Have you got a link for the plastic bolts? Do they just 'pop' out under pressure? It sounds like an interesting idea and at £70 a go for a replacement mudguard it's got to be worth a try!

Number plate fixing bolts....

Cheers Spen, I'll give it a go. Does anyone else do this and has it saved anyone's mudguard?

Yes and yes.... on the fairings of my race bikes I use them too.... a mate of mine cuts a slot in them on his bike so they snap more easily and save the fairing.

That's a great idea! I'll get some to fit my new one :-)

And they're light enough to stick a few in your pocket and carry with you.

Measure the diameter (I've forgot it) and stick an M in front of it in a search. You'll find them cheaper that way than looking for number plate bolts. E.g. M6 plastic bolts.

Edited April 14, 20179 yr by totty79

I made a similar thing to ridgrunr but used a 100mm long piece of 4mm thick aluminium which I bent to the same shape as the underside of the guard. I fixed 50mm of this to the part of the guard right up against the piece that hooks under the frame with 5 x 4mm rivets and some gorilla glue (epoxy is good too). Then drilled and tapped 6mm, 6 holes in the rear 50mm of the aluminium and the mudguard, right through and then drilled out the holes in the plastic to 6mm.

Then I cut the guard right across at the midpoint of the aluminium fixed so solidly to the forward part, and I use 3 x 6mm nylon screws in 3 of the tapped holes. There are 3 spare holes so that when you break the screws out in the middle of nowhere you just reach in your pocket and get some more out and use the spare 3 holes without needing to get the bits of broken nylon out of the first 3 holes.

I tried 5mm nylon screws, they broke too easily. I tried cable ties but the mudguard wobbled around. The nylon screws fix it securely so it doesn't move. 4mm aluminium is probably too thick, I just happened to have some. I'll use 3mm next time because I've run out of 4mm!

I've done this on 3 Evo's and a Rev3 now. I must have saved myself a thousand dollars in guards. Drill all the holes before you take the hacksaw to the guard, that way you'll get perfect alignment. You can peel the stickers back, put the rivets in and just push the sticker back on over the top to make the job even neater.

Update to my Evo rear fender post.  Fell in an easy sand section on the first loop in the meet a couple of weeks ago.  Even though it was an easy section, the rear fender still smacked the rocks, but my fender modification worked like a charm.  Snapped two of the three zip ties, as it was designed to do, but no damage to the fender.  Replaced the two zip ties and away I went.  My son in law wasn't so lucky during our Moab trip, but then he hadn't modified his rear fender.  It's modified now though and is held together with duct tape!

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.

Edited May 10, 20197 yr by Sir Real Ed

Got a 2012 with the later mudguard with the air filter lid. Plastic bolts and trimmed the lip off the underside. I bought m6 bolts and managed to run a 5mm die down one to use for the air filter lid. Only snapped the rear bolts so far. Would have been on second or third by now.

I’ve a 2012 with a semi broke rear mudguard. Held together with cable ties. 

Will all later model seat/mudguards work? 2012s appear to have sold out.