Another Fender Crash Story

GoldenMotor.com

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
I'm not a newbie. I've been around for a while and those who know me know that I'm sort of a stickler for safety and a little anal retentive about some things like fenders. You've heard me and others preach about the hazards of running fenders on a motorized bike. I do use fenders, front and rear but I've always been extremely cautious about how they're mounted and diligent about checking them often for security.

Nevertheless I'm setting here with my left leg in a temporary cast waiting for the swelling to go down so the docs can determine if I'll need surgery or not. I have a crack in the knee joint of my tibia, road rash on my foot and elbows and, It hurts!

I have little recall as to what happened except that I was doing about 22 to 25 mph when I heard a loud metallic 'BANG' and in half a second I was sliding on the ground, the bike on my left leg and facing backwards from the direction I was going.

The rear fender was laying in the street thirty feet behind where me and the bike came to rest. See photo. Obviously it was the culprit.

Some post crash forensics revealed that: 1. The rear fender came loose and rotated around the rear tire which instead of rubber against the road I slid on the steel fender. 2. My knee broke the clutch lever off at the handlebar mount. There isn't s scratch on the lever so it didn't hit the pavement. My knee hit it and broke it and that's how my bone got cracked. 3. My helmet, a full face, DOT motorcycle type never touched the ground. It shows no sign of impact or scraping the asphalt.

Lesss than 24 hours and 6 miles prior to this happening I had spent some time going over this bike and checking for anything loose. I checked axle nuts, disc brake rotor and caliper mounts, engine mounts and....fender mounts and fasteners. 6 miles!

The rear fender mounted at three points. Two on the frame and the rear brace. The brace fasteners actually pulled through the steel fender as well as one of the frame fasteners. One frame fasteners is missing. Apparently it came loose, fell out and allowed the fender to swing sideways into the tire or maybe the chain and be pulled forward until it rotated under the rear tire.

The crash happened so fast. One second I was riding, the next I was sliding on my side. Luckly traffic stopped and several good people helped me get the bike up and off the road and I called my wife who came a got me and the bike home then to the ER because she's a nurse and knew something bad was going on with my knee. She was right.

To all our new members/builders and to you who have been around for a while. I can't stress enough the importance of considering getting rid of the fenders. I've always considered the front fender to be the one most prone to causing a crash but now I can see how a rear one can be just as dangerous. Be careful guys. We oldies don't heal as fast as we used to and I might be immobilized for the rest of this summer. Rats!
Anyone want to come and mow my lawn?

Tom
 

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mew905

New Member
Sep 24, 2012
647
9
0
Moose Jaw
For sure, I agree fenders are hazards on their own but I run them to prevent dirt and water from being flung into my face. Mine are plastic though, I'll never run a steel fender unless it's reinforced, if my fenders catch on the tire (which they have a few times) it'll just snap off.
 

maniac57

Old, Fat, and still faster than you
Oct 8, 2011
4,484
22
0
memphis Tn
Words to the wise.
This is exactly why I remove the fenders from ALL my sale builds and why I refuse to install fenders even on customer bikes. I simply will not take the risk for ANY amount of cash.
 

Greg58

Well-Known Member
May 1, 2011
5,363
2,590
113
66
Newnan,Georgia
Tom I hope the best for you, I too remove the fenders on bikes that come with them. After one of the guys I ride with tried everything he could to keep the fender on his from failure and almost had a serious crash because of the back fender, I desided not to chance it.
 
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Sidewinder Jerry

Well-Known Member
Dec 19, 2011
2,113
1,124
113
62
Rockwood, TN
Could a large fender washer have prevented the pull through? How about more distance from the tire? I have a plastic one over my rear wheel. It attaches to the center post. It's several inches off the tire as well.

Hope you're well soon. Are you done with fenders? Are do you plan to develop a way to make them safer?
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
I ran a front fender on my first bike. After a few months of serious winter riding (and I mean SERIOUS, I moved 50 miles ON my bike, and anywhere I wanted or needed to go, I rode all winter long), I noticed that one of the screws holding the fender support to the frame had come loose, I replaced it and it was fine after that until the bike was decommissioned later that summer when my best friend cracked the seat tube. On my second bike, I ran plastic fenders for a bit, didn't like them. Ran a chrome shorty fender for awhile till I installed a suspension fork and couldn't mount the fender without rubbing the tire. My current bike has motorcycle triple trees, so no front fender yet as I don't want to fork over the cash for a motorcycle fender (and probably won't, that money is probably better invested in a waterproof riding suit anyway which eliminates the need for a front fender). I don't have a rear fender either, but I do have a luggage rack and saddlebags, which keeps the water from splashing up. I do occasionally notice road dirt on my shirt or jacket, but that's just par for the course. This incident, while unfortunate and painful, is a good reminder of why fenders can be dangerous on a motorized bicycle. Hope you heal up soon, Tom.
 
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xseler

Well-Known Member
Apr 14, 2013
2,886
151
63
OKC, OK
Goes to show it can even happen to the best and most well prepared of us.........

Good luck in a quick and relatively pain-free recovery!!
 

mason_man

Active Member
Jul 19, 2009
720
87
28
LA SoCal
Your wife is a nurse? your never going to get back on your bike, unless your all padded up for sure. then we can call you Micheline man. be sure to give the out come, hope you heal up soon.

Ray
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,482
4,987
113
British Columbia Canada
Wow! No matter how careful you are nothing is ever one hundred percent safe. So glad to hear that it wasn't worse.

Heal quickly and well. Wish I was closer to help with the lawn.

Steve.
 

fatdaddy

New Member
May 4, 2011
1,516
4
0
San Jose, Ca.
Tom,
Ocho Ninja just told me about the wreck. I'm so sorry to hear about this. That's exactly why I will not trust a factory fender mount. All my fender mounts are heavy steel. I've seen first hand what a broken mount can do. After warning a customer about them, And she insisting on leaving them on, she crashed 2 houses down from me coming to get her fender tightened. Overnight in the hospital and a couple months to heal. That is when I decided to NEVER let a factory fender mount out of my shop.
I'm just glad you came out alive and have a CHANCE to heal. It could have been worse. I'm also sorry I'm not close enough to help out with the yard work. And I hope your wife understands that, as soon as you're able, yer gonna jump right back on that bad boy and RIDE.
Good luck with the healing bro.
fatdaddy.
 

Moto pope

New Member
Mar 26, 2013
255
4
0
St. James, mo
Tom, sorry for your pain, sounds like the pain (emotional) of being "laid-up" will be the harder to endure? I've been mulling this fender issue over for months, as fenders are essential to the vintage look "I must have!" Motorcycle fenders never have this problem, mostly due to much heavier metal in all materials. My conclusion, then, if a person must run fenders, for safety, they must use much heavier bracing, and use maximum hardware to attach.
 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
Tom,
I'm so sorry to hear of your misfortune. It could have been much worse, so at least that is something to be thankful for. I know how careful you are and what precise builds you do, so it is even more a concern that it happened to you. A wake up call for those of us who think we know what we're doing and tend to get complacent about our rides.

I lke fenders and can't imagine no using them. I spend too much time riding on gravel/sandy back roads, riding after or sometimes during a rain to put up with all the road crap which fenders protect us from. I also like the way they look. On the other hand I don't want to get hurt, so it is a dilemma. I'll be giving my rides a close look and more frequent inspections now due to your mishap.

Heal up and be patient. Yes, it does take us old guys longer to heal and is so much easier getting hurt in the first place.

Butterbean, aside from any safety issues, why can't you mount a regular bike fender on your fork? You're using the Suzuki K-10 fork same as I am on my American flyer. You just have to mount it differently so the fender can ride up and down with the lower legs of the forks. Take a look at any moped fork and see how it is done. You'll need one donor piece from another fender, a stay (brace or whatever they're called) that you'll mount at the top of the fender where on a regular bike the fender would bolt to the frame of the bike. On the lower legs of the suspension fork are bolt holes for bolting the stay (brace?) securely. Where the donor stay gets bolted you'll need to flatten the stay and drill holes for the bolts to go through, two bolts on each leg. So when all is done there will be three stays, the two which were on the bike fixed to the axle and the center one just made. Let me know if you want pictures.
SB
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
Thanks for all the kind words guys. Really means a lot. Sorry I didn't reply sooner but my computer is in our basement den and I'm not doing good with stairs yet. I'm using my wife's laptop/tablet thing which I haven't mastered :) and typing on a touch screen keyboard is a little strange.

Yes indeed, it could have been much worse. You have to be thankful when you look around and see/hear what others have to deal with. One of our members who you'll all know but I won't mention names unless he okays it, has a 25 year old niece who was riding on the back of a quad when it went over an embankment. She hit a tree with her head, no helmet, has a broken neck and is still unconscious in the ICU. And I set hear complaining about a sore leg. I will heal, albeit it might be a few weeks but that girl might never walk or talk again. I feel very lucky.

I've examined that rear fender and analyzed the failure and I've come to the conclusion that a loss of the forward/bottom fastener is what caused the fender to move into the tire. Fender and chain guards are two places that I use a thread locking compound, Loctite, but even so the fastener fell out and allowed the fender to tangle with the tire.

The Captain America bike has the identical fender and mounting method. You can be sure that before it hits the road again it will loose the rear fender. Funny thing is that it has about 400 more miles on it than the black bike. I checked that fender today and it is tight and snug.

Thanks again my friends. I'll be around but maybe not as verbal as usual, at least for a while. I hate this silly laptop thing.

Tom
 

fatdaddy

New Member
May 4, 2011
1,516
4
0
San Jose, Ca.
I hate this silly laptop thing.

Tom

Yeah Tom, I agree. New wave stuff is irritating. But to paraphrase,
IT'S HERE, IT'S WEIRD, GET USED TO IT.
And next time yer talking to yer Doc. THINK PAIN MANAGEMENT.LOL.
Just glad you're still with us bro.
fatdaddy.
 

Sidewinder Jerry

Well-Known Member
Dec 19, 2011
2,113
1,124
113
62
Rockwood, TN
Tom, I'm a big believer in loc-tite and teflon lock-nuts. I've had others tell me I do a lot of over kill with building. I tell them I'd rather do over kill than be killed. Hope you're back on the road soon.
 

Ron344

Member
Oct 13, 2012
209
2
18
colorado
Tom I'm sorry to here about your accident I hope you heal quickly. I had a similar thing happen to me the rear brake broke off and went the rear spokes while I was going 30 mph. the bike slid for about 60ft. before coming to a stop. Luckily I was able to keep the bike upright there was no warning of problem it happened in a split second. The wheel had 11 spokes broken out. The accident scared the **** out of me!! I still have a hard time going over 20 mph.Hope your back to riding soon.