...8.26...Mountain Bike -- Commuter Bike Conversion...Day 7...

...Before...

Previous Changes:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6

...although I rarely ride my bike in the rain (only if I get caught out in a shower...which has happened)...

...but I often (in the southern summertime anyway) DO ride on wet (sometimes very wet) pavement...

...and the Man snapped this photo of me after one such ride...pre-fender...proving that I really do need fenders...haha...

...so...when the fenders arrived from Germany a few days after my birthday (Thanks Mom!)...I unboxed them and read the instructions...and then searched the interwebs for users who had actually installed them...most said that it took about 2 hours to complete...

...but you may also have noticed that they are black...and although the Man thinks that black will look 'just fine' on my bright red bike...I do not...

...so I brought my bike into the foyer...(I just didn't want to work outside for 2 hours in 95° F heat - 35° C) and did a dry fit with the black fenders...and it took about an hour and a half...then I marked them and made a couple of cuts...where they don't fit between my front and rear fork crowns specifically...these fenders are designed for a cruiser style bicycle...not a mountain bike...so I'm not surprised that they don't 'fit'...it's not a problem though...other than the extra time...I just cut notches out of the plasticized aluminum fenders...happy that I'd gone with the Man's advice and gotten the nice aluminum ones...

...then because it's plastic coated...I gave both fenders a really light sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper...you can see the notches cut out there too...

...and then I carefully (really this time...haha) taped up all the silver bits...and made a liquid mask of Elmer's Glue and dish soap to cover the other bits that I wanted left silver and the little SKS tag too...we'll see if that works...

...then I made a little holder prop for them just using some sticks stuck into the ground...and commenced painting with the same leftover Ford touch up paint that I'd used on the bike...I'd checked that it will actually adhere to plastic...and the can says that it does...not all spray paint does though...

...and then because it was a new can when I'd used it for a tiny spot on the frame...and because I thought that these two fenders were small targets...I was totally astounded when I ran out of paint...without even a good coating on the two fenders...arghhhh...

...so...apparently...Ford really only expects you to do a tiny bit of touching up with this can of paint...haha...but it's only a couple of days wait for Amazon to bring a regular sized can of bright red spray paint...

~Have a lovely day!