Ti Muk 2 Upgrade Path: Part 5

Fendered rear Ti Muk 2- Will be doing the front soon.

The modification of parts is something I kind of like doing sometimes. Well, I had wanted a fender on the new-to-me Ti Muk 2. But, with a rack on the bike, it kind of precluded using the clip on fender I've had for a while. So, I had an idea, but I just waited until Monday to get it done. Of course, it required some modding.

I used a Dave Grey's Mud Shovel for the rear mount. One of the things I thought was a little goofy about this rear, seat post mounted fender was that it tapered to a smaller width in the back. That spray from a rear fat bike tire always bypassed the rear edges of the fender and got stuff all over the place regardless of having that fender there. Of course, it was better than not having a fender, but it was silly, I thought.

Well, thinking this deal over, what with a rack on there and the light with the wiring harness and all, I was thinking that there may be some way to get that rear specific piece of Mud Shovel plastic to sit so it protected the dynamo tail light's wiring harness and still gave decent clearance for the rear tire. I took the flat black sheet and held it in various ways and then it dawned on me that I could literally get two benefits in one by orienting the Mud Shovel "backward" under the rack top.

With some consideration given to clearance the rack stays, a bit of guesswork, and a pair of scissors, I managed to fit it underneath the rack. Mounting was accomplished by using a dental tool to poke several holes in strategic places to allow for cable ties to be strung up. These wrapped around various points of the rack, drawn up tight, and clipped to length and were enough to secure the now reverse mounted Mud Shovel into place.

Rear view of the modded fender. Note the cable tie mounts.

So, it's on there and with the reverse mount, the widest part of the fender is now at the tail end where the spray is wider off the rear wheel. I expect better coverage for myself and anything I have onboard the rack top. But I'm not done yet.

First off, I have to do a little edge work to completely encompass the rack stays, which will give the fender a bit more rigidity and eliminate those "saw tooth" edges which are now protruding out and could snag on things, potentially, like weeds, clothing, etc. The plan here is to take some point of sale packaging from tires, (typically a hard, thick plastic material, not unlike the Mud Shovel), and form it into a piece that I can bond to the Mud Shovel. I don't plan on ever taking this "fender" off, so a permanent mount is okay.

Secondly, I want to add a bit in front of the back tire to keep spray from coming off the rear tire forward and mucking up my frame bag. That will likely either be another rear Mud Shovel, or maybe the matching front Mud Shovel, or something I completely fabricate from plastic, to be sourced from, as of now, an unknown source. (Maybe milk jugs?) Anyway, I think at first I will mock up something out of cardboard to get an idea of what to do from that point.

The front will likely be a combination of one of those fork crown mounted "fenders" and a front Mud Shovel mounted very low on the down tube, which I experimented with last year and found that it works well. The low mounted front Mud Shovel, placed juuust right, will protect your chain and chain ring from most of the crap flying back from your front wheel. I did this on my Blackborrow DS last year. Since this bottom bracket is a bit narrower, I may actually have to do some trimming, but we will see.

Once the fender sitch is squared away, I will put the frame bag back on and this rig will be ready for Fall and Winter riding. Bring on the muck and mire!