Repairing SKS Bluemels

[Tom B]

I have always used SKS Bluemels or Chromoplastic mudguards, however they all seem to sooner or later fail in the same way with the the rivets on the bridge mounts failing leaving the guard rattling* around.

I have previously just riveted the things back on with standard pop rivits, but they seem to last barely a month before failing again.
I think the metal of the bridge just cuts the rivet in half.

What am I doing wrong. Throwing away good guards just because of a rivet seems a waste..... and i'm tight.

 

[Paulus]

I have always used SKS Bluemels or Chromoplastic mudguards, however they all seem to sooner or later fail in the same way with the the rivets on the bridge mounts failing leaving the guard rattling* around.

I have previously just riveted the things back on with standard pop rivits, but they seem to last barely a month before failing again.
I think the metal of the bridge just cuts the rivet in half.

What am I doing wrong. Throwing away good guards just because of a rivet seems a waste..... and i'm tight.

I had this a few times, my solution is to use a couple of small nuts and bolts, using the existing holes in the brackets. I have had to drill them out a little bit for the bolt to go through though.
The repair/bodge is till working many years later.

 

[Dadam]

I just cable tied mine back on

 

[fossyant]

Can't say mine have failed, but I'd bolt them back on.

 

[Dan Lotus]

I repaired a set on a commuter, on the rear only iirc, by using another mudguard, and basically chopping off bits of that to bridge over the crack, and then bolted through in a couple of places. Not very pretty, but it did work for years.
*It does rely on you having another sacrificial mudguard of similar size and bend to go over the broken one, but from that one you can get multiple repair 'patches'.

I think I might have popped a bit of inner tube inbetween the two layers of mudguard, to act as something to prevent rattles, and also to give it something to tighten up against semi gently, without risking another crack occurring.

I guess it adds a bit of weight, can look a bit untidy, but for the commuting bike, I didn't care, and it still worked perfectly as a mudguard.
I hadn't had to splash out cash on a new set, plus the time to fit them / cut the metal arms etc etc, so a big win in my eyes.

 

[si_c]

I'd epoxy the bridge back into place and use pop rivets to hold it whilst it cures. But I solved the issue by moving to full metal mudguards.

 

[Dan Lotus]

Metal guards are a good call, I have some Portland Design Works ones, and they are very very good.

 

[Jenkins]

Had something similar yesterday when the rivet attaching the mudguard to the lower stay failed. I just prised out the remaining part of the rivet and used a short bolt and nut instead.

 

[presta]

What am I doing wrong.

Have you got them mounted in a way that's causing excessive vibration? My SKS mudguards are problem-free at 25 years old, with 45,000 miles on the clock.

 

[MichaelW2]

At the chainstay bridge, I drilled out the rivet and another small hole and fix a small zip tie through both holes, around the bridge. Quiet, secure, will last many years.

 

[silva]

Aluminium is a sh!t material for any small mount of hard material alike chromoplastic.
Even textile already rubs off alu - look at luggage racks where panniers rubbed against - I've seen cases were half of the alu diameter was gone.
Alu gone = play = rattling = increasing the wear rate further.

I mount "light" stuff alike mudguards by drilling holes through both sides, then piece of washing line with steel core through it, then bend the ends together.

No bolts nuts roundels tools whatever needed, and if the bike gets smashed by rude people (enough of those in cities foreigners neighborhoods - just last wednesday I found my bike with 2 youngster bikes just thrown against it, with a pedal through my spokes) - it "gives" instead of breaking, just bend back in position and fixed.