Full figured fender frustration

September 16, 2007 8:09 PM

As wetter weather descends upon Oregon, I'm on the hunt for fenders for my Surly Karate Monkey. I'm running Schwalbe Big Apples for commuting. The Monkey is a 29er and these tires take up a lot of space! I need to find fenders that'll fit. What fender solution has worked for your 29er/Big Apple setup?
posted by Slacker Manager to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total)

You don't say what size the Big Apples are which you're using. As you're probably finding out the fender market is lagging behind the 29er movement because it is still so new.

That said I use Planet Bike's Freddy Fenders on my bad weather bike (clad with 700x38 tires) and they fit fine with plenty of clearance. Not sure how the 700x38 compares with what you're running.

The Freddy Fenders were the best quality plastic fenders I could find... they have been going strong through two (soon to be third) Chicago winter.

Oh and now that I google I see that Planet Bike is making the Freddy for 29ers! Go for it!

Ride safe!
posted by wfrgms at 8:24 PM on September 16, 2007

Man, I have no idea what you are talking about - but I think its totally awesome that you are riding a surly karate monkey to work.
posted by mrgreyisyelling at 8:58 PM on September 16, 2007

Thanks, wfrgms. Those Freddy Cascadia 29ers seem to be exactly what I'm after!

BTW, the Big Apples are 28x2.35 (59mm). Supa fluffy!
posted by Slacker Manager at 9:54 PM on September 16, 2007

I'm also looking for Karate Monkey + Big Apple compatible fenders and would like to see how those Cascadias work out.
posted by marionnette en chaussette at 10:07 PM on September 16, 2007

"I'm running Schwalbe Big Apples for commuting. The Monkey is a 29er ..."

I like it when I know so little about a topic that hearing someone talk about it reminds me of dialogue from a 1970's-era SNL skit.
posted by Ziggurat at 10:09 PM on September 16, 2007

Check out Kona. Whatever is stock on the Smoke is pretty fat.
posted by sourwookie at 11:14 PM on September 16, 2007

Yeah I gotta say I'm a little jealous of your Karate Monkey. I've been flirting with the idea of building up a 29er bike for a while now, but the Surly frame would really blow my budget - I'm leaning more toward the Redline Monocog 29er frame because they are so cheap (and built reasonably well, though with ugly welds and braze ons.)

I met a guy here in Chicago last year who built a multiple thousand-dollar 29er commuter based on a carbon Orbea frame that was completely alien to me. He had salsa rims with the rear laced to a internal 7-speed Nexus hub. The bike probably weighed 16-18lbs. Incredible.

The roads here in Chicago are 50-50 good and bad... it seems like I can't commute in any direction more than a mile without hitting rough, cracked pavement which is never fun on skinny tires. A 29er might be a great urban commuter...
posted by wfrgms at 11:20 PM on September 16, 2007

I've run the PB Cascadia 29ers on my Monocog Flight 29er with 50mm Big Apples since last winter, and they're fantastic. No problems, good coverage. Disc-compatible too.

Awesome. Get 'em. You won't be sorry.
posted by BlackPebble at 11:24 AM on September 17, 2007

BlackPebble: thanks for the reassurance. I just scored a pair this afternoon. They look great. I'll be installing tonight and I'll hit the thread with results.

wfrgms: I've never been a road bike guy, so skinny tires still seem weird to me, though I did put some road tires on my old 26" MTB, which worked great. I'm really digging the "natural suspension" of the big old balloon tires. They roll pretty good too. :-)
posted by Slacker Manager at 1:18 PM on September 17, 2007

Installed the fenders last night. Front one has no problems. Back one is pretty tight in some areas. Had to move the tire back (thank you, horizontal dropouts) to get it to fit. Not sure how I'm going to get a rack on there too, but the fenders are great!
posted by Slacker Manager at 10:33 AM on September 18, 2007