CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

SKS or TorTec?

(12 posts)
  • Started 10 years ago by Baldcyclist
  • Latest reply from MediumDave
  • This topic is not resolved

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  1. Baldcyclist
    Member

    After my crank almost falling off shananigans the other day, and my buying the wee plastic cover for the crank arm and fixing the problem the rattling, and vibrations never stopped, hmm thought me? Crank bolts are still tight and it's still rattling?

    Ah, the wee rivets on the bracket of my rear SKS chromoplastic mud guard have popped, phew.

    Ok, so had these mudguards since I bought the bike, so just short of 2 years, done about 8000miles I guess. What are more robust SKS or Tortec mudguards, both are similarly priced?

    For the moment a cable tie, will fix the issue, but I am likely to tire of the rattling soon....

    Posted 10 years ago #

  2. allebong
    Member

    Are you talking about the attachment of the bracket to the guard and not the stays to the bracket?

    I recently had to swap out a snapped bracket and was able to find a replacement one with 2 holes in it, I put 2 matching holes in the guard and ran bolts with washers and locknuts through, when tightened down this has actually been more secured than the original rivet/push fit (will get a photo). Might be worth trying that before going for full new guards.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  3. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Never tried Tortec, but by reputation, SKS are always very highly regarded.

    Which bit exactly is missing / broken / loose? I've piles of spares for SKS guards having been through quite a few pairs on different bikes, ordered an extra fitting kit and "customising" others.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  4. amir
    Member

    Yeah - you can get bits for SKS guards. I recently bought a bridge thingy - didn't cost much.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  5. Baldcyclist
    Member

    Those rivets aren't attached on the underside, just noticed when taking the picture that the mudguard is also cracked there, from the closest rivet to the outside of the mudguard....

    Posted 10 years ago #

  6. wingpig
    Member

    I've found a few spare bridges in the Bike Station which have been applied to both Vaverts and SKSes. I'm currently more impressed with Vavert than SKS for full-length guards on the grounds of the positions of the stay attachments relative to the points at which I would like the guard to not wobble.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  7. Baldcyclist
    Member

    Although a couple of nuts and bolts as suggested earlier probably a good solution until it cracks all the way through. Can probably drill the rivets out and use the existing braket.

    Oh, and Vavert added to the list. Forgot about those.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  8. amir
    Member

    Vavert don't seem to have QR fixings on the front mudguards - seems a good way to crash!

    Posted 10 years ago #

  9. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Vavert? Unless I'm very much mistaken, there's a name that's gotten a bad rep in the past on this forum for the whole guard snapping.

    Can probably drill the rivets out and use the existing braket.

    I've done this before, it's quite possible and then put back together using a pop riveter.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  10. wingpig
    Member

    I've had Vaverts snap where I've drilled through them to mount them to the rear rack struts via a B&M light bracket and a couple of tap washers where I've had to saw them in half where they wouldn't fit under the brake bridge on my old frame and at the rearmost stay-clamp (where it corroded and snapped) but the plastic of the guard has not snapped in normal use, whereas I had some SKS snappage due to the weight of a B&M Seculite Plus mounted at the rear-reflector mounting-point due to the position of the stays allowing the weight of the light to waggle the guard too much, whereupon the snapped-off portion of the guard was eaten by the wheel, resulting in the lens of the light being smashed into tiny pieces.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  11. crowriver
    Member

    TorTec guards are fine. Their commuter guards are very similar to SKS Bluemels. I also have some Raleigh/RSP guards which are similar to SKS Bluemels too. SKS Chromoplastic are supposedly the best but I wouldn't know.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  12. MediumDave
    Member

    SKS rivets seem prone to corrosion - I tend to just accept that winter salt will eat them over a few years and replace with cable ties when that happens. Oddly, the front ones seem more sensitive to this than the rear.

    If the rattle bothers you, a bit of foam tape between the bridge and the guard will provide a bit of "spring" to take up slack in the cable tie when you tighten it up. Repairs with pop riveter never lasted that long. Maybe if I had a proper one that could flush-rivet rather than a Screwfix special I might have more success.

    Regarding guards cracking around screw holes I went through a phase of this a few years back. Either they had a quality issue or my install technique wasn't up to scratch (probably the latter; I was likely leaving the guard under tension).

    I also went through a phase of the rear bridge itself fatiguing where it attaches to the seatpost. Fortunately easy to replace and I had a few spare bridges due to the aforementioned guard cracking problem.

    Cheers,

    -D

    Posted 10 years ago #

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