Evening all, simple question. Has anyone on here had experiences good bad or ugly with Indian made mudguards and stays? I’m wrestling with trying to make a plunger mudguard fit onto my project and it isn’t working.. so I have got to that point where do I pay an extortionate price for an original in bad condition or newly fabricated Indian one.. just looking for a cost effective solution. I’m not a pureist by the way.. I just want a bike I can ride that is sympathetically correct for it’s era... I leave rivet counting to others..
Thats a bit of a gamble. I have seen Indian made guards that where made up from 3 strokes of sheet metal welded lenghtways .
Other ones where made from one sheet and some lack in having the correct radius.
But if you are not shy of a bit of sheet metal work Indian ones can be a reasonable start .
The Indian made mudguards vary in quality. The rear mudguard is one piece of the bike you'll need to be careful with if you buy a reproduction item. Inaccurate curvature in the mudguard will throw off the fitting of the battery holder, and may even get in the way of being able to fill the gearbox. In addition, if the curve is not right then the stays will need to be carefully aligned (the drillings on the mudguard are not always in the right place)or lengthened. This will tend to throw off the fitment of the rear rack and pannier frames, too. [Ask me how I know about this...? Experience!]
If you don't mind using the India made items merely as a guide from which to start, and if you don't mind fitting them by trial and error, then this will be a pleasant activity. Occasionally they'll also have longitudinal marks on them, too, where they've been put through an English Wheel somewhat inexpertly. These will require careful attention if the marks are not to show after painting.
You may be lucky and get a good one. The cut price ones are exactly what one might expect. Since genuine mudguards are expensive and still likely to need work, you'll have to decide how you want to spend your time.
Thanks for the feedback guys, very informative... I do actually have a plain mudguard blade (non ribbed), which I bought years ago for another project and it didn't get used. So I may play around with this first as the curve is correct against the wheel. I can probably use the hinge and other mounts on the old mudguard also. Fortunately I do have a fly press and dome headed rivets so this will help with that side of things. A week of metal bashing ahead!
Vintage steel in Western Australia are my go to for custom made guards
Their work is perfect but as one would expect quality hand made guards are not cheap.
If there is 2 days of labour then you have to pay 2 days of labour + profit margin for them .
Most peopel who complain about th quality of 3rd world guards are too cheap to buy 1st world guards.
AFAIK Singer are still making guards in the UK
These are cheaper because they are made on mass production machines where as Vintage Steel guards are all bespoke .
G'day Trevor, I had an email from Mike at Vintage Steel a few days ago, looks like they are selling up/retiring and asking for customers wanting guards to place orders early.
I have no commercial connection to them, just a happy customer.
Trevor,
This looks like it wont happen over night but they do state that they will be taking 2 months off next year to travel around Australia and to ride their veteran bike from Brisbane to Broome.
Trevor,
This looks like it wont happen over night but they do state that they will be taking 2 months off next year to travel around Australia and to ride their veteran bike from Brisbane to Broome.
Well you would not begrudge them that would you ?
Don't know of an organized ride like that but sounds like fun.
The landlord was looking at doing the proposed Aust Cannonball Perth to Sydney and I would have gone back up on that.
However it looks like covid has killed that off for the time being.
Still plotting to do an Iron Bum ( 1000 miles in 24 hrs ) but that requires me getting something a tad more fleet of foot than the M20 and getting a bit more ride fit .
I purchased a set of Indian ones a few months back. Yes they are rough, but they were cheap. I have some repairs to do on the frame before I do a trial fit, but I expect to do some sheet metal work.
