Rear fender question

Havok315

Havok315

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hey everyone. New to the forum. I have a 78 xs650 special. It's been hard tailed. I've been having a hard time finding a rear fender for it that looks good. Was wondering what some of you have used on your hard tails. Any suggestions is much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
 

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I'm doing the fender thinking for a hard tail too. On the rear I'm using a Shinko 712, 110/90-18. The Shinko's are a bit wider than other brands of the same size. A 5" fender is what I'll need. I have a '75 Goldwing front fender that I'm thinking about right now. Without changing the length, the widened chrome mud flap area of this fender comes to a good spot over the tire, with plenty of area to support it with a sissy bar. I'm liking the mud flap area of this fender, it reminds me of the '50's cars with wings and fins. So I think I'll be welding and filling over the holes on this fender. Yeah, it looks like a bobber fender with wings.

Front fenders, I think people try to go too small, looks like a sport bike fender, then they decide to go fenderless. I really think I'll decide on a full fender with one or two stays, going for a vintage look and function. 4" wide will probably cover my Shinko 712, 100/90-19 on the front, wish I had the stock fender, I'd be happy with that painted.

Scott
 
Havok315 said:
hey everyone. New to the forum. I have a 78 xs650 special. It's been hard tailed. I've been having a hard time finding a rear fender for it that looks good. Was wondering what some of you have used on your hard tails. Any suggestions is much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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Hi Havok and welcome,
I'd suggest looking in a chopper parts retailer's site to find a 5" wide fender to suit that 130/90-16 rear tire.
They are usually available in both round and square cross sections and in a half-circle length for you to cut as you need to.
 
Thanks for all the help. I was looking at front fenders of other bikes as well as looking at some of TC bros fenders.
 
I love my TC Bros fender.
http://www.tcbroschoppers.com/6-25-spun-fender.html

I set it up on a modern tire (Shinko SR712) and still follows nicely. Not a much for extra width but my fits my 130/90-16. I had a fair bit of extra height so I'd guess 18 wouldn't look off.

20140901_01.jpg


Img20150221_142349.jpg


I also picked up a Led Sled 7 inch Contour Fender for 16 inch Stock Style Dunlop Tires from Lowbrow Customs for a KZ550 project and its lovely as well. No pictures as I put the KZ on hold to figure out why the XS started fouling plugs. Thinking about stealing it for the XS over the winter though as its a really nice fender. Think you can order from Led Sled and give him dimensions for custom ones.
http://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/7-contour-fender-for-16-stock-style-dunlop-tires.html

Both have a nice build quality and are thick enough to make fabricating on them easier. If you want a fender mounted tail light the TCBros has a flatter top that would make mounting easier. If you want a pillon seat on the fend the Led Sled's wider and may work better with off the shelf seats (TC was pretty narrow when I had a kingqueen slap on top of it). Well soft bottom pillions as it is very rounded. Led Sled has some other styles as well and I've always seen positive feedback on their fenders.
 
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With a 16 in wheel I have always liked a 1936 Ford spare tire cover. They fit the profile nice and have a 1 in wide rib. A whole tire cover will yield at least 2 fenders and possible three if you want them short. To me nothing looks worse than a fender that does not fit the curve of the tire.. tim
 
I ran a tire cover for the rear fender for bit in the first couple hundred miles. It was thinner and I keep breaking mounts around my welding (sure it was too hot as I'm just a hobby MIG welder). Sparto defiantly didn't help as I'm sure it has enough mass to vibe the fender pretty hard.

After swapping in the TCBros I realized I like more side coverage from my fender than a lot of guys. Lot of good looking bikes run the tire covers but I do not plan to go back.
I personally wouldn't run any passenger setup with on and would switch to bungs on the struts with pass through at the fender similar to hard_y_rd's pic.
 
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I know these are lousy pictures, best I could do with the fluorescent lights in the shop at night. That's the '75/'76 etc. Goldwing front fender. I know it's not "minimal" but I do like the wing look from all angles. I think I'm set on using this one or getting another one just like it. It's pretty mangled, it came that way, the GL now sports an ABS hog style from a GL1100. Worse problem with it is there are two breaks in the rolled edges, but I'm gonna try to stiffen it up, fill the holes and smooth it over. In person it looks more proper than these pictures.

Scott
 
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