unexpected observation regarding XS1 front fender

DogBunny

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This is my XS1B front fender. Every time I looked at it, I thought that it was very slightly bent and would require a little straightening.

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I finally removed and disassembled the fender so that I could clean and restore it. It turns out the end curves are NOT SYMMETRICAL.

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This distance, measured from the edge of the strut hole to the edge of the curve as shown, is 60mm on one side and 56mm on the other side. It is quite noticeable. My fender is a actually perfectly straight, but it looks bent because the ends are not symmetrical.
This is the back of the front fender. On the front edge, the situation is even worse. The strut-hole to fender edge measurements on the front are 54mm and 48mm.
Has anyone else observed this on their XS1 or XS1B front fender?
 
Probably a production issue. I would enlarge each hole by 2mm in the proper direction so that align. Looking at the picture I can see the mis-alignment on the front. Looks like they had it figured out by 72
 
That’s interesting. My XS2 front end is asymmetrical also, but in a slightly different way. I first realized it when I was doing reassembly. I noticed my front wheel was off center in the forks.
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I couldn’t figure it out at first, I thought that something must be assembled wrong. But it’s not, that first year disc takes up a lot of real estate on the right side. The fender is made to accommodate this asymmetry, it has a cut out in it for clearance with the fork leg.
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The right side of the fender has no such clearance issue.
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The right side of the fender mount also has an 8mm spacer affixed to it to help with this offset. There is no matching spacer on the other side.
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It’s funny, your eye doesn’t pick up on this imbalance, but it’s there. By the way my ‘77 front end is perfectly symmetrical with none of these quirks.
 

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Probably a production issue. I would enlarge each hole by 2mm in the proper direction so that align. Looking at the picture I can see the mis-alignment on the front. Looks like they had it figured out by 72
Definitely a production issue. The holes are straight and properly placed. The sheet metal is where the problem is. The fender ends weren't cut and formed with a symmetrical curve. There's really no way to correct it other than trimming the ends of the fender. Would be easy to do, but a big mistake because it's a rolled-over edge.
I can live with it now that I understand it. Wondering if anyone else's 70-71 fender is similar. It's very noticeable on mine if you look for it.
That’s interesting. My XS2 front end is asymmetrical also, but in a slightly different way. I first realized it when I was doing reassembly. I noticed my front wheel was off center in the forks.
View attachment 163631

I couldn’t figure it out at first, I thought that something must be assembled wrong. But it’s not, that first year disc takes up a lot of real estate on the right side. The fender is made to accommodate this asymmetry, it has a cut out in it for clearance with the fork leg.
View attachment 163632 View attachment 163633

The right side of the fender has no such clearance issue.
View attachment 163635

The right side of the fender mount also has an 8mm spacer affixed to it to help with this offset. There is no matching spacer on the other side.
View attachment 163636

It’s funny, your eye doesn’t pick up on this imbalance, but it’s there. By the way my ‘77 front end is perfectly symmetrical with none of these quirks.
Very interesting that you say that. My XS1B front wheel is also not centered in the forks. Again, very noticeable. As with your '77, every 1975 and later front wheel I have ever seen, and that's a lot, IS perfectly centered in the forks.
However, regardless of how your XS2 fender sits on your XS2 wheel, I bet the fender itself -- the front and tail ends -- at least have symmetrical curves.
 
Wondering if anyone else's 70-71 fender is similar. It's very noticeable on mine if you look for it.


Don't remember if this is off a 1 or 1B, but no signs of asymmetry. bolt centers are the same distance to the end.

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Don't remember if this is off a 1 or 1B, but so signs of asymmetry. bolt centers are the same distance to the end.

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Yep, yours is straight.

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Here's the underside of mine showing the folded-over edge. I assume yours is the same.
Also, another good pic of the edge asymmetry.
 
is the rust on the fork inner tube high enough that it doesn't matter? How's my adopted home town adapting to the black death so far?
 
is the rust on the fork inner tube high enough that it doesn't matter? How's my adopted home town adapting to the black death so far?
The one big change I'm doing to my XS1B is swapping to 35mm forks. While keeping the rest of XS1B front end, including the fender and the front drum wheel.
The swap is almost complete. When done with the swap, I'll write it up in my long-dormant "Texas XS1B Resurrection" thread.
I'm the kind of person who'd run those rusty XS1B fork tubes (cleaned-up, of course). But, I opted for the performance upgrade of the 35mm forks instead. I already had a modified triple tree that I've been hoarding, so it was an easy decision.
I'll probably sell the XS1B forks. They are worth a lot, even rusty. I believe that XS1 and XS1B forks are much rarer than the front drum wheels.

Austin was characteristically progressive when we were one of the first to cancel a major mass event, SXSW.
On the other hand, you had this crowd of morons:
https://www.statesman.com/lifestyle...ol-unfazed-by-austinrsquos-stay-at-home-order
Did you ever go to Barton Springs, AKA "Austin's Crown Jewel"? The pool has been shut down, but the morons were at the popular "free" area below the spillway, where you can bring your dogs. The spillway area is now also shut down.
I would rate our mayor's response to Covid-19 an "A". I would rate the governor's response as an "F". Oh wait, politics are forbidden on this forum, so I'll scratch that last comment. Hopefully no one read down this far...
 
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we're pretty much opposite ends of the political spectrum, but we get along okay due to overwhelming commonalities, i guess. my perception of the local govt was i was seeing a peculiar authoritarianism that felt like there was a bitchy female behind it somewhere... one interesting thing about your local govt is if you are employed by it, you have first dibs on any govt job openings, making it easy to move around. if i'd stayed there i'd likely be in system administration or similar for city govt

not sure if i was at barton springs. one place i liked had boat docks, and a restaurant and i think a pool. very large parking lot. kind of downtown or close by. one co-worker, a 39- year old woman, that's where i first realized she had a body like a 20 yr old... face too, actually. lots of fun memories. could have married her, i think...
 
Barton Springs? Think we stopped there on vacation a few years back to cool off.
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Yeah, there you go. It is spring fed. The water gushes up like a geyser out of the rock at a constant temperature of 68-70 degrees. Tolerable when the weather's freezing, and refreshing during a 100 degree summer.
So it's natural, the water is constantly being refreshed so it's clean without chlorine, and I have never been there when it was hot that I did not see at least a couple of topless girls.
not sure if i was at barton springs. one place i liked had boat docks, and a restaurant and i think a pool. very large parking lot. kind of downtown or close by. one co-worker, a 39- year old woman, that's where i first realized she had a body like a 20 yr old... face too, actually. lots of fun memories. could have married her, i think...
I think you are conflating at least two places, possibly including Deep Eddy Pool and Oyster Landing Marina. Unlike Barton Springs, Deep Eddy is a concrete-bottomed pool, but like Barton Springs, it is spring-fed (from a well), and un-chlorinated. Austin has a couple more spring-fed public pools.
 
^whati'm thinking of was a city-owned park, and the way to get there is going from where i lived, head toward downtown on the main road (lamar?) and about halfway there, hang a right and go about a mile. that's the best i can remember it :) there was a giant gravel parking lot on the right side of the road and the park was on the other side. there was some small boat docks or piers and a restaurant and i think a small pool. i'm not mixed up, just can't remember the name of the place... actually not 100% the lot was gravel, just remember it was rough
 
Sorry, that just doesn't sound like any place I know of. All the docks are on the river or lakes, so that would be all the way down town or further west than a mile.
 
i might be off on the distance. i was being pretty colloquial really. i might try to satellite view it, or i kept extensive notes, so maybe i have directions to it written down...
 
I wish you would try satellite or your notes. You've really got me curious now.
Marshall Ford Marina and adjoining Tom Hughes park come to mind, but they are waay out on Lake Travis.
I still like Oyster Landing Marina. Maybe you remember it as Walsh Boat landing. Other possibilities include West Lake Beach and Lake Austin Marina, but you'd have to cross the river to reach them. I can't think of any marinas with a swimming pool.
 
OEM stuff is not so accurate as some would have you believe. I once had 2 1981 specials both with less than 2,000 miles.
The exhaust mount points on the frame were almost 1/2"off from each other. The earlier the bike the worse the fabrication.
 
I wish you would try satellite or your notes. You've really got me curious now.
Marshall Ford Marina and adjoining Tom Hughes park come to mind, but they are waay out on Lake Travis.
I still like Oyster Landing Marina. Maybe you remember it as Walsh Boat landing. Other possibilities include West Lake Beach and Lake Austin Marina, but you'd have to cross the river to reach them. I can't think of any marinas with a swimming pool.

pretty sure it was walsh boat landing. pretty sure the pic is the giant, rough, probably gravel parking lot.

the way i remember it, from somewhere at the parking lot you can walk straight across the road to a snack shack, or little greasy spoon, that's on the shore. i was only in that a couple of times briefly...once waiting while somebody took a leak, and once with a big gang to get take-out. part of working for the city was take the pickup truck and pick up people who were parking cars there and take them somewhere else... usually when i drove the truck it was to take $5 -10,000 to the bank. one of my co-workers was a parolee who'd spent ten years in prison for a weed farm. one time he had to take it to the bank and he was in a near panic, like if anything at all happened, even bank error, he'd go back to prison. i guess you get used to being treated pretty roughly and not being given the benefit of a doubt and it's your new normal

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OEM stuff is not so accurate as some would have you believe. I once had 2 1981 specials both with less than 2,000 miles.
The exhaust mount points on the frame were almost 1/2"off from each other. The earlier the bike the worse the fabrication.
Interesting. In my experience, the quality of the frame welding is hit-or-miss over the years.
Just checked my XS1B front fender, both ends measure symmetrical...

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Thank you for the response. I guess mine is an aberration. But someone, somewhere, must also have a "defective" fender like mine.
Perhaps you have a fender made early on a Monday morning?
Deffinitely. Or a Friday afternoon.

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This is what mine looks like. I wish I could see how these fenders are made. I assume that a ribbon of metal is cut to length by a guillotine. When my fender was made, the guillotine must have been mis-aligned. So, the fenders that were made before and after mine must also be non-symmetrical. Pretty damn sloppy work.
If the curves on the fender ends were machine-made, then that machine should have corrected the skewed guillotine cut. The implies that the curves on mine were-hand done. Is that possible?

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The edge was folded-over evenly, following the slant. I assume this is done in a machine that just follows whatever edge it encounters. Again, I wish I could see how these are made.
 
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