Mud flap for the front side of rear tire? Why Not?

[SpeedyWho]

In efforts to give the rear tire a little more protection from road hazards I made this mud flap. I mounted it to my belly pan, I used a piece of angle aluminum and plastic/rubber mat I cut down and bolted on. Note in the pictures, no one is on the bike, the flap closer to the ground with me on it. The flap material is flexible enough to bend and wear down on the edges without breaking. I'm not sure how much it might help but I don't think it'll hurt anything. All in all I have less than 10 bucks into it so no biggie.

[bobbyf6b]

Interesting

[F6B-RICH]

Looks good

[MichaelG]

SpeedyWho, this is a very smart idea. Several years ago there was a guy out of Portland, Oregon that used to make "cast" rear tire protectors, that would bolt onto the rear swingarm, onto the two bolts on the right side. He went through a few concept models, some with firm rubber attachments down low, but those were mounted too close to the rear tire, and some folks found that in backing up, the rubber would get bound up into the rear tire, and cause a problem...(just don't go backwards). Eventually he made the cast version, all of aluminum, and it was a little pricey, but it worked. I had a couple of them, and personally I loved them. They did an excellent job of protecting the rear tire from rocks, nails, screws, etc. The few people that had theirs painted or powder-coated, could see the results of having this tire protector on the bike, as the rocks, nails, screws, etc, beat the hell out of the paint or powder-coating, as showed as evidence that this device was indeed protecting the rear tire.

I also saw that it had the advantage of directing HEAT that came off the header junction pipe (that is right in front of the rear tire), and deflecting that heat away from hitting the tire directly.

I have tried, in vain, to find a few of these that are left over, being resold, or whatever, but have not found them. Having owned a couple of them, I know what they look like, and how to design them, if anyone wants to take on a project, and make them, and sell them. The GL crowd would buys these in a heartbeat.

The guy that made these is the same one that offered color-matched Honda parts for sale. He dealt with Wingman, out of Portland, for several years, so...if anyone in that area knows how we can get ahold of this guy please let me know.

While there is some liability to making and selling a part that hangs low, and mounts down in front of the rear tire...to me the value in this item is well worth it. Yes, you had to be mindful when going over speed bumps, etc, but when 93.14159 % of the customers that use these have no problems at all, that is good enough. It looked like a giant cast ice cream scoop, but it really worked.

EDIT: after further investigation, I remember that the guy that made these had a company called...Road Trip Essentials...at
www.roadtripessentials.com, however, when I tried that website, it is now gonzo.

[Scotrod]

Any concerns with speed bumps? With luck like mine, I'd get hung up on one and,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Yeahoo Whoyah]

SpeedyWho, this is a very smart idea

If it prevents just one flat tire by deflecting/stopping a sharp object from being stood up then run over by the rear tire then it's well worth it.

[Dark Knight]

www.roadtripessentials.com. This site was last crawled around March 2010. Check out the Wayback Machine to see old website.

[SpeedyWho]

Ok I couldn't have planned this any better. After work I was looking over the bike and noticed a piece of safety wire stuck in my mud flap. Could it have made it into my tire? We'll never know, but it could have. So I'm leaving it on for good. Although I'll be trying different flap materials to see what seems to hold up the best. I think it looks pretty cool shaped like that, and it gets mighty dirty so its doing something I guess.