Hey Guys

I,m giving it another go at the stretched rear fender for my heritage. The first one I didn't like, so Im doing another one. I am using a heritage front half, and the back section is off a old FX from the 70s

Anyway, I have all the holes welded up, and have been looking this thing over, and pretty happy with the look. Now Im thinking, should I make this a hinged fender ? Though I haven't tried to remove the wheel, its looking like it could be a horror show. I don't want to be removing the fender to get the wheel out of there.

Maybe those of you that have a stretched fender could comment about this?
At this point, I could make it hinged, though more work that might be well worth the trouble. I don't have a lift table with a removable panel to drop the wheel out, and have no intention in getting one.

The thext question for the guys that run these fenders, is what kind of ground clearance is safe? I can position the rear half any where from 4 1/2 to 7 1/2 inches off the ground. These measurements are the bike sitting at ride height, I don't have the Shotgun air system. Im thinking if the fender doesn't hang any lower than the fish tails, I should be fairly safe.

Any words of wisdom on this topic guys?

TIA

 

Here is a few pics of the fender positioned up higher so the split for the hinge could go in. I has pretty decent ground clearance like this, don't think it would ever scrape.

 

Here is a few pics of the fender moved lower down so its the same height off the ground as the fishtails. In this position, I don,t think a hinge is possible.
At this lower position, the two halfs wound need to be welded together as I would need the split to be inbetween the last two bolts on the fender rail.

 

No hinge, finish the welds, grind em down then prime then paint. You got this !

 

Looks much better lower

 

Ok, one for no hinge, and one for lower than higher.
All comments welcome guys. This thing isn,t welded yet. So I like to hear your thoughts, sometimes a different set of eyes helps.

 

Two for no hinge and lower.

It's looking good.

 

Three for no hinges and lower.

 

HINGE! That's the true Shovel look. Higher, lower, either way. I like it higher, as in the first set of pics, but that's just me. But the hinge just looks cool. Just don't ever actually flip up the fender or all the paint will crack off.

 

Good Point about the paint on the hinge. But if I can,t flip it up to gain acess to the rear wheel, then its not worth going through the extra trouble of adding a hinge. I guess that's why hinges went away years ago. With paint cracking off around the hinge being a issue, then it looks like I will weld it up
and slick the join with filler, or lead.

Up high, or down low, still havn,t decided on that yet.
If you check the pics. When its low, the fender tucks towards the wheel a bit better. Mounted higher, the tail kicks farther away from the wheel. Im leaning towards the lower look with the fender tucked to the wheel tighter.

If I was to put it in the higher position, then the arc to the wheel gets out of whack if I push the botton towards the tire. That would cause me to build a new set of side skirts to correct that. I could do it, but that is much more work.

These stretched fenders can drive you half nuts getting the look your after.
The right look is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.