Topic: Do I really that Thingy on the fender? Problem found? New question. 4/26

[KB02]

Okay the thingy I'm talking about is the little hook for the brake line. While the hook itself isn't the problem, where it mounts to the fender is. The little bulge on the inside of the fender brace is rubbing into my tire. I bought another fender off ebay a couple years ago to replace the rusty and bent stocker that I had. But even the stocker rubbed on the tire. You can see the grove in the tires side wall that the bulge has left. By looking at it, if I just remove that hook, all will be well. BUT, is that safe to do? I know it holds the brake line, but isn't the steel tube strong enough to hold itself?

[Bob Wessner]

I'm not sure why you would be having clearance problems, but I would be reluctant to do without it. The steel tube would be exposed to more flexing and vibration and could eventually lead to metal fatigue and cracking.

[eldar]

The only way I could see it rubing is if you are running a monster front tire or your fender is bent. I mean I have a 110/90-19 on my front and it does not touch. With the steel tube, you might want to keep it. If you had a flexible line,then you could lose it.

[KB02]

The tire I'm running is a 100/90-19 (or is it 110... I at work right now so I can't run out and check). so the sixe shouldn't be a problem.

[Cvillechopper]

First thing I'd check, and yes I know this is motorcycling 101 but it has to be said, is you tire pressure.  I've had tires a little low distort under side pressure (i.e. in harder turns).  Also, if there's scoring on the tire itself I'd worry about a blow out.  Gone are my days of "see how it holds up".  Of course I ride one bike without the front brake all together so maybe I'm not one to talk about safety stuff, huh?

As for the fender, I'd grind down the inside tab and just weld the hook to the inside.  It'll give you a much thinner profile on the brace so clearance should be fine but keep the support for the brake line.

[Blaize]

I rode my first bike (a 550) for years withought the rubber grommet that holds the brake line solid in that hook. It wasn't untill I saw somone elses bike that I even knew it was supposed to have one. i AM NOT RECOMENDING ANYTHING HERE BUT i CAN TELL YOU THAT IN MY CASE NOT HAVING THE BRAKE LINE SUPPORTED DIDNT SEEM TO HURT A BLOODY THING. sorry hit caps lock and I can't be bothered to re type

[KB02]

i AM NOT RECOMENDING ANYTHING HERE BUT i CAN TELL YOU THAT IN MY CASE NOT HAVING THE BRAKE LINE SUPPORTED DIDNT SEEM TO HURT A BLOODY THING. sorry hit caps lock and I can't be bothered to re type

 

[TwoTired]

The metal hoop is a strain relief for the brake line.  What will you replace it with?

Design changes such as oversize tires can have a ripple effect on other things, necessitating further redesign.

Cheers,

[KB02]

So. upon further investigation, I think I have found something. As you can, kinda, see in the picture, the tire appears to be off center a little bit. I placed the 10" mark as close to center line as my eye could put it and it appears that the tire is off by about 1/4 to 1/8th of an inch towards the brake side (perspective of my camera skews the dimensions slightly). Now I know that my 100 tire is larger than stock, but if people are running 110's without an issue...

Now, the axle nut holds one end of the axle firmly in place so that it cannot slide side to side, so how do I adjust this spacing to re-align the front tire (hence fixing my rubbing issue... in theory)?

In my Clymers manual, it shows the other end of the axle being flush with the outside of the fork lower, but mine is not. It is recessed slightly (by a coincidence, abut the same amount I want to move my tire). What should I look for here?

[eldar]

One thing to measure is the offset of the rim also. Lay a straight edge ON the RIM and then measure from the hub to the straight edge. Do both sides and see if they are different. I dont recall the front having an offset. If it is the same on both sides, then the axle is probably the issue in some way.

[KB02]

I'm wondering if the PO had the whole axle apart at some point and forgot to put a washer/spacer back in or something.

First, the groove in your tire from rubbing is uniform all around right? What I mean is if you rotate the tire 180 deg. and put the ruler back on, are the measurements about the same, does it switch sides? It likely is that axle though.

Yes, the groove is uniform over the whole tire.

Just put it on its center stand, remove the four nuts on the lower fork tubes and drop the front tire and axle. If you look closely at the axle, at least one side of it, if not both, should have a little lip on the end and that is meant to fit firmly against the fork and clamp, both of which should have a recess in them for that lip to fit in.

Yup, this lip is on the brake side of the axle. it is set in as it should be.

[KB02]

Tried that. Didn't work. Thanks for the thought, though. Now that I've noticed this spacing/alignment issue, I think I'll pay more attention to that first. Should take care of things... in theory.