Taillight Wire Inside Rear Fender (Mudguard). Thoughts?

[mickeg]

Great.  Thanks for posting.

I think I will take Dans suggestion of clothes pins and do a bit at a time.

[mickeg]

UPDATE

I sent an e-mail to Planet Bike, the fender manufacturer, as follows:

I bought a set of your 45mm wide 700c Cascadia fenders last spring for one of my touring bikes.  I have a dynohub on that bike and will be installing a fender mounted taillight that is dynohub powered.  For that I would like to glue the power wire for the taillight inside the rear fender from near the bottom bracket back to the taillight.

I have heard a variety of suggestions for the best glue to use, but I am not hearing that anything is really very good for this.

Can you suggest the best way to run a wire inside the rear fender for my taillight?

Thanks.

Their response is as follows:

Thanks for your message. So I’m not sure what will be the best way to secure the wire within the fender. Can’t say that we really recommend affixing anything to the fender in this way and the wire has the potential of getting quite wet/dirty if it’s inside of the fender.

Sorry I don’t have a better answer for you!

Kind regards,

So, not much help.  But it met my expectations, as they probably have zero experience with that topic.

[David Simpson]

Their response is as follows:

... Can’t say that we really recommend affixing anything to the fender in this way and the wire has the potential of getting quite wet/dirty if it’s inside of the fender...

So, not much help.  But it met my expectations, as they probably have zero experience with that topic.

Also, their answers may be screened by their legal department for liability reasons.

- DaveS

[Pavel]

Their response is as follows:

... Can’t say that we really recommend affixing anything to the fender in this way and the wire has the potential of getting quite wet/dirty if it’s inside of the fender...

Yes, America is the land where packages of nuts contains the warning label "Warning - may contain nuts" It's nuts.

So, not much help.  But it met my expectations, as they probably have zero experience with that topic.

Also, their answers may be screened by their legal department for liability reasons.

- DaveS

[mickeg]

In my part of USA almost nobody has a wired taillight and dynohub powered headlamp.  So it is very possible that nobody at Planet Bike has ever looked closely at one of their fenders with a wired taillight screwed onto it.  I do not know anyone at the company, but their headquarters is about 15 km from my home.  So, the bikes I frequently see on the road are the same ones that their staff frequently see.

[martinf]

Probably not acceptable for you due to aesthetics.

My solution is to run the rear lamp cable along the down tube, under the bottom bracket, along the left chainstay and then along the mudguard stay. Held on with zip ties.

On my black Raven Tour this system remains relatively unobtrusive (black zip ties on black paint), but not on my other bikes.

The avantage is that it is easy to change the wiring, once or twice I have repaired old wiring while on tour.

In the past I have had commercially installed wiring systems in the mudguards on two bikes (very old French bike with aluminium muduards, more modern bike with ESGE mudguards and conducting strips). Both ended up with replacement wiring along the mudguard stay after the original wiring failed.

Longest lasting wiring in my experience has been Schmidt coaxial wiring, but simple twin-wire as supplied by B&M with their rear lamps is easier to install and repair.

[mickeg]

Thanks for the suggestions, but I am just going to use the B&M wiring glued inside the fender.  If that is a disaster, I can re-route new wire later to the stays.  Plan to run the wire down the downtube and under the bottom bracket, the brake cable takes that route, thus I plan to run the wire with the brake cable to the bottom bracket.  Then some 2.8mm quick connectors near the bottom bracket so if I have to disconnect the wire at that point for fender removal, or whatever, I can.

[Pavel]

If racers and their needs were not 98.735 percent of the focus of bike shops and companies around where I am, a great opportunity for a new product would be a new all in one fender incorporating a built in wire.  They could have wire moulded into the fender - super indestructible that way, a new thing to hype and overcharge for, for which I'd stand in line for. 

I think it's one of those more subtle factors which compel me towards SJS cycles.  They get, they speak touring. So few do.

[mickeg]

If racers and their needs were not 98.735 percent of the focus of bike shops and companies around where I am, a great opportunity for a new product would be a new all in one fender incorporating a built in wire.  They could have wire moulded into the fender - super indestructible that way, a new thing to hype and overcharge for, for which I'd stand in line for. 

I think it's one of those more subtle factors which compel me towards SJS cycles.  They get, they speak touring. So few do.

When I was doing my research on wiring inside the fender, I found a number of references to using SKS Chromoplast fenders that have some foil laminated inside.  Too late, I already own the ones I have.  I also found references to using metal fenders that had a rolled edge, installing the wire inside that rolled edge.

I can't remember the last time I saw a bike fender that had a light installed on it, it has been years.  I think the few here that use a dynohub taillight just use a rack mounted light.  But I want to keep the battery powered one I have on the rack.

I am about six time zones from SJS, so I think I won't be dropping in very often.

I am beginning to think that I will have spent five or ten times as much time researching this as I will actually spend gluing the wire in the fender.

[Danneaux]

Additional sources from a Forum search:
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2273.0
...and for those who can/wish to tap into the foil on ESGE/SKS mudguards:
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2273.msg15762#msg15762
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2273.msg16261#msg16261

George, I need to repair a puncture incurred on my Nomad's rear tire. When I do, I'll be happy to take a photo showing the wiring in place now it has aged 5.5 years and is dirty from use.
Best,

Dan.

[David Simpson]

I am beginning to think that I will have spent five or ten times as much time researching this as I will actually spend gluing the wire in the fender.

  My wife accuses me of having that same problem gift.

- DaveS

[mickeg]

...
George, I need to repair a puncture incurred on my Nomad's rear tire. When I do, I'll be happy to take a photo showing the wiring in place now it has aged 5.5 years and is dirty from use.
Best,

Dan.

Great.  Thanks.

[Danneaux]

Here you go, George, a double-header of sorts.

First up, three photos of my Nomad's rear light wire, bonded inside the SKS rear fender/mudguard edge using beta-cyanoacrylate super glue. It is now 5.5 years old and has seen a lot of use and mud. The mud has been cleaned out any number of times with water spray and this is a more normal accumulation ("dirty" by my standards and probably Anto's).

All is well and the wiring is of a piece with the fender blade. I routed it beneath the strut brace and used Futaba rubber grommets intended for R/C models (sourced at the local hobby shop) to ease any strain where the wire enters and exits (applied automotive practice from the days when I had my own car repair business).

Hopefully helpful. More in a second post, as the Forum software places limits in the number I can include in each post.

[Danneaux]

Second set of photos, this time showing a similar installation on my Extrawheel trailer for the dyno-powered taillight and charging system.

This mudguard used pinch-brackets for the struts so it was necessary to route the wire 'round them. It has seen pretty heavy use over gravel and dirt as well as desert playa and on logging roads and all remains in good shape to date. Same adhesive and method as used on the Nomad, same Futaba grommets on entry and exit, same Deans connectors. The grommets probably aren't necessary but what I thought was needed for a "complete" best-practices job of my own (I'm fussy about such things).

Best,

Dan.

[mickeg]

Thanks for the photos.  I plan to use the DAP caulk as my glue.  That is white but otherwise my plan is to pretty much replicate yours.  I do not anticipate any rubber grommets, but if I have any concerns about the wire I might use some Shoe Goo (black) to substitute for a grommet, the Shoe Goo should provide some stress relief.  It looks like running the wire along the edge like you did is the best way to do it.

Before today I was thinking of running the wire under the bottom bracket and having quick connect fittings there.  Today while driving through a few inches of fresh snow and getting slush thrown onto the windscreen from other traffic I concluded that the connectors should be above the bottom bracket instead of under to avoid water spray from the front wheel.