Fendering

 It never rains...

Except when it does here in Sicily and we certainly need it. But because it rarely rains the roads here seem to have no "crown" for drainage which means flooding and puddles that take a long time to dry up. Zio Lorenzo had this bike's brother "Bugno" down here years ago around this time of year but wanted something more secure when it came to trying to keep his feet dry and that ugly stripe off his backside.

Since "Bartali" is down here now and like "Bugno" has braze-on (though braze-in would be more accurate) fittings on the fork blades and seatstays, why not use 'em?

Great idea, right? Well, kind of. With 27 mm tires squeezed-in Zio had to file a bit of the fork crown away (more like thinning the lug as guys like Mondonico used to do, but never bothered-with on this fork) to keep 'em from rubbing, so good luck getting a fender in there!

So some creativity was in-order. Or butchery, some might say. Since no way would the full fenders fit in the tight space at the fork crown or brake bridge, Zio would settle for the most important half of each. With the stiff support struts, a simple attachment to the brake mounting bolt should suffice. That's the way they mount in the front so the rest of the fender was carved-off. A bit of reinforcement under the mounting tab secured things.

The rear was more involved as the intended snap-in mounting method wouldn't fit under the brake bridge either. So again the fender was cut-in-half and a similar brake bolt/tab mount was created, though space under the brake again was tight. But both are secured with threaded hardware rather than rubber-bands. While there's not much room for "mud" to pass under these "mudguards" the intention is just to keep Zio's feet and backside clean and dry when roads are wet.*

Meanwhile, the SuperGravelMonster is getting repainted so when he's back together this bike might get some 25 vs 27 mm tires mounted since SGM will then get-the-nod for unpaved roads. This should improve the clearance a bit, making Zio less nervous about that scraping noise after riding through muddy puddles! But either way his feet and rear-end should stay dry. Let it rain!

*Update: Clearance proved too small under the rear brake so the mounting tab was flipped. Now the fender sits above the brake entirely - not very pretty but now there's even room for a bit of mud without compromising the coverage.