Best way to fit SKS guards on a Spesh Tricross Sport

daniel_b

Hello peeps,

my gf has just bought a 54cm Tricross sport, and she ordered some of these mudguards to fit on it, as it is primarily for commuting.



Haven't tried the back one yet, but there is a bit of an issue with the front guard.

Basically as the front fork is a beefy bugger the nut and bolt that comes with the kit is not long enough.

The nut and bolt that are in there as standard are not the standard sort, ie there is one bolt, but the other nut is a longer sleeve that fits over the bolt and screws on over it.

We could fit the SKS guard over the nut, but the nut is too large, and it will not fit through the metal loop ontop of the SKS guard.

I attempted to drill it out, but did not get anywhere near succeeding.

So I am wondering if there is an easy way to fit it that I am missing, or whether it's just a case of getting a whole new longer nut and bolt?

Cheers

Dan

davis

Had something similar with a Sirrus. Just used a couple of cable ties around the fork, which worked fine.

hatbeard

I have the same mudguards on my speshh tricross sport 54cm 2010 (the mudguards are silver though) and they've been fitted absolutely fine but someone at my lbs did it so I'm not sure if they used a different or something perhaps.

I can take pics tonight to show you how they've done it if you like.

Lancslad

Me 'n' missus got full guards on ours bike shop fitted them before we collected them.


ok this isnt much help I admit :roll: But I would go for the longer nut and bolt option as its less hassle.

arthur_scrimshaw

davis wrote:

Had something similar with a Sirrus. Just used a couple of cable ties around the fork, which worked fine.

+1, same for the rear. The SKS guards aren't designed for canti brake frames. That said they look and work great. Took me all afternoon to fit them though, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

kelsen

Tricross with SKS Chromoplastics here. Can't see any issues around the canti brakes as they seem to fit just fine. Was done by LBS though, so I don't know if they swapped the bolt.

pigeon42

Thanks for your replies everyone (I'm said gf!)

Hatbeard - if you could post some pics of how yours is done that would be very much appreciated!
I think the longer bolt option sounds like the most likely option (although might try cable ties)

hatbeard

this is the best I can do at the moment as I'm dead on my feet and need to go to bed.



from the looks of it the mudguard is screwed onto the frame using a bolt and a washer and the brake is hanging just in front of it (not attached in any way).

I double checked my receipt and these ones are the mudguards I have so there may be a slight difference with yours.

if you want any other pics let me know and I'll try and get them tomorrow night when I get in from work.

Kieran_Burns

I had the same issue myself and bought a longer bolt from a DIY shop and used that. I'll try and dig out the pack of bolts I got.

I did try a couple of cable ties myself but the guard rattled too much

The bolt does just clear the front brakes and works fine.

kev_gray

I fitted these guards to my tricross and really cannot remember having any problems with bolts. Not sure what I have done differently! Will have to have a look at it after work. I did have a mare of a time getting the bolts all attached and the rivets holding it all together started rusting away after all the grit on the road last winter! Good guards tho!

jc-bike-person

+1 for a longer bolt and new nut
Same problem on my Boardman CX Pro
But it works super fine now

Kieran_Burns

I've just ripped the garage apart trying to find the box of bolts and failed but I can tell you that I got them from Homebase, they have a flat screwdriver head with an 8mm bolt on 'tother end.

Mines way too long (about 7cm) you need about 4-5cm to clear through

Specialized Needs

My wife and I have SKS guards on our Tricrosses (is that the plural? -Tricrossi?). Different shops fitted them in different ways ...

The problem I found is the bracket that holds the brake hanger. It wraps under the bridge of the fork. The bolt holding the hanger recesses into a groove in the hanger. Using this bolt to hold the guard as well stops it from recessing into the hanger.

Mine was fitted like hatbeard's. The fitting for the guards sits proud of the hanger, forcing the bolt further out. It needs a longer bolt, but the shop obviously sorted that. Initially the junction of the cantilever brakes fouled on the large head of the bolt when releasing the brakes, but reducing the angle of the two cables that go from that junction to the brakes (raising the junction itself) slightly, solved this - at the expense of slightly reduced braking power (angle less than the optimal 90 degrees). I considered getting a bolt with a shallower or domed head (non-hex), but that would be hassle - I'm too lazy and the above solution was (relativly) easy.

On my wife's (first) Tricross, the shop removed the bracket (I would have preferred if they had pointed this out and passed the bracket on to us with the new bike :roll:). This made fitting the guards with the stock bolt a trivial matter - but you have to tighten the bolt a lot to ensure braking does not pull the hanger out of alignment :shock:. Perhaps some spring washers might help with that.

When we got the replacement bike (for the stolen one :evil:) I fitted her replacement guards like mine are fitted. Not too difficult, it turned out.

pigeon42

Thanks for the help everyone - we tootled down to our local hardware shop and bought a longer bolt, which seems to have done the job. So now ready to go with mudguards and rack

Canny Jock

I fitted a fork mounted brake hanger to my 2009 Tricross, which originally had the hanger on the steerer tube. In the instructions which I think are on the Spesh website, it said that you fit a smaller hanger bracket or remove it completely when you fit mudguards, can't remember exactly but will try and track it down.

Canny Jock

Here you go - remove it completely:

http://cdn.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/pdf ... _Guide.pdf

Specialized Needs

Canny Jock wrote:

Here you go - remove it completely:

Interesting. So my wife's shop did it right :shock:

Seriously then, the bolt needs to ensure the hanger doesn't shift under load.

As hers did.

Canny Jock

I had mine set up like that for a while and it was fine, I had the bolt fairly tight.

Slight caveat in that the above are retro-fitting instructions, but can't see why it would be different once it was made standard.