How to - Modify SKS Raceblade Longs

fudgey

After reading about people having the quick release fail on their SKS Raceblade longs and following on from another thread i spent an hour modifying my set and riveted them.

Some may find this useful so i took some pics along the way.
Of course there are many ways to skin a cat, so this is purely how i chose to do it!

So to start with, i decided to drill out the rived that holds the plastic retainer to the guard and fix with a rivet through the mounting bracket.

Measure 15mm from the centre of the black rivet and mark where to cut, then cut the end off.



Using a 4mm drill drill out the rivet from the under side (i only drilled so far then used side cutter to pull the rest out)
that will leave you with something like this



Pull the plastic bit off and tidy the cuts up with a file and you will have this



Then on to the plastic part you just removed. You need to cut out the bits from the middle



and then cut off the ridge from underneath (using the side cutters i managed to snap this bit off)



Then hopefully you should be left with something like this (also use a scalpel or stanley knife to cut away a little bit from the sides so that the bracket can slide all the way through)



Make sure the bracket will push all the way in so the holes line up



To rivet i used a 4mm x 7mm long rivet, if you dont have any this short then rivet from the the underside so the pulled bit wont touch the tyre. i used a 4mm washer on the rivet also. The rivets i had were short enough to go in from the top.



Underside pics: (washers were a bit thin and bent!)

fudgey

So do that with all the guards, and then its on to the skewer mounts:



Cut the little black bit in the centre off, then snap off the locating lobe of the grey part



Insert the skewer mount and using a 4mm drill, drill through the mount to leave this





Then rivet. For this i used 4mm x 12mm rivets, and could have done with some larger 4mm penny washers but didnt have any...





They dont look too bad and refitting only required minimal adjustments but they are soooo much more secure now, they dont seem to rattle and feel a bit stiffer to wobble etc so fingers crossed they will stay on the bike where they should!

dj58

That is the type of mod that I would make if I had those guards. Seems like a much better idea to have the guards permanently attached securely to the mounting brackets like that, than having a quick release system that is prone to wear and eventually failure.

fudgey

It is a bit of an arse cutting up your newly aquired and rather expensive mudguards just to make them safer..

But function over form and all that...

tincaman

I have done this now to my front mudguard after it jumped its fixing on a bumpy downhill and shot forward under the brakes!

fudgey

BTT for the winter ha

redvision

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19713608#p19713608]Fudgey[/url] wrote:

BTT for the winter ha

FWIW this is a quality guide and definitely worth doing if you have the MK1 raceblade longs.

Rixter

That's genius Fudgey! Is there an alternative to the rivet I might use if I don't have access to that type of equipment? :roll:

fudgey

Thanks!

i guess instead of rivets you could use some short M4 screws (i would use countersunk head), M4 washers and M4 nyloc nuts.

Rixter

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19752997#p19752997]Fudgey[/url] wrote:

Thanks!

i guess instead of rivets you could use some short M4 screws (i would use countersunk head), M4 washers and M4 nyloc nuts.

Good tip. Thanks! :idea: