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I am trying to mount a metal fender on my bike that was formerly a cross bike. I explicitly moved to this one (used) because the "crossy", plastic ones tend to slip to one side or another, and are not long enough in either direction.

The fender came with four screws that are, I believe, translated to English as "Strive Bolts" (German: Strebenbolzen/Klemmschraube). In the below image, the screw will sink into the "center" ring, and thus the hole becomes tighter.

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One centrally on each fender (see below) enter image description here to connect the metal bar to the fender, and two to connect it near the wheel's center on the frame (back) / front fork, to be secured with a nut on the other side.

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the nut

The holes in the frame/fork are threaded.

This gives me the following problem: Since the direction of the hole is somewhat predetermined by the angle from which the metal bars come, the suitable position for the strive bolt is only every 1/2 turn.

Now it seems to me that I either have it such that the metal bar is loose and will slip right out (and it did already on a pothole), or I turn it another half rotation before trying to insert the bar, and then the hole starts to get covered because the bolt "sinks" into the cover-thing (center, first picture) and I cannot fit the metal bar in at all anymore.enter image description here

I also cannot screw the bolt further in after inserting the metal bar into it, because the metal bar is connected to the fender which is already mounted on top to the fork.

What am I missing? To me, it seems like the "strive bolts" are perhaps supposed to be inserted in a non-threaded hole on the fork where they can spin freely, then insert the metal bar in the bolt, and then lock the metal bar in the bolt by screwing the nut on the other side tighter and tighter, thus pulling the bolt in and closing the hole. Am I thus trying to combine two incompatible designs?

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  • Did the fenders come with any installation instructions? I'm thinking, as P Barney suggests, the above bolts are intended to fix the fender end of the strut, with the strut eyelet through-bolted to the frame. – Daniel R Hicks Feb 18 '19 at 1:26
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Bikes from certain times and places have used large (compared to today) unthreaded holes and draw bolts for fender attachment. Many old French bikes are like this. You've wound up with hardware for one.

Derche

You need the type of hardware used to connect the same struts to an M5 eyelet. They're sometime's called R-clips or -clamps. Here are the Velo Orange ones, probably around the cheapest out there.

enter image description here

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  • Another name for this shape is a P clip. – Criggie♦ Feb 20 '19 at 10:07
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The part in question is called a drawbolt. Are you sure you're mounting the struts correctly? Does the other end of the fender strut have an eyelet? If so, I believe you mount the strut eyelet end to the fork eyelet with a regular bolt and washer and the drawbolt is mounted on the fender end. Mount the fender and struts on the bike the way you want them and cut the excess fender strut. I've seen some fender kits that have little plastic covers to put on the ends.

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  • The end of the fender has a drawbolt in its center, through which the strut goes. It is a long-U-shaped strut that goes from the front-left drawbolt through the fender's drawbolt and ends in the front-right drawbolt (on the front wheel). It was mounted just like this on the previous bike, but I did not investigate/question its stability there. – Marie. P. Feb 18 '19 at 7:40
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    So you do need to use the draw bolts on the fork/dropout eyelets. The simplest solution would be to drill out the eyelets so that the drawbolt doesn't thread into them. – P. Barney Feb 18 '19 at 15:29
  • @P.Barney I would do exactly that. But another option might be to bend a loop in the end of the support strut and then bolt through into the frame. Or super-rough to make a right angle hook in the end of the support strut, pass it through the bolt hole, then bend again to hold it in place. Perhaps with some heatshink to prevent rattles. – Criggie♦ Feb 19 '19 at 23:49
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You need R clamps instead of those bolts. They're specifically for that type of fender strut and will work much better. Honjo makes metal ones and Berthoud makes plastic ones. The plastic is safer for use on the fork because they allow the strut to pop out if the fender is damaged. That will keep it from stopping the front wheel suddenly. You can find them both here

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