I want to paint my fender, need help!

[isnowbrd]

I took the fender off my bike tonight, but ran into a problem. How am I supposed to get this metal piece off it?



Here is a picture of the underside.


I could just drill out the rivets, but then what should I do when I need to put it back on?

[BuzZz]

Looks like you'll need a riviting tool, 3 rivits and 3 snug fitting washers for the underside.

You can buy a cheapass riviting tool, with a small supply of different sized rivits at most discount stores for 10-20 bucks. It will work well enough for most home-riviting you'll do.

[isnowbrd]

Thanks Buzz

It's been awhile sinced I've riveted anything (high-school). Aren't the cheap ones too small to be able to get at something in the middle of the fender like that? And don't they usually leave a protruding piece of metal on the underside which could damage the tire?

I don't understand how the existing ones are so flush.

[Seca Girl]

I don't understand how the existing ones are so flush.

Special tools used on an assembly line. Maybe even a robot.

Just drill them out and use some pan head machine screws to re-assemble. That way you won't lose any tire clearance.

Any home riviting you do will be inferior to bolting it on.

[oldschoolorange]

Just use decent quality rivets, If you go to a performance shop you can get them painted to match if you want, I have never had much luck with the small crappy rivet guns, I have allways used my big POP riviter ir an air riveter

[Shorts]

Yeah, don't skimp on the rivet gun. It'll be more of a hassel than if you spent a little extra. Be sure to get quality rivets too.

[BuzZz]

I got a cheap gun from the dicount table at Acklands for $9.99. It is the same size and works about the same as the $99.99 Mason rivit gun I got at work. The only thing is it does not release the pulled expander pin when you finish a rivit. I have to dig them out fairly often. Works good enough for the 4-5 rivits I ever do at home. If I have more than that, I'll bring home the pneumatic gun from the shop.

If you have too much rivit shank left sticking out of the underside, your rivit is too long for the thickness of material your clamping together. Use shorter ones. And a close fitting washer will let the rivit seat well and strengthen the whole joint. If you still feel you have too much protruding under the fender, you can use a centerpunch to flatten it further, but you really shouldn't need to if you got the right sized stuff.

[isnowbrd]

Thanks for all the help guys. I went to the hardware store and found something called a Chicago screw that worked perfectly along with some threadlocker. Here are the results:




And here is my newly painted VTR. I still have to paint the wheels though.

[moto_hanki]

That looks so kick-"O Ring"!

Nice job!

[oldschoolorange]

very nice, new paint is great isn't it