Does anybody know why the Off Highway Bikes have the fender mounted up on the lower triple clamp? I can understand why it was done back in the day of steel fenders with steel braces, but with the new flexible plastic fenders it seems like an exercise in futility. I've laid my DR650 down and the front fender was twisted like a pretzel in the front tire. Turn the front tire backwards and it pops out, no problem. So why not mount it down close to the tire where it would do more good and it probably wouldn't get hung up in the front tire that much ?

Good question. Dont know the answer. Unless it is something to do with clearnce issues. Mud buildup or something?

The reason I brought up the issue is because I'm thinkin about changing my front fender to a low mount, for the obvious reason. I never had any problems with the low mounted fenders on my Yamaha Enduro bikes. I plan on makin the mount adjustable, so if mud clogging or damage should occur, I could easily adjust the fender clearence. If you're interested, I'll keep ya posted on the results.

definately interested.. Love to keep track of all the cool mods around.. There was a cool rear fender replacement for the dr650 I read up on a while back that looked good.. I'm trying to locate that info so I can repost it here.

a fender lower on the fork will give you better protection for what a fender is suppose to do. Also some claim that mounted low they also do not act as a sail as much and make the bike less succeptable to wind gusts and such.

Coop

I think it would look very cool.. Might take a little while to get use to looking at, but definatley a worthy mod!

Well. I bought a Sportster fender off Ebay and as soon as I get it, I'll machine an aluminum mount for it.

There has to be a reason why the engineers mount the fenders high on the dirt bikes. I would think if they are too low they would be easily clogged with mud betwen the fender and tire.

I think you are on the right track w/ the mud build up. Even on modern, long travel dirtbikes, mud can pack up, adding a lot of extra weight and drag. A big, floppy plactic fender will help shed some of that mud. ( note - spraying the fender w/ PAM cooking spray helps, too ) Also, if a rolling front tire can't spin off the mud, it acts more like a racing slick than a mud tire.

Another reason could be to keep the extra weight of a low-mount fender off of the wheel. Offroad, the vertical movement of the wheel is quick and violent. An OEM low-mount fender would be VERY heavy duty, w/ more than enough brackets and bracing. Adding the extra weight would have to effect how the forks work. I believe this is the idea behind upside-down forks.

Also, a damaged, low mount fender seems like it would be harder to untangle after a crash. I will admit, a high-mount fender @ 65mph sucks.

I think the racers came up with the idea before the engineers did. My Dad and his brother used to race scrambles in the early 60s. They would always take the front fender off, because in case of a fall, the fender could get hung up in the tire and jamb the wheel or flatten the tire. The Europeans moved the tire up to the lower triple clamp to get the fender away from the tire and to reduce unsprung weight. It's possible for mud to jamb a low mounted front fender, if it's really sticky mud, but I've never had it happen with the old Yamaha Enduros that I had. I'm not a world class MXer, so I don't notice the few extra pounds of unsprung weight, but I sure do notice the dirt that comes off the front tire at high speeds on a dirt road. Anyway, I'm gonna make the mount adjustable, so if I run into a mud jamb problem, it would only require loosening 4 allen bolts and sliding the mount up, for more clearance.

I have noticed there are some ADV bikes that have the low fender such as the old Honda Trans Alp bikes. I dont buy into the logic that a high mounted fender can have a sail effect, the reason i dont is i have heard that alot about KLR's and i own one so one day while riding about 50-60 mph i reached down with my long arm and tried to push the front fender arround, you cant hardly make the bike or the handle bars move.
i am no scientist but it may have to do with the fact that the front tire is like a gyroscope and the fender is fairly close to this gyroscope.
Now while i was at it i also tried just bumbing the handle bars at the same speed, darn near went into the other lane, the handle bars are farther away from the gyroscope and are at a point that gives you leverage on the gyroscope.
so it might stand to reason that most dual sport bikes have hand guards that catch wind and these could cause to be more of a sail than a fender.
By the way KLR'S have big hand guards but not mine.

Well, the Sportster fender I bought arrived today. I set it on top of the front tire of the DR650 and it fits real well. The mounting bracket is about 1/8 in. thick so it should act like a fork brace as well as a mounting bracket. Preliminary fitting looks like the fender will sit about an inch above the tire. I'll start machining some mounts tommorrow. The worst that can happen is that I'm stuck with a Sportster fender. At best, I won't end up wearin the crud of whatever road I ride on from now on.

Looking forward to seeing some pics of this mod

I have hell of a time postin pics. The file is always too big.

You got any graphics program to resize it? I can help ya resize it. If ya email it to me, I'll resize it. I dont think Paint that comes with windows will allow you to resize it. I use a graphics program that came with my printer or scanner one, photostudio. If you have anything like that, try loading up the pic, then look under edit. Should be a option to resize it. It'll be huge at first like 2012x1500 or something, usually you can edit the first # and the 2nd # will change to reflect it. I usually go down to 800x600 is a good size for posting right now. Then you can resave it. Mine has option to resave with a quality level also. Usually you can drop it down to 90 (which is what it defaults to) and it will greatly reduce the file size even more, and can't tell any noticable difference visable to the eye. Let me know if you need any help with it.