[Zanetti]

My rear fender has a noticeable crimp in it and I must have just caused it.
A friend and I decided the Bobber chain was slack and outside the specs in the owners manual...

so we tightened up the chain per the method in the owners manual.
no weight on bike (and bike not jacked off floor), top part of chain made taught by pushing bike back in gear.
after loosening axle bolts, tighten the adjusting the bolts so chain was a bit tighter (we used a caliper to measure)

somehow the fender buckled (creased slightly). I can be seen in the photo.
I'm thinking it didn't happen until I sat my 260+ lbs down on the seat.
I'm also thinking it has something to do with the swingarm geometry of the rearend.
(and NO, there hasn't been any excess weight on the fender)
My Bad for sure, but might be a word of caution for others.

what do you experienced mech think?

 

[MikenLbk]

Maybe I'm not following you, but I don't see how its possible that anything having do to with the swingarm geometry could cause a buckle in the fender.

 

[muensterDeath]

Man, that really stinks.

I'm not sure how the geometry would have done it. The rear fender would have to be connected to the main frame or something fixed and the rear in that little loop brace in order for a downward flex to occur to kink it in, and I'm not sure it is connected in a manner that would support it nearer the rider.

You now have a fender that is a solid candidate for bobbing.

 

[Zanetti]

the buckle is outward.. in the middle of the fender...as if the ends of fender were pushed toward each other and caused it buckle out just a bit... I'm baffled how this happened..

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