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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

DIY leather mudguards for bicycle fenders

Our friend "Baldman" has graciously offered to share his top-secret mudflap-making recipe, in order to up the cycle chic quotient in our beautiful world. Here's the protocol:

Find some scrap leather. He bought his for $4.95 at Tandy Leather. Cut out your mudflaps with an xacto knife.

DIY leather mudflaps bike bicycle fenders mudguards

Next cut out a stencil. He made his on a plotter, which is a machine that cuts out motifs from rolls of adhesive vinyl. Any sign shop can cut you custom letters or graphics.
I happen to know that his wife's name starts with an "A", so I bet we can work out who these flaps are for!

stencil bike mudguards personalization

Attach the stencil to the flap with the adhesive vinyl sticking to the leather.

monogrammed bike mudflaps

He says he just uses a standard propane blowtorch to burn the leather where the stencil reveals it. It seems that my kitchen crème brulée torch will work just fine, however this is the step you don't want to mess up!

finished monogrammed mudflaps
At this point he says we want to treat them with the same proofhide that we use on a Brooks saddle. This will make them a bit more weatherproof.

OK, next step is preparing to attach them to the fenders. Punch holes in the edges of the mudflaps and string your attachment through (leather cord, hemp twine, funky yarn, whatever)

strung together mudguards bike bicycle
Drill holes in the bottom of your fenders to loop through:

drilled fenders for mudguards
Attach, and don't you look good!

installed custom mudflap