The Dart

22. September 2010:

The last couple of days I've spend making a rear fender. Though the work (as usual) provided a lot of frustration, it was also great fun to do.
I made a mould out of wood and the actual fender out of fibreglass. My idea was to make it so there would be a storage compartment under the seat and of course with a splash guard to protect the battery, shock absorber and collector box. These a very exposed to water and not the least sand and gravel. That's quite obvious when you look at the collector box - it almost looks as if it has been sandblasted.

What was achieved from all of my efforts you can see in the photos:


Yes, you're right, the thing is simply mounted with electrical cable ties. The lower part though, is screwed on to the battery box to make sure it's precisely and securely fastened. As you can see, there's very little space between the swingarm and the tire - that was the most challenging when building the mould. I more or less had to guess what the angles and measurements were. Luckily, my guesses were almost spot on. I only had to do minor adjustments.
The battery holder was modified with bicycle spokes as the hook for the strap had to come off.

The fairing parts are almost finished and ready for the paint job. As you can see I've made a new front part after all. The side parts are made of fibreglass, but the front part is an original plastic type - and despite my best efforts to repair the crack, I didn't really feel confident in the durability of it. Also, where the mirrors normally are placed on the screen the area is flat as opposed to the "natural" bending it has further down. As I am solely going to have a handle bar mirror, I was able to "reshape" this bending all the way up the screen if I made a new one.


Additionally to the fender I've "tidied" it a bit up at the rear: The "mud flap" has been on a diet and the turn signals I've replaced with some from Kellermann. This model is called Rhombus. With their arrowhead shape I think they fit a "Dart" nicely. I actually bought them (and the rear view mirror) for my Black Beauty, but she apparently has a long way coming ;o)

I've also bought braided brake hoses. I got them from an ebay dealer called Teile-Junkie. He doesn't have all sizes, in return they are very reasonably priced. It's by the way Spiegler hoses, so the quality is also in order.
As I want them to be black, I'm going to fit them with shrink hoses - which I have to look for - but I'm very much looking forward to get rid of the squishy feeling when braking.