Front Wings

[Guest alan rowe]

My Hood has cycle wings and I am a little concerned about the possibility of high wind load at high speeds and the wings ripping off the fixings

Has anybody got any experience good or bad or am I overworrying

 

Worried Alan

[Bob Tucker]

Alan,

there's no need to worry......they're perfectly safe at 70.

You wouldn't go faster than that..... would you?

 

Just make sure that the front of the wing points slightly down, and fits

reasonably close to the tyre. If it acts like a huge scoop, facing forwards

and high above the wheel, there will be a substantial load on it at any speed.

Use large steel & rubber washers under the bolt heads to spread the load

over a bigger area of the fibreglass. Check often for cracks.

Cheers, Bob

[Big Jim]

Which model do you have? if it's the 2B, watch for the bracket breaking on the early ones, then the wing dissapears under the wheel, dragging your brake pipe with it. They were modified and strengthened later.

If it's not a 2B, then the brackets could be made any-which-way, you'll just have to decide if they are strong enough or not.

There's a couple of photo's of some very nice brackets on a 2B, made by Steve Ryland, on the NW web site.

[Guest piddy]

I had a problem with my wing bracket last year (missed Stoneleigh) (well my car did anyway).

This was on a early 2b, to give RHE credit they repaired the broken one and sent me the kit to repair the other free of charge.

I dont think this was caused by wind speed but the constant up and down movement.

Piddy.

[Guest Ant]

I've got the new type of brackets, and I've assembled them ok, but not yet fitted the firbeglass. My brackets are about 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the tyres, but when I place the fibreglass on top it seems very close to the ends of the wing. Is this normal?

 

What's the best way to attach the fibreglass? I was considering a bolt straight through the fibreglass and the tube beneath, but there's not enough room for a nut between the bracket and the tyre. The alternatives I've thought of are to either:

 

a) Use rivets through the fibreglass and into the tubes. Will the fibreglass crack? Will it be strong enough?

 

Fit a piece of alluminium angle next to each tube, bolted through the tube in the direction which the wheel rotates, and then bolt this to the wings. This would give enough clearance for the nut and bolt under the piece of angle, and will also move the bolts further in from the ends of the wings.

 

I'm happy with the RHE brackets which I have - it's just fastening the fibreglass which I'm unsure about.

 

Any suggestions? Any photos of other people's works?

 

Cheers

Ant

[Bob Tucker]

Hi Ant,

dont use aluminium to attach the wing. With all the shaking & movement its likely

to fracture very quickly. Stick with mild steel for any fixings.

I'll post a pic of my wing fixing to Photos, BT's B

Bob.

[Guest piddy]

My prefered way of fitting these, is to use rivnuts in the tubes and a plastic cup washer on the outside to spread the load and prevent cracks.

And use a countersunk stainless bolts.

Piddy.

[geoff shep]

My cycle wing brackets broke in the first year (1995 S7) mostly due to vibration fatigue I think. They were then made from tube, which was crushed flat where required to get bolted to the hub - they fractured at the point where they were flattened. Welded them back together and they've been fine since.

[Guest alan rowe]

Thanks everybody with your replies and comments -- my concern is not with the actual mountings (I've strengthened them up already) but the method of fixing to the fibreglass wing and the possibility of the wing ripping off the fixing

Dax use a glue fix to locate their wings

Has anybody got any comment as to how far to position the wing forward to reduce the wind uplift on the front of the wing

 

Alan

[Guest alan rowe]

Thanks everybody with your comments and advice

My real concern is with the possibility of the wing itself detaching from the bracket -- I've strenghtened my brackets

Anybody have a comment regarding how far round the wheel the wing should go to stop the wind load being too excessive and trying to lift the wing off

 

Alan

[Longboarder]

My wings have done three years held on by two bolts into captive locknuts in each stay. The front of the wing is in line with a line drawn verticaly from the frontmost edge of the wheel rim. They are very stable and solid into three figure speeds. (At least I mean I think they would be if I was ever silly enough to exceed 70 in this country which of course I don't, etc, blah blah.....)

Nigel