Bremel to the Front Fender?

[The ModFather]

What kind of dremel blade do I want to use?

[Scooter Montgomery]

 

[Rameses]

What kind of dremel blade do I want to use?

Personally, I'd use a cutting disc.

[The ModFather]

So I thought I should post the outcome of my "Bremel" to the front fender experiment. My goal was to take my 2005 620 Front Fender which I felt looked too long and round and shorten it and give it more of a nose like the new 696 front fenders. I'm pretty happy with the outcome. For anyone that wants to try this it was pretty easy. Dremel with heavy duty cutting blade set to about 6 (higher speeds tend to melt the plastic) taped off with masking covered by liberal duct tape to protect against any slips with the Dremel. I chopped the back of the front fender first to get a feel for the cutting and used the cut off back end as a template to reshape the backend as the same round but shorter. Then I took a small cup and created the round part of the nose on the front end in pencil and drew lines straight back to each side and drew and erased and redrew repeatedly untill I felt it was fairly symmetrical then taped it off and began cutting. After words it was far from perfect but I used the grinder on the Dremel to take out any big jagged parts but only briefly as I found coarse sand paper was much more effective and cautious with only slightly more effort. This was followed by fine sandpaper at an angle to shape the cut edges so that they're facing down. They now cant be seen by anyone unless they're on the ground looking up at the fender but I took a black sharpie to the edge anyways as its white when its cut and even though it couldnt be seen I knew it was there. After that I cleaned it painted my ugly white clamps with some dark grey primer (I got new clamps coming from ebay as these were kinda chewed up those I'll paint black) and put it back on. Here it is: 


IMG_3086 by ricknieto, on Flickr



IMG_3082 by ricknieto, on Flickr

[Rameses]

That looks awesome.  Great job!

 

[suzyj]

Would a hack saw with the right blade work/be a safer way to go? Then after Last question is always the dumbest but I got to ask... do I take the fender off the bike an put it in a vise while cutting or can I cut it while on the bike? (I dont have a benchmounted vise so thats why I ask. I'm assuming I'll have to take it off.)

Yes.  This is my preferred way.  It's hard to make nice flowing lines with a dremel - much easier with hacksaw and files, then emery cloth to smooth things out.

[Roaduser]

I'm surprised someone hasn't piped up and told you to remove the reflectors yet?!?!

it will look much nicer sans reflectors. just gently pry them off and use a bit of elbow grease with your preferred solvent to remove the glue/foam/much then sit back and admire.

[The ModFather]

I'm surprised someone hasn't piped up and told you to remove the reflectors yet?!?!

it will look much nicer sans reflectors. just gently pry them off and use a bit of elbow grease with your preferred solvent to remove the glue/foam/much then sit back and admire.

+1 Thanks Roaduser!!   

[Hellraising-vtec]

Bremels are a dremel-like gadget from Brazil.  They work a little and then you have to listen to samba for an hour, smoke half a pack of cigarettes and then put on a thong before they'll work again.

lol