Hi Everyone, this is my first post so thought I would say hello. I have bought an Avon which currently has 17 x 7.5" wheels. During the various road tests over the late summer I have had both front mudguard struts fail (one which resulted in the mudguard annd steel strut missing my head by a whisker!). The steel strut weld has failed and I have modified them to make them much sturdier.

Has anyone else experienced this problem and does you think that the large wheels together with the 235 40 17 tyres might have contributed? Any help would be great. Thanks.

Hi,

I had the same problem on my Avon which also has 17"s. Just a matter of welding them up. It does help if you put a cross support brace between the supports to stiffen it up as well as anything else you can get away with!. They have lasted a 1000 miles or so since then but its a common problem with the amount of hammer they receive

i think its a pretty common problem. they need to be a minimum of 5mm material to have any chance of lasting. some of the newer mnr designs are quite good as i believe they previously had quite a high failure rate.

Very common (not sure about Avon ones specifically). I ended up making my own from 1.25"*0.2" (or somethin like that) flat bar - no problems for many thousands of miles since then!

Many thanks, hopefully my beefy mods will work!

I think most make have had similar problesm as said good welds, thick material I would recommend heating and bending as cold forming weakens the metal as well

They tend to fail at the bracket where it mounts to the upright, or at the bend at the top. Check them for cracks regularly, and weld them up as needed.

You may find that it helps to have a brace linking the two, and use thicker material.

I uprated mine a bit and they have been on for about 10,000miles now with no more breaks.