hi Guys,

Seems lots of different ways people have fixed the wings to the brackets etc and I was wondering what peoples experience, suggestions, donts etc are.

I have seen tiger seal fixing, is this really strong enough?
Fiberglass matting over the brackets, will it crack?
Bolts through, nut to close to tyres?

What are you using?

My brackets snapped in the middle of the highway just where they bent underneath the cycle wing. It was properly scary. Somehow the rear bracket support held them on long enough for me to pull over to the side of the road.

The wings themselves were stuck with Sikaflex and that was incredibly tough to yank off when I changed the brackets, so it's safe to say they're stuck on there for good.

I've since changed the previous 3mm strips for 6mm (bolted to the uprights, not welded) sikaflexed them again and put a round headed bolt through the inner side of the cycle wings (nut on the outside) for good measure. Clearance from the head of the bolt to the tire is more than 5mm and now they're rock solid.

Fibreglassing them on is a good method, but I suspect it's harder to do right.

Fixed mine with Sikaflex, once dry I fibreglassed over them

I wonder how both methods would go. Silkaflex to first position and hold. Then glassfiber over?

Yup

Might also had an extra piece of metal at the bends to prevent the failures

Laid layers of fibreglass over the brackets and that was twelve years ago and they have never shown signs of cracking etc.

I used this from the Mk Blog been on. 5 years with no problems

http://www.mksportscars.com/blog/cycle-wings-bonding-them-to-you r-wingstays.html

On my MK Indy I bent the metal wing stays to shape then drilled through the GRP cycle wings and metal wing stays. Tapped the wing metal stays M5 and used dome head stainless Allen set screws (4 per cycle wing) to secure the cycle wings to the stays. Once secured they didn't budge in over 3,000 miles driving.

You can see the fixings in this photo...

A good wodge of Sikaflex is more than sufficient, I'm not aware of anyone having the cycle wing come away from the bracket.

The issue seems to always be the bracket snapping where 3mm plate is welded to tube/bar.

That happened to me as well and I repaired it by welding an additional 20mm x 3mm strip over the join. Not a very elegant solution but it seems to have worked for now.

The key point here of course is the weld and it snapping at the HAZ. I note that Caterham just use bent tube which is why we don't hear of legions of Caterham owners being MCOBs ( ;-) ) over their wings snapping!


Cheers,
James

[Edited on 14/7/20 by James]

Ive said on here many many times, infact so many it should have its own sticky !

Make the frame out of 25 x 5mm bar, 3mm is to flimsy,
attach the bars to the mounts on the stub axle in the approx. position
weld a brace bar between both mounting bars half way up the wheel

Put two bits of 15mm wood on the tyres, and gaffar tape them on, to the tyres
bend the bars over the wheels, the wood gives wheel-mudguard clearance

Trial fit the mudguards over the frame, and araldite the guard to the frame, leave a weight over night on top
Next day take the whole assembly off the car, turn upside down, and cover the bars supporting the mudguard with
fiberglass mat, and resin, a couple of good coverings is best

My setup as stated above lasted 20 years, and I never broke a mounting bracket, nor had a mudguard come off
or even get loose

You could for belt and braces. drill through the bars and guards and put a bolt/nut through, I never did, as it looks ugly imho,


Not a good picture, but shows what I mean by cross bracing the bars



steve