Diagnosing fender rub
No matter whether you own a Charge Comfort, City or XC, when diagnosing a rubbing front fender, the first step is to make sure that your front wheel is installed correctly and centered in the fork. If needed, use your trusty Charge torque wrench to loosen and re-tighten the wheel (see wheel assembly instructions). Then give the fenders a little wiggle to make sure something isn’t snagged or caught between the fender and tire.
If these don’t solve the problem then the rubbing is likely coming from a misaligned fender and will require repositioning the fender.
Fender assembly parts
Before making adjustments, let’s get familiar with the parts that make up the fender assembly:
1. The plastic fender bridge that houses the metal strut
2. The plastic tension nut that screws onto the bridge to hold the strut in place
3. The metal fender strut that extends from the frame or fork up to the crown of the fender
Repositioning the fender
| 1. Look down at the wheel from above or from the front
to see if the fender is off-center. If the fender is off-center take note of which side it is positioned and continue through the following steps. |
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| 2. Loosen the plastic tension nuts by turning them counter-clockwise. Once unthreaded, you can let them slide down the metal fender strut so they are out of the way. |  |
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3. Gently slide the fender bridge up or down on the metal fender strut until the fender is centered over the tire. Small adjustments can be made on each side (e.g. raising one side while lowering the other) to help with alignment. |
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| 4. Once the fender is centered, thread the tension-nuts back onto the threaded portion of the fender bridge by turning them clockwise onto the threaded portion of the fender bridge. Be sure to check that all of the loosened parts are tightened back up before riding! |
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A few tips for adjusting
- As you slide the fender bridge up (or out) on the fender strut, the opposite side of the fender will move away from the tire (eg, if you raise the fender on the side with the gears it will move over towards the side without the gears).
- Conversely, if you slide the fender bridge down (or in) on the fender strut, the same side will move closer to the tire.
- Sometimes the metal struts may be bent from an impact and can be gently bent back into place to correct alignment.
- Depending on how far off-center the fender is, you may only need to adjust the fender bridge height on one side of the bike or have to make adjustments on each side of the fender.
The adjustments can be a little tricky at first, but with a little patience you’ll have your bike fine-tuned and ready to get back on the road!
Replacement fender parts
If you find during evaluation that the fender rubbing is due to broken or missing parts, you can purchase replacement fenders and hardware in the Accessories section of the Charge website.