When your front fender comes off at 75mph **Updated with more Pics**

[Murrgh]

The backstory is that I had no idea my fender wasn't properly mounted onto the bike. I've never closely looked at it, or had any issues, so I never even thought to look at it.

Until it came off.

-------------------------------------------------

I was on a ride with a friend this afternoon and everything was going well. We got out of class at 5pm and decided to try out our new Sena 20S Headsets. They work wonderful at idle, even over my 6 into 6 and his Vance & Hines Harley. We wanted to see how well we could hear each other on the highway, so we departed to find some roads. Nothing out of the ordinary here. We ride around, messing with the intercoms and music features, and take a few nice shots:




There's still some daylight to burn, so I take us ~30 minutes out to a small town. It was the ride here that became the problem. I hit a bump and heard an odd noise for a second, then it went away. No change in steering/handling, so no worries. It wasn't until we stopped to take another picture that I noticed this:



Fender look like it came off and was rubbing my tire for the last 10 miles, but it was still wedged in place between the forks. I pulled it out and one edge looks like it hit the road a few times because it was really tore up. I'm guessing the wind caused it to hit my headlight, creating the really big dent. No damage to the rest of my Valkyrie. There was no way for me to bring it back with me, so I had to ditch it in the woods. I'll pick it up tomorrow. I'm just thankful that nothing serious happened...

But we did get the picture:




And now I'm off to the classifieds to find me a new front fender....



--------------------------------

UPDATED 3/31/2018

Got caught up with school/work. Finally took some pictures. Note that there were no dints, dings, or scratches on this before...







I'm assuming this (above) is where it hit the road.



This (also above) is where the fender was resting on my tire for ~10 miles. Polished that area right up in the center of the large dent.

[The emperor has no clothes]

  whoa ! I've screwed up some plastic motocross fenders before, but I've not seen that done before.

[Murrgh]

whoa ! I've screwed up some plastic motocross fenders before, but I've not seen that done before.

Yeah, and you can see in the top pictures that my fender is fine. We were both shocked when we saw what happened.

[The emperor has no clothes]

whoa ! I've screwed up some plastic motocross fenders before, but I've not seen that done before.

Yeah, and you can see in the top pictures that my fender is fine. We were both shocked when we saw what happened.

Only thing I can think of is, you were missing a couple bolts and the other 2 loosened up and fell out. Seems long odds for all 4 to fall out. Glad you weren't hurt. Could have been bad if it had wedged in your wheel.

[Murrgh]

whoa ! I've screwed up some plastic motocross fenders before, but I've not seen that done before.

Yeah, and you can see in the top pictures that my fender is fine. We were both shocked when we saw what happened.

Only thing I can think of is, you were missing a couple bolts and the other 2 loosened up and fell out. Seems long odds for all 4 to fall out. Glad you weren't hurt. Could have been bad if it had wedged in your wheel.

Thanks, I'm glad too.

That's what I'm thinking happened. The bonehead I bought it from must not have installed it back the way it came when he decided to black it out. It's funny that all of the problems I have encountered, were from him painting it.

[The emperor has no clothes]

whoa ! I've screwed up some plastic motocross fenders before, but I've not seen that done before.

Yeah, and you can see in the top pictures that my fender is fine. We were both shocked when we saw what happened.

Only thing I can think of is, you were missing a couple bolts and the other 2 loosened up and fell out. Seems long odds for all 4 to fall out. Glad you weren't hurt. Could have been bad if it had wedged in your wheel.

Thanks, I'm glad too.

That's what I'm thinking happened. The bonehead I bought it from must not have installed it back the way it came when he decided to black it out. It's funny that all of the problems I have encountered, were from him painting it.

Some people should not pick up a wrench (or a paint can). I remember Bill (Hook#3287) having a few strange Jerry rigged things done by a previous owner. Might not be a bad idea to give it a good look over making sure everything's tightened up and in order. 

[Murrgh]

whoa ! I've screwed up some plastic motocross fenders before, but I've not seen that done before.

Yeah, and you can see in the top pictures that my fender is fine. We were both shocked when we saw what happened.

Only thing I can think of is, you were missing a couple bolts and the other 2 loosened up and fell out. Seems long odds for all 4 to fall out. Glad you weren't hurt. Could have been bad if it had wedged in your wheel.

Thanks, I'm glad too.

That's what I'm thinking happened. The bonehead I bought it from must not have installed it back the way it came when he decided to black it out. It's funny that all of the problems I have encountered, were from him painting it.

Some people should not pick up a wrench (or a paint can). I remember Bill (Hook#3287) having a few strange Jerry rigged things done by a previous owner. Might not be a bad idea to give it a good look over making sure everything's tightened up and in order. 

Yeah, somehow the fender nuts and bolts just never crossed my mind... I'll be spending the weekend tightening everything down.

[Jess from VA]

How much you want to bet, the fender was off (at some point), and on reinstall, the nuts were only finger tightened, or even just spun on twice around, and that was all that ever happened?  It just took all this time for those nuts to all come off.

This is a first.  Hog and Honda go for a ride, and parts fall off the Honda.  

Last time I was riding with a bunch of Hogs, a guy's air cleaner just fell off at a light.  I mentioned this was not a big surprise with Harleys (smiling), and a bunch of the other Harley guys laughed.  But the guy whose air cleaner fell off was the leader, and he was pretty indignant and kicked me off the ride.  I left laughing and waving.  Most of them waved back.  Not the leader.  Some people just have no sense of humor.

This having happened, it would probably be prudent to go around snugging things up.  Gently, not with a breaker bar.  At least you're in luck, there will be more black front fenders available than any other color.

I'm no body man, but yours looks like it's not going to buff out.

If it was me, I'd kind of like to hold on to that fender in my garage.  Things like that keep us humble and serve as reminders.  And that big front dent looks like it happened on some guy's face (perfect spot for a smiley). 

(On the other hand, with some wives, it's best she never sees or hears anything about it.)  

[The emperor has no clothes]

How much you want to bet, the fender was off (at some point), and on reinstall, the nuts were only finger tightened, or even just spun on twice around, and that was all that ever happened?  It just took all this time for those nuts to all come off.

This is a first.  Hog and Honda go for a ride, and parts fall off the Honda.  

Last time I was riding with a bunch of Hogs, a guy's air cleaner just fell off at a light.  I mentioned this was not a big surprise with Harleys (smiling), and a bunch of the other Harley guys laughed.  But the guy whose air cleaner fell off was the leader, and he was pretty indignant and kicked me off the ride.  I left laughing and waving.  Most of them waved back.  Not the leader.  Some people just have no sense of humor.

This having happened, it would probably be prudent to go around snugging things up.  Gently, not with a breaker bar.  At least you're in luck, there will be more black front fenders available than any other color.

I'm no body man, but yours looks like it's not going to buff out.

If it was me, I'd kind of like to hold on to that fender in my garage.  Things like that keep us humble and serve as reminders.  

Don't the front fenders have the nuts welded on the inside ? The leader really kicked you off the ride ?  In the garage hell, I'd put the baby on the fireplace mantel as a badge of courage. And retell the story over and over how I cheated death. 

[Hook#3287]

How much you want to bet, the fender was off (at some point), and on reinstall, the nuts were only finger tightened, or even just spun on twice around, and that was all that ever happened?  It just took all this time for those nuts to all come off.

This is a first.  Hog and Honda go for a ride, and parts fall off the Honda.  

Last time I was riding with a bunch of Hogs, a guy's air cleaner just fell off at a light.  I mentioned this was not a big surprise with Harleys (smiling), and a bunch of the other Harley guys laughed.  But the guy whose air cleaner fell off was the leader, and he was pretty indignant and kicked me off the ride.  I left laughing and waving.  Most of them waved back.  Not the leader.  Some people just have no sense of humor.

This having happened, it would probably be prudent to go around snugging things up.  Gently, not with a breaker bar.  At least you're in luck, there will be more black front fenders available than any other color.

I'm no body man, but yours looks like it's not going to buff out.

If it was me, I'd kind of like to hold on to that fender in my garage.  Things like that keep us humble and serve as reminders.  

Don't the front fenders have the nuts welded on the inside ? The leader really kicked you off the ride ?  In the garage hell, I'd put the baby on the fireplace mantel as a badge of courage. And retell the story over and over how I cheated death. 

  OEM front fenders have 4 bolts that go into nuts that are welded on the fender.  The bolts have to come off from the outside.

Did the fender get ripped off, or fall off?

I'd hang that fender from my garage ceiling, so I have to push it out of the way to get the bike out, to remind me to check for loose nuts and bolts.

[Murrgh]

How much you want to bet, the fender was off (at some point), and on reinstall, the nuts were only finger tightened, or even just spun on twice around, and that was all that ever happened?  It just took all this time for those nuts to all come off.

This is a first.  Hog and Honda go for a ride, and parts fall off the Honda.  

Last time I was riding with a bunch of Hogs, a guy's air cleaner just fell off at a light.  I mentioned this was not a big surprise with Harleys (smiling), and a bunch of the other Harley guys laughed.  But the guy whose air cleaner fell off was the leader, and he was pretty indignant and kicked me off the ride.  I left laughing and waving.  Most of them waved back.  Not the leader.  Some people just have no sense of humor.

This having happened, it would probably be prudent to go around snugging things up.  Gently, not with a breaker bar.  At least you're in luck, there will be more black front fenders available than any other color.

I'm no body man, but yours looks like it's not going to buff out.

If it was me, I'd kind of like to hold on to that fender in my garage.  Things like that keep us humble and serve as reminders.  

Don't the front fenders have the nuts welded on the inside ? The leader really kicked you off the ride ?  In the garage hell, I'd put the baby on the fireplace mantel as a badge of courage. And retell the story over and over how I cheated death. 

  OEM front fenders have 4 bolts that go into nuts that are welded on the fender.  The bolts have to come off from the outside.

Did the fender get ripped off, or fall off?

I'd hang that fender from my garage ceiling, so I have to push it out of the way to get the bike out, to remind me to check for loose nuts and bolts.

I am for sure keeping this, it's kind of a trophy to me...

Fender fell off. All of the holes in the fender for mounting and on the bike were in good shape, it just looks as if it decided to didn't want to be a part of my Valkyrie anymore.

[Hook#3287]

That's some serious $hit and you're lucky to be typing.

Glad you weren't hurt.

[Jess from VA]

Don't the front fenders have the nuts welded on the inside ? The leader really kicked you off the ride ?  

I think you're right, I was thinking of the fork guards I had to take off 10 times to stop my forks leaking.


Oh yeah, he just made a big ass of himself in front of all his friends with a full blown temper tantrum.  Three, four other guys in the group had invited me along earlier out near Harper's Ferry.  When none spoke up for me, I left right away, with a smile.  Being the odd man out, that's always the right thing to do.

If a whole assembly fell off my bike out riding with a bunch of friends, I think I'd have to join in the merriment and ribbing I'd be sure to get (and probably deserve).  Come to think of it, that exact thing happened when one of my bag lids decided to fly away down some bumpy road in WVa.  It got scuffed up some, but no sense being a baby about it.  Laughter really is the best medicine.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Don't the front fenders have the nuts welded on the inside ? The leader really kicked you off the ride ?  

I think you're right, I was thinking of the fork guards I had to take off 10 times to stop my forks leaking.


Oh yeah, he just made a big ass of himself in front of all his friends with a full blown temper tantrum.  Three, four other guys in the group had invited me along earlier out near Harper's Ferry.  When none spoke up for me, I left right away, with a smile.  Being the odd man out, that's always the right thing to do.

If a whole assembly fell off my bike out riding with a bunch of friends, I think I'd have to join in the merriment and ribbing I'd be sure to get (and probably deserve).  Come to think of it, that exact thing happened when one of my bag lids decided to fly away down some bumpy road in WVa.  It got scuffed up some, but no sense being a baby about it.

life is short, you've got to be able to laugh at yourself. (Also, I hate for my wife to have to laugh alone)

[old2soon]

I've had the front fender off my I/S. All I'm gonna say bout it bein off-it are mucho easier with the wheel off!   Ain't gonna wander out to Her cave and look how the fender be mounted BUT relatively certain it mounts and dismounts from inside the fender. Just a guess here BUT maybe you weren't going faster than your Guardian Angel could fly!   RIDE SAFE.

[Chrisj CMA]

I've had the front fender off my I/S. All I'm gonna say bout it bein off-it are mucho easier with the wheel off!   Ain't gonna wander out to Her cave and look how the fender be mounted BUT relatively certain it mounts and dismounts from inside the fender. Just a guess here BUT maybe you weren't going faster than your Guardian Angel could fly!   RIDE SAFE.

Does not have bolts inside.  Four bolts from outside of the lower forks

[da prez]

  I have one in stock.

                                da prez

[hubcapsc]

... a few strange Jerry rigged things done by a previous owner.



-Mike "gas leak fixed  "

[northernvalk]

Mine came loose on the magna after the stealership did the fork seals I got a brand new fender out of the deal....

[Hooter]

Glad you are good! This is why I nut and bolt my bikes in the spring or at least once a year.

[..]

BLUE Loctite is your friend 

http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/t_lkr_blue/overview/Loctite-Threadlocker-Blue-242.htm

[Murrgh]

Going to pick up the fender shortly. Will update with pictures when I get it.

[Savago]

Interesting report and fortunately nothing serious happened.

I will use this as a tip to go and check if the front fender in my I/S is not loose...
 

[Oss]

Wow

I learned my lesson when a highway peg fell off from a Chicago pothole? and almost hit Gman.

Oss

Note to self, after checking air check bolts

Good thing we dont have to look for oil leaks

[Murrgh]

Just added more pics to the original post