I finished drilling the fork brace plate, both the mounting holes and some conservative speed holes for lightness and appearance. When I bolted the Yamaha Maxim 700 fender in place, it just looked…off. I tried adding spacers to change its orientation, but the fender’s curve didn’t visually align with the wheel no matter how I positioned it. A dime-sized ding in the fender right on the leading edge of the fender didn’t help.
As I alluded to in my most recent post, I changed tack and briefly experimented with the white plastic fender I’d bought, mounted both up high and down low. It didn’t look right up on the steering clamp, and mounting it to the brace plate in place of the Yamaha fender was definitely unworkable.
In desperation, I tried the only other option I could come up with. I reinstalled the Yamaha fender, but reversed it. To my surprise, it works better. Enough better that I’m okay with this being the solution going forward. As added pluses, the ding is now less noticeable at the bottom rear, and the fender now comes down further in the back. This should help keep road grime off the starter and solenoid, which sit in a somewhat vulnerable spot at the front of the engine.
It still looks a bit odd, but it no longer screams, “This fender wasn’t designed to go here.” It’s odd on the same wavelength as the goofiness of the overall bike.
