Inspiration for the project was a picture someone sent me of
Charlie Boorman's F650RR for the 2006 Dakar Rally.
After studying the original design a little more, I set out to
create the Crap Flap™ Shock Protector today. For reference, here is the
original design...
And here is the problem I set out to fix. My new fancy shock
is a bit exposed. While nothing may ever fling off the back tire
and damage the shock, I figure why take the chance...
So here's what I did...
After removing the rear wheel, I removed the bolt in the picture
below which holds the inner piece of plastic fender on. It's
not a great picture, but when you are doing the doing and the
photographing... well, you get the idea. Removing the bolt
allowed me to access the area between the gas tank and the inner
fender...
Next I used a little nub screwdriver to remove the Phillip's head
screw in the picture below...
It lifts up quite easily to reveal the hole I used to secure the
right side of the flap...
The material I used is Firestone PondGard
EPDM Pond Liner. Apparently it "stays flexible from -40 degrees
F to 175 degrees F." And "shows outstanding resistance to the harmful
effects of ultraviolet radiation (UV), ozone and other environmental
conditions."
This stuff is incredibly strong... it's the
perfect material for this application--very pliable and very very
strong and resistance to tears or rips.
There was a great deal of trial and error cutting out the flap.
Lots of cutting... lots of figuring... lots of loud music... several
Cokes... one failed version, and finally this version after about 30
minutes of tweaking it...
And this is what it looks like installed...
Note in the picture above I made my version wrap around the side a
bit on the right side to better protect the shock. I felt this
was a flaw in the original design--(Charlie Boorman's F650RR for the 2006 Dakar Rally
from the first picture above).
Below is a picture of the other side...
You can see on the picture above that I drilled one hole in the
swing arm and used a stainless steel screw and a stainless steel
fender washer to hold it down on the left side. The right side
is held down by re-securing the screw I removed earlier with the nub
screwdriver. The screw goes through the flap.
I went round and round with myself on how to secure the top.
Finally I decided to see if it would stay-put smashed (sandwiched)
between the gas tank and the plastic inner fender.
What I did was to cut it quite tall and tuck it behind the inner
plastic fender. You can see in the picture below how tall I made
it. There is a significant amount of material sandwiched between
the fender and the gas tank, so I am hopeful it will stay. The
large notch I made on the right side should also help...
If it does move, I will squirt some RTV or other adhesive under the
inner fender, but I think it will be OK... I mean, that's a lot of
material sandwiched back there... time will tell I guess... SEE
UPDATE BELOW!
Here's a shot with the wheel back on...
For comparison...
