Hi all,

I’m after some balanced views and opinions on a problem with my Pinnacle Arkose (in house evans brand) Rigid Carbon Forks.

Forks in question, 700c Carbon disk forks, colour matched to bike frame. Purchased new a little over 3 months ago. I’ve been waiting on a set of excellent PDW metal mudguards with adaptable mounts, (this is my commuter bike) for past 2 months, they arrive, all looking good.

Start to fit mudguards to forks and discover that the mudguard mounts (located higher up the fork leg) are mounted offset on the disk calliper side (correct position on the non calliper side). It’s impossible to mount the mudguards as a result, the ‘wonky’ mount points towards the spokes of the wheel and is too close to the disk brake mount to fit anything other than potentially using a long bare wire mudguard.

Now it is potentially (not tried it) possible to mount a cheap wire type mudguard with an excessively long set of rods (maybe using an additional rod from a larger wheel size or rear guard) and a lot of serious bending, no safety tabs and an ugly looking end result.

Have spoken to shop and looked at this years model bikes with the same forks – guess what they are all straight and would present no problems at all. They also had a another model of my bike with the same forks and same wonky mount. Hummm… I’m told it might be a design feature – Really?

Though shop acknowledges the issue, they tell me that they have no replacement forks.

I find a potentially ugly bodge solution to be unacceptable. Not only would it leave me out of pocket for my new expensive mudguards (partially fitted so no return there). Not only does it give, an at best, ugly bodge fix, it also has no QR safety tabs when riding off road.

Shop are ‘making enquiries’ so maybe they will resolve this, however my lunchtime chat has left me with a strong sense that little if anything will be done to remedy this.

Surely this is a manufacturers / design defect?
Does anyone know where i stand from a buyers, legal point of view?

Expecting a potential fight on my hands to get satisfaction (correct colour matched forks would be wonderful, yet being 100% carbon i suspect the entire batch is faulty). Evans may yet come good, so not wanting to be negative about them, i hope and worry.

bump

Are those mudguards sold as being compatible with those forks? If not specifically mentioned then I don’t think you have a leg to stand on. Have a quick look around this site and you’ll see lots of “bodged” mudguard fittings to clear disk calipers, rack mounts etc. The mudguards still function as designed.

Not fit for purpose – return and get something else.

EDIT…maybe! Worth a try at least.

It’s quite common to have to bend mudguard stays to fit modern frames/forks, is it really that big an issue to you?

Sound like they can’t supply the fork you want anyway, so you’d need to find something else.

DOUBLE EDIT can’t see the £75 in those ‘guards.

*jameso to the forum*

As for bodging options, instead of bending the stays and losing the safety tab, could you attach a short bent piece of aluminium to the fork mount then attach the stay & safety tab to the other end of that piece of metal? Or maybe use a longer bolt and some of those curved washers used for brake disc caliper mounts (e.g. Avids) to get the correct angle?

Exact model specific forks + frame which are colour matched.
The PDW’s would fit great bar this single wonky allen key mount.
Mounting a bodge fix to the fork would most likely require bending the mudguard rail whilst the allen key bolt is fitted to it (as ivory much doubt it it can be tightened once the wire rod is bent to shape – it’s a lot of extreme angles / bending required.

I can’t see how it can be claimed to be a design feature at all. True many bodges exist for a variety of non mudguard specific frames, this however has the mounts specifically for mudguard mounting. Cosmetically it will (if at all possible to do so) look awful and it will not be possible to add safety mounts on the front, where they are most needed.

Yeah, i care about these things, enough to buy expensive cooer co-ordinatedmetal fenders.

I’m still crossing my fingers in hope. Maybe other Arkose owners could share their experiences / check their mounts?

OP – I work for Evans on the bikes. mail me at james.olsen at evanscycles.com if the shop can’t help – I’m sure they can it may just need the right parts finding, the OK to do something beyond normal, me checking a fork vs a drawing, etc. Mail me a pic of the guard eyelet also, that would help. Cheers.

Hi Saratoga,

Hummmm, maybe. I’d need quite long tube that i can cut + file the correct angle onto and then some brake block mount cones might just fine tune the angle + fit.

But hang on, how would i get the QR mount on that extreme angle. The longer bolt is still straight?

Jameso,

Awesome, will do.

Slightly OT but this is why STW is ace! Getting the folk in the industry in assisting is bloody good! It also makes me sway more towards a Pinnacle when I get the funds 🙂

STW is fantastic. I’m been a bike mechanic whilst studying and regularly build and repair bikes for friends, friends of friends and the local community. Having STW is a great way to share knowledge and get different perspectives and answers to problems that crop up here and there.

Bike knowledge earned from real world experience is worth it’s weight in gold.

High five STW.