Thank God for a plastic front fender

[Brevadom]

I just turned back from a prolonged trip on my Breva1100.
Here is the story I want to tell you to consider a simple measurement to maybe prevent something similar happening to you.
I am riding happily along this fairly new surfaced -straight piece of road (the shoulders being lined with flat pebbles) with about 100km/h on the speedo, enjoying the views of the surroundings. Suddenly, I feel a short bump in the handle bars and hear a cracking sound. From the corner of my eye I see something spinning away, it appears to be rather large and roundish. My first thought is, that I hit one of these flat pebbles lying on the tarmac, which then has been picked up by my front tyre and hit the bike somewhere.

Village coming right up - I stop at a safe place to have a look.
I discover my front fender being shredded to bits. At this point all my focus is on the fender, as the rest of the bike seems to be unharmed. I completely missed the missing horn. I decided to take off the plastic as it is now unfit for purpose and dangerous in that position. I strapped it to my luggage, rode back a few hundred meters to see whether I see anything lying around, but only pebbles as I expected.

So I thanked my guardian angel to have watched out for me, considered myself to be ever so lucky to get out of this situation by the price of a new fender... It is only later when I want to make use of my horn, that I discover it is not there. All over sudden the murky picture of what really happened back then, becomes cristal clear. The horn's bracket broke, now the horn dangles on the cable which is quite longish, as a matter of fact so long that the horn reaches the south end of the fender , where it gets caught by the tyre and gets pulled in between the tyre and the fender, something has to give ... picture this... how lucky can you be.
Still on my trip I bought a new horn and shortened the cable with a cable tie - in case the bracket brakes again or one nut gets undone - the horn can't get pulled in. I didn't want to cut the cable just yet. Whether this stays the permanent fix I have not decided yet. I am also playing with the thought of a different horn and a new position altogether.





The remains of the bracket.

 

[Trout]

Glad it turned out well!

 

[MickE]

I just turned back from a prolonged trip on my Breva1100.
Here is the story I want to tell you to consider a simple measurement to maybe prevent something similar happening to you.
I am riding happily along this fairly new surfaced -straight piece of road (the shoulders being lined with flat pebbles) with about 100km/h on the speedo, enjoying the views of the surroundings. Suddenly, I feel a short bump in the handle bars and hear a cracking sound. From the corner of my eye I see something spinning away, it appears to be rather large and roundish. My first thought is, that I hit one of these flat pebbles lying on the tarmac, which then has been picked up by my front tyre and hit the bike somewhere.

Village coming right up - I stop at a safe place to have a look.
I discover my front fender being shredded to bits. At this point all my focus is on the fender, as the rest of the bike seems to be unharmed. I completely missed the missing horn. I decided to take off the plastic as it is now unfit for purpose and dangerous in that position. I strapped it to my luggage, rode back a few hundred meters to see whether I see anything lying around, but only pebbles as I expected.

So I thanked my guardian angel to have watched out for me, considered myself to be ever so lucky to get out of this situation by the price of a new fender... It is only later when I want to make use of my horn, that I discover it is not there. All over sudden the murky picture of what really happened back then, becomes cristal clear. The horn's bracket broke, now the horn dangles on the cable which is quite longish, as a matter of fact so long that the horn reaches the south end of the fender , where it gets caught by the tyre and gets pulled in between the tyre and the fender, something has to give ... picture this... how lucky can you be.
Still on my trip I bought a new horn and shortened the cable with a cable tie - in case the bracket brakes again or one nut gets undone - the horn can't get pulled in. I didn't want to cut the cable just yet. Whether this stays the permanent fix I have not decided yet. I am also playing with the thought of a different horn and a new position altogether.

View attachment 15779

View attachment 15781

The remains of the bracket.

View attachment 15780

I'm glad you're OK too. Thanks for posting this (hard learnt) lesson.

 

[Brevadom]

Thank you Trout and Mick, it's just one of the things you are not imagining to be possible at all.

 

[GTM®]

Thank you Trout and Mick, it's just one of the things you are not imagining to be possible at all.

Indeed, but not the first time I've seen something like this on many different brands. Is that a stock bracket? If your horn was replaced from stock, I always recommend using the factory bracket, which on the newer models, is comprised of several pieces of stacked metal, not one strip like this one looks like it is. Vibration on any motor can cause major havoc. Glad it turned out well in the end.

 

[Brevadom]

Yes Todd, stock horn on stock bracket 13 years of age.

 

[GTM®]

Yes Todd, stock horn on stock bracket 13 years of age.

OK, replace it with one from the newer CARC bikes if you haven’t already.

 

[tris]

Does this only happen to the faster Black B1100 like ours?

Joking aside a timely warning - I shall take a look at mine tonight

Thanks

 

[Brevadom]

Tris, let us know what you find.

 

[tris]

No problem with mine, but that is one thin bit of steel

I think I have apiece of stainless lying about that can be pressed into service to replace that

Thanks again