Over the past few years there have been quite a few people making wooden fenders. For the most part I've ignored them all because they were less functional that the standard plastic/aluminum/steel fenders. All the wood ones were flat as opposed to curved to fit around the sided of the tire. Google
"wooden fender" and you'll see several examples. All these wood fenders all look great and some have excellent craftsmanship with all those wood and inlay options, but a fender is supposed to stop all road spray which is something a flat fender isn't that great at (seriously try one though a wet sloppy Wisconsin winter).
A few months ago this random guy Ben wandered into the shop. If you've been to the shop or are familiar with the location you would know someone just wandering in is a rare event. Ben was looking to see if I needed any help, which I didn't need but we chatted for awhile anyway. On his way out his last words were "check out this cool curved wood fender prototype". What?! Thats like the holy grail of cool fenders and I'd been thinking of attempting it someday when I find the time (i.e. never!) and Ben just mentions it as an afterthought, pulling a sample out of his pocket as he walked out. I expressed quite a bit of interest and encouraged him to pursue the project further. As it turned out he wanted a custom rack for one of his bikes and Leah(the
rack builder that hangs out in corner) wanted some wooden fenders.
Today Ben stopped by the shop with the fenders:
I am very impressed. If your interested in some of your own you should contact him via e-mail - Lbrk@hotmail.com, we need to get him making some more of these.
