Back in 1999 I bought a used green Bike Friday New World Tourist at the Seattle Bike Swap. In trying to figure out a good way to fit a set of fenders to that bike, I discovered coroplast, a corogated plastic material commonly used to make campaign and real estate signs. The fenders I crafted for that bike were light, inexpensive, effective and stood up to many miles and years of use. I would get asked about the fenders often and I wound up making coroplast fenders for a variety of bikes. In 2002, I got around to posting some general construction notes on a web page and that old page still lives on at:
http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/FendForYourself.html
Earlier this year, when I applied for a job at Bike Friday one of the items they asked for was "a picture of something you are proud of that you have made." I sent them a picture of a set of fenders and panniers made from coroplast.
And now I work at Bike Friday and I have a new Bike Friday that I have built up with a lot of help from my friends. The rainy season is coming and it needed fenders.
I kept my eyes open. I found a discarded yellow real estate sign that only had printing on one side. I have a Swiss Army knife and some zip-ties and I have skills. Particular, peculiar skills, but they've served me well over the years.
History may not repeat itself, but it certainly echoes. I have a green Bike Friday with yellow fenders now.
Keep 'em rolling.
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