You can turn your steel, carbon fiber, aluminum or titanium bicycle into a “woody” with the addition of these wooden fenders.
Cody Davis of Bend, Oregon, has been making these wooden bike fenders in his garage for about three years now after getting involved in furniture wood working just for fun.
I stumbled across his website — Woody's Custom Cycling Fenders — recently and e-mailed him to learn more about how he got into it and how his fenders are made.
He admitted to getting the idea from “Full Wood” fenders, made by the owner of River City Bicycles in Portland. Apparently Cody's boss at Hutch's bike shop suggested he give it a go. He continues:
“After seeing them I just felt that I could provide something a bit more artistic and not be stuck with just a few patterns but offer a lot of different ones. … I try different ideas for patterns all the time. Some work and some don't. I just keep plugging away at new ideas.”
“I encourage custom work. If someone wants a set of fenders to their specs they can e-mail me and tell me what they are after. For example right now I am building a 4-inch wide custom set for a Surly Pugsley with 3.5-inch tires. … Fun project. The Pugsley fenders were a bit more expensive than I normally charge due to the width, but most custom work runs $99.00.”
So how do you make wooden fenders for a bicycle?
“The fenders are made using three layers laminated together with waterproof glue. Because they are a laminate they are super strong and I have never seen a set split apart. For finish I use a clear gloss outdoor spar polyurethane.
“I learned that the best way to show wood grain is to use a gloss finish so I incorporated it into my fenders. I will however use a satin finish if requested. For upkeep I suggest using a good UV protectant paste wax a few times a year. Automotive waxes work good.”
Cody says he uses mahogany, maple, zebra wood, lace wood, wenge, padouk, walnut, teak, purpleheart, leopard wood, cherry, rose wood and yellow wood — most of it recycled — in his fenders.
Cody has many more pictures of his beautiful fenders alone and mounted on bikes at his website. Check it out.
You know, these wooden fenders would be perfect for one of those Calfee bamboo bicycles hauling a bamboo trailer.
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