Bike Hugger Buddy Flaps

Out of necessity, cyclists in rainy, wet climates use all sorts of inventive materials to create mud flaps for bike fenders. Old water bottles, duct tape, political signs, sump pump hose, and so on. Fender flaps are even a fashion statement. The purpose of the front flap is to protect your feet and in the back to protect your buddy from the spray, mud, and debris. On group rides, showing up without an adequate flap will result in a shunning to the back, strong comments, even getting yelled at because the spray from your rear wheel roostertails into the cyclist behind you.

Updated Update!

01/14/09 – We’ve got the flaps back in and they are en route to Amazon.com for fulfillment. We pulled a few aside to ship directly for those of you that have been waiting.

01/26/09 – the flaps are now available on Amazon.com.

Flap Etiquette

It’s rude to not have a proper, functioning flap and the only excuse for not having one, is if it fell off while riding to meet the group. Even then, showing up without checking your equipment is cause for harrasment, but that’s another post.

Functional Flap

A functioning flap nearly touches the pavement, directs water down, and covers the fender’s width. It should have enough structure to not “flap” around or sway side to side. It should also have some style, like a custom logo flourish, truck driver mud flap woman, your alma matter, and so on.

Flaps were made by cyclists, because no one else was making them. Yes there were some fashion flaps, but none that worked in the driving rain until Buddy Flap started making their product.

Hugga Flaps

Last year Buddy Flap sent us a sample and after replacing my old sump pump tubing style flap, we ordered a batch with the Bike Hugger mark and a reflective strip (that’s the white in the photo and here’s a photo of the reflective strip lit up). Andrew posted on their arrival at Hugga HQ earlier today and I posted the photos on Flickr.

We’ve got a dozen of these and if you’d like to purchase one now, let me us know in the comments and we’ll invoice you directly. Cost is $15.00 + 2.50 shipping (tax where applicable). They’ll show up on our Amazon store in a week or so. We’ll need your email to invoice you – note we’re not spammers or email list sellers.

To install the flaps, drill a hole in your fender a few inches up from the bottom. The flap is shaped like a fender and flares out for max coverge. Install it inside of the fender and bolt it down tightly.

Notes

A true test of a flap is to survive a ride atop a car on a rack at highway spends. Many handbuilt flaps have failed this test and the reason I used sump pump tubing. Buddy Flaps could use more structural ridigity, but should survive a car trip.

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