Is a front fender extender worth it?

[the Ferret]

It's one of the mods I'm considering, but looking at it in pics it seems the wheel would still throw all the crud onto the headers thru that gap in the cowl. Maybe one would keep the crud out of the radiator?

Who is using one? Puig? Pyramid ? Givi ?

 

[Rabbit]

I like mine but it came with the bike. I think it’s a givi

 

[the Ferret]

I like mine but it came with the bike. I think it’s a givi

Rabbit have you ridden in rain? Has it kept the crud down on your header?

 

[TacomaJD]

They seem pretty pointless to me.

 

[hulkss]

The stock fender allow debris to be thrown onto the radiator. I used https://www.motomachines.com/pyramid-plastics-extenda-fenda-fender-extender-honda-nc700x-s-nc750x-s

 

[GraniteState]

I have the Puig front and rear and they seem to keep the rocks out and most of the dirt off the front and off the rear shock. Frankly, they are too much money for the plastic but designed well enough. The front I did not trust with just the two sided tape so I drilled holes and used the rivets provided.

 

[bigbird]

I had a fender extender on my Goldwing.
Any time I drove over gravel or stones, they would be kicked up and made horrendous noise as they bounced against the inner part of the extender.
If anything ever got jammed up between the tire and fender, I'm sure it would have ripped off the whole fender.
Just put on a radiator cover if you want protection.
Water and mud is still going to get past an extender.

 

[Rabbit]

Rabbit have you ridden in rain? Has it kept the crud down on your header?

I ride in most conditions and I think it does keep the radiator area cleaner. But beneath that still gets kind of gnarly.

 

[the Ferret]

I ride in most conditions and I think it does keep the radiator area cleaner. But beneath that still gets kind of gnarly.

Guess that answers that, thanks

 

[fleetingyouth]

I ride in all weather rain and snow but I stay on pavement 90% of the time. I don't have an extender and I just put a radiator cover on this fall for the first time mostly for looks. I have zero damage to the radiator, I'll wash it out when I wash the bike but never notice too much debris. The only time I have really had to clean the radiator or lower cowl is when driving in an area during a buggy season, which the extender and radiator guard wouldn't have prevented.

I've had my NC since 2013 and haven't really seen a need for one. I also have a rear tail tidy and no rear fender and don't have a lot of issues with mud/rain being kicked up onto the back. So your miles may vary.

 

[melensdad]

The stock fender allow debris to be thrown onto the radiator. I used https://www.motomachines.com/pyramid-plastics-extenda-fenda-fender-extender-honda-nc700x-s-nc750x-s

That is not my experience at all. Maybe the area under the radiator but not the radiator itself. Radiator is mounted high enough that I don't notice anything up there, even when washing the bike very little dirt runs out of the radiator.

I ride in all weather rain and snow but I stay on pavement 90% of the time. I don't have an extender and I just put a radiator cover on this fall for the first time mostly for looks. I have zero damage to the radiator, I'll wash it out when I wash the bike but never notice too much debris. The only time I have really had to clean the radiator or lower cowl is when driving in an area during a buggy season, which the extender and radiator guard wouldn't have prevented.

I've had my NC since 2013 and haven't really seen a need for one. I also have a rear tail tidy and no rear fender and don't have a lot of issues with mud/rain being kicked up onto the back. So your miles may vary.

Pretty much my experience too.

They may keep the area beneath the radiator cleaner.

They seem pretty pointless to me.

Agreed.

 

[Deleted member 1183]

I always use them.

Dirt on the headers doesn't bother me although its a bonus if the extender covers them too. A streak of road dirt up the middle of a radiator on the other hand is almost permanent. You can remove the external dirt but deep inside the fine vents of the rad it cannot be removed easily. Also if it is bad enough is has to marginally reduce the efficiency of the rad.

 

[the Ferret]

I always use them.

Dirt on the headers doesn't bother me although its a bonus if the extender covers them too. A streak of road dirt up the middle of a radiator on the other hand is almost permanent. You can remove the external dirt but deep inside the fine vents of the rad it cannot be removed easily. Also if it is bad enough is has to marginally reduce the efficiency of the rad.

Not much of a concern for a bike strictly used on the street though, right? (as mine will be)

 

[hulkss]

Not much of a concern for a bike strictly used on the street though, right? (as mine will be)

Road spray in the rain is not very clean. It leaves quite a coating as it bakes onto the radiator.

 

[Deleted member 1183]

Not much of a concern for a bike strictly used on the street though, right? (as mine will be)

Absolutely is a concern because the bikes I am referring to are all street bikes. I wouldn't use an extender offroad. I am talking wet riding and after a few hundred miles of wet You would be amazed how much dirt can be thrown by up that front wheel on the street. After all consider how does Your bike get dirty in the first place ?

 

[HarveyM]

I put an extender & radiator guard on mine once I read the story here of a young guy picking up a stone on the highway & kicking into the radiator of his new, under warranty NC. It cost him over $500 to replace at the dealer's after the warranty claim was denied. A quick look at Babbitts online puts the current radiator cost at over $750.....

 

[MZ5]

I have a Fenda Extenda on mine and have been pleased with the reduction of dirt and grime sprayed up onto the radiator.

 

[CapeMan]

I suspect you can make an argument for both a radiator guard and fenda-extenda. At least I could back when it was farkling-time.

I mean, you really wanna keep stuff from 1) getting into the radiator section and coating the fins with an insulating layer of mud, slowing down heat transfer (which can be a real pain in the kiester to clean out, too), 2) whacking the front of the radiator with big solid chunks, bending or even damaging the fins, or 3) riding thru a whole buncha bugs at speed, covering the front of radiator with bug wings which leads to slow air flow AND squeezing a bunch of bug guts into the radiator fin section, which is a HUGE pain in both keisters. In actuality, I haven't done the bug thing on a bike but I did drive thru a large locust swarm once in Australia and the resulting insectoid carnage was ... ummm ... impressive, so much so that I had to take a picture. It was truly epic. I'd wager good bucks that you'd be way happier to be cleaning a radiator guard rather than a bare radiator after running thru a swarm of migrating monarchs.

 

[dduelin]

In this picture during a ride up Smoke Hole Rd in West Virginia you can see how much crap was slung against the radiator during just a short section of muddy road. I later added a fender extension to keep stuff off the radiator.

 

[the Ferret]

To me that clearly indicates the back of the front fender is too short