Haiwan from Qbicle has done quite well with his Tangent Fender since first winning an award at Taipei Cycle’s 2011 Innovative Products Competition.
2011 was to be the last for that particular competition. In 2012 it was replaced by the d&i Awards. Individuals or companies with products that have been available to the market for either less than two years or will be going into mass production in the year of the competition, are eligible to enter. The categories are Bicycles, Components, Clothing, and Accessories.
If a product is worthy of an award according to the criteria, then an award is granted.
Since getting a gong in 2011, Haiwan took the design back to the drawing board for some modification whilst also entering the tangent fender in the inaugural d&i Awards 2012. Once again the judges were extremely impressed; Haiwan picked up a gong.
Next on the agenda is the Eurobike Awards 2013. The fender is up for a gong there and is well placed to achieve this.
The fender will catch water that is dispersed in a standard spray pattern.
The design alterations have been focused on making micro adjustment of the fender angle relative to the wheel more easily achieved. The fender attaches easily to the to the dropout just above the deraileur. Undo the nut, slip the bracket onto the axel. Tighten the nut again.
With the earlier model, the fender was not necessarily exactly above the tire. There is a bolt in the fender unit itself that allows the fender to be raised or lowered on the shaft so it’s easy enough to situate it at exactly the right height over the wheel. But what if you needed to adjust the lateral angle?
This is the focus of the change. The previous bracket was not curved so any adjustment was limited to the vertical plane. Replacing this component with the curved surfaces now enables the shaft to rotate well to the left of the vertical, and slightly to the right. No matter what the specifics of a bicycle configuration, if you can fit it to the axle, then you will be able to locate it exactly above the tire.
Using a 5mm allen key the bolt can be tightened enough to a resistance that allows you to adjust the shaft to exactly the right angle. Then it can be fully tightened with another quarter turn or so.
The fender is designed to disperse water and operates similarly to the tread pattern on a car tire. The wheel acts as a centrifuge. The energy carries the water onto the fender’s ribs where it is ejected to the side.
I can think of one place it would be indispensable, namely those rainy days in the peloton. If everyone had one of these on the rear wheel, that stream of water and dirt that gets fired up into the face of the rider behind would be eliminated resulting in much higher visibility and making it much less likely of touching the wheel in front in one of those slight miscalculations. Since it is easily mounted or removed you don’t have to sport it when you don’t want it.
Quite a funky gadget.