Dominator Mudguard

I believe all slimline models have very similar rear guards (Deluxe excepted) with variations around the dzus bolt for the rear seat retainer.

You think yours is beyond repair- how bad is it? If its truly rotten, that is probably the case, but if there is enough sound metal, you should be able to get something done by a good tin-basher. If you are in the SE, I can recommend Drew Roberts at Heritage Motor Works (details in the Service tab on here). He repaired my Electra rear guard, and also did an amazing job on a SL petrol tank.

If your guard is painted rather than chrome, that can hide a few bits of grot!

So you're not local to SE then! From what I can see on the pics, the guard seems to be fairly solid, no gaping rust holes. I used to work in a car bodyshop years ago, we had an Aussie panel beater who was very good. He said panels for European cars were few and far between, seemed there was very much an attitude of if its broke it can be mended.

The only issue Drew had with my guard was where the bridges on the underside went, these had allowed rust holes to develop on the surface where water had got into the gap. Not terminal, just more work, so I abandonded the idea of re-chroming as I'm not going full resto on this one.

Your comment about leaving the Dzus hole until you have the seat on as an alignment aid makes perfect sense.

I had wideline mudguards neglected for 37 years, much of that outside so I had them blasted to get rid of the rust. This left the front one looking a touch like a colander!  The blasters etchant primed them too - the green type.  That preserves plain steel like nothing I've ever used before!  Both guards are still rust free after 11 years - no other primer or paint.  The front colander was actually still structurally quite sound so I glassed it on the inside with a woven glassfibre, which is much stronger than the tissue type.  The guard is nice and firm and just needs filler skimmed on the outside.  A good rub down, a coat or two of filler primer to get rid of the orange peel effect caused by rust pitting and a few topcoats and it will be as good as new!  I bought new pattern guards, which I will have chromed - one day!

Hi all , I am new to the club and this is my first post .

I need front and rear chromed mudguards for the above project . Looking around the net I see there are loads of Indian made items and not many original or British made ones .  Has anyone any experience of the various stuff on offer or point me to a supplier that I haven't found yet . Regards Bob Cooper 

Indian made guards always look odd and are usually a waste of time . You may have to wait to find some rough orriginals and get them repaired and filled enough to accept a black paint finish ( which was an optional finish)  you need to be aware that there were two fork widths with guards made to fit  . It’s a minefield for the unwary.

Hi, Bob.

Welcome to the club.

As it happens I've just fitted a set of Indian made chromed mudguards to my 1966 650SS having found, like you, that they seem to be the only source. I've submitted an article for Roadholder to Mark which should be appearing in the next  month or two with more details but briefly the quality of the guards seems pretty good. Certainly the outer surface is very shiny and the overall shape and dimensions are good in the main. BUT, they are supposed to be ready drilled and did not have all holes necessary and the ones which were there were largely in the wrong place at least for the rear guard! The front was better though still not quite right as supplied. Some fettling required. So, they're not perfect but much better than ratty originals and look fine on the bike. And the price is reasonable. My bike has the later slightly wider forks and they fitted these fine. Not sure offhand which forks you have on yours so make sure to check beforehand if they're the narrower ones. One supplier I contacted many months ago didn't seem to know about the different widths and whilst he offered to check he never got back to me. I used vintageparts2015 of New Delhi via Ebay if that helps.

Good luck.

My rear guard was beyond repair so I had to buy an Indian one. It is really pretty good quality, my main issue is that they don't drill half of the holes, and you have to drill the already chromed item, which is sad. 

The other thing was the dzus fastener was crap.

Given my druthers I would have sent my old one to Drew Roberts who did great work on my tank. I hadn't heard of him back then.

Hi Steve. Thanks for that information. Whereabouts in the country is Drew Roberts? Do you have his contact details please? Thanks.

Regards

Tony

Drew's details can be found under the Services tab at the top of the page.

I have used him several times, and have nothing but praise for him.

Hi Lance , Thank you for the welcome and your very useful input on the mudguard scene .

It's great to be able to contact people who are having or indeed had similar experiences and are willing to share their thoughts with the rest of us . I will certainly look at the ebay site and see how to proceed . I may well need the good luck as it would appear that I have been scammed by a company from India named " Royal Spares " , who seem to have suddenly disappeared from the internet with my money . That's another story though . Best wishes Bob Cooper

It sounds as it the Indian-made chromework is of doubtful quality so I would recommend buying them in plain steel then drilling the holes to suit before getting proper triple-plating in the UK.  All exterior chrome on steel should be chrome on nickel on copper.  I have seen a lot on cars which have green verdigris leaching through the chrome, which means they didn't use nickel.  Chrome is porous so needs a non-corroding base underneath.