To shave or not to shave?

[BEAVER.989]

I ride trails exclusively, but am thinking about shaving my fenders, if for no other reason, it looks cool, lol.

Will I regret this decision the first time I hit the trails and end up with a face full of mud? Has anyone done it and been sorry they did?

[cannondale4life]

ha when i first shaved my fenders i was very happy with it but the only time i got a face fulla mud is when i cornered,besides that it is alot better because you can see everything alot better and plus it looks sweet but for me in the long run im definately glad i hacked mine off

[2001trx400ex]

nope never have thought twice about it i love it it's a lot easier to see everything and looks much better.

[BD444]

do it
1. Looks better
2. easier to see what is in front of you.
3. Improve aerodynamics in the air.

[sandalanalyst]

guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion... but i had a 00 400ex, only used on the trails, so not a whole lot of air time...lol :) but i hated it, eyeballs full of mud SUCK, yeah it looks cool, but the first time you come flying 5th gear off a dirt road onto a nice trail and theres one of those soupy mud holes right at the beginning of the actual trail and you nail it in 3rd or so 3/4 throttle... your gonna get a face full of it too.. wish mine were there, also throws mud all over the place, cover your legs, if you ride in any water/mud holes in anything higher than 1st gear 1/4 throttle i was constantly looking for a way around, so my legs were always soaked from what the front tires threw up at me.. and in order to see whats in front of you..... face forward and open your eyes, if that fails, you should get your eyes checked, not cut an almost $300 set of fenders to "look cool" because that would be the only advantage unless your racing, and going for serious weight shavings, things like that... but that's my own opinion.. thanks for readin guys :)

[honda400ex2003]

I would not cut them cause the stock look is awesome. I say save them and stay cleaner. lol, steve

Cut fenders look ghetto and ugly. I can't stand em. I think stock un-cut fenders look better then any type of cut you make to them. Looks clean, unmolested, and not hacked up.

Leave them on, please. They look so much better.

The ONLY quad I liked cut fenders on, is Joe Byrds 450r.


Full fenders fo sho!:D

[hypersnyper6947]

cut them for sure, full fenders look no where near as good as cut,

IMO
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i276/aclasson86/DSC06750.jpg

[powermadd400ex]

if you got a steady hand, cut em.

[RIDEREDson]

Yeah really, Stock plastics look like big parachutes. Chop them *******s off.

[hypersnyper6947]

or you can just buy some front race cuts in the same color,

Originally posted by DMC-4OOEX
Cut fenders look ghetto and ugly. I can't stand em. I think stock un-cut fenders look better then any type of cut you make to them. Looks clean, unmolested, and not hacked up.

Leave them on, please. They look so much better.

The ONLY quad I liked cut fenders on, is Joe Byrds 450r.


Full fenders fo sho!:D

thats why i cut my fenders like his. haha we think alike:macho

[RIDEREDson]

Originally posted by hondarider661
thats why i cut my fenders like his. haha we think alike:macho

Doesn't everyone? all you gotta do is follow the line.

Originally posted by hondarider661
thats why i cut my fenders like his. haha we think alike:macho

lol. Something about that 450r is so hot. He has the colors and everything set up perfect.

[berries400ex]

i was kinda worried about cutting mine since i ride in a lot of muddy areas and stuff like that, but its really not as bad as people say. yes its worse then the stock plastics but i think it was totally worth it

[MyKe2g3]

I like race cut i have the look on my other bikes but i havent chopped mine on this bike yet cause its mostly stock. I think they look good when you have a modified ex with longer arms and custom shocks. And if you still feel bad about modifying them then just do like the guy earlier said and buy a race cut front piece.

[nakomis0]

I like the look of stock. The few times i have road a 250r with cut fenders I noticed a difference. I ride my stock without googles if i want, I tried that for a minute with the face cuts and got mud in my face.:(

[ngates788]

hack them suckers

[Eviltanker]

If you don't want to race cut them you can just trim them.

[BEAVER.989]

Thanks. I think I'm going to try for the trimmed look, rather than a full shave.

[Snipe]

If you have the 450R style body style just unbolt the fenders off of the frame 100% better looking than shaved way cleaner look.

But again if you are riding by looking at your tires you have problems following a line lol. just look forward full fenders look best IMO other than being a pain to wash there awesome.

Originally posted by Snipe
If you have the 450R style body style just unbolt the fenders off of the frame 100% better looking than shaved way cleaner look.

But again if you are riding by looking at your tires you have problems following a line lol. just look forward full fenders look best IMO other than being a pain to wash there awesome.

You can't do that on 400ex's lol. They're all one piece. They look similar, but actually are quite different.

[Snipe]

hmm then the next thing would be cut them flush lol that look is still killer IMO the shaved thing isnt that cool its like a guy with a mohawk lmao.

IMO its hard to pull off the clean cut fender look on a 400ex. I'm sick of my fenders flopping around every ride, I even put 2 nuts on the screw for the mounts and I pound a good section of whoops twice and i've already lost the screws haha. I'm thinking about cutting the fenders just so I dont have to worry about it because I've broken the welds on the mounts from jumping twice too so basically my fenders are always rigged to stay on. I rathe rnot get a face full of dirt though. When its dry the sand that flings up is light and you cant feel it but when its damp or wet i'm even getting hit on the turns by the stuff and I have full fenders. I want to try out a 400ex with cuts before I chop off my own

[quadrunner13]

Just buy race pre cut plasics like i did!!! :devil:

[RIDEREDson]

Originally posted by Snipe
hmm then the next thing would be cut them flush lol that look is still killer IMO the shaved thing isnt that cool its like a guy with a mohawk lmao.

Look who's talking, you have an 08. So your fenders actually look cool full.

[Snipe]

Look who's talking, you have an 08. So your fenders actually look cool full.

And also on the new fenders the fronts are braced so no more fender flop!! lol just teasing a bit.

I agree I love the style of the fenders but alot would arque with you.

The 08 the fronts are removable but the front wings arent lol and then I wouldnt have a place for my reverse switch lol.

[RIDEREDson]

Yeah I looked andd honestly there isnt a good way to shave the n08 fenders. I wish they didnt make the wings so long then it would look cool like that.

[BakerRacing40]

cut them off .. the look like jumbo dog ears.. and if you come to mud on a trail lean back and try to wheelie and boom less mud/water on you...

[killer400ex]

i shaved mine off and i do alot of trail riding, and a bunch of xc, it rains alot up here to soo there is no such thing as a dry trail up here, i can ride with goggles and without them, never had any problems with extreme amounts of mud hitting me in the face or anything, and i agree with everyone els, i think it gives you a better view and it looks a hell of alot cooler without them, it all depends on how much you shave off, both of my pics below show them shaved off, and personally i think they look alot better in person

[BEAVER.989]

I trimmed a little off yesterday, basically to just test my hand. It looks pretty good. Now I just need to decide if I'm ready to go all the way, lol...

[bbender85]

if you ever go with a wider set of arms or offset wheels, the fenders won't do anything anways; i bought my quad with shaved stock fenders, replaced them with full maiers, and ended up cutting the maiers since they didnt protect anything and flopped waaay more than stiffer stock ones anyways.

nice thing about cutting maiers is you can cut as little or as much as you like, since you don't have the warning label indentation to worry about. so i cut mine right thru where it would be.

[BEAVER.989]

Well, I did it. I had to do something to my quad and since I'm low on funds, might as well do something FREE. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics, but it's all I had time for this morning...

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh50/BEAVER-989/cutfenders.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh50/BEAVER-989/cutfenders2.jpg

:ermm:

[Sinister95Z]

Looks good! By the look of the fenders, you did a pretty damn good job too...

Originally posted by RIDEREDson
Look who's talking, you have an 08. So your fenders actually look cool full.

08 fenders look cool fully swapped for an older years plastics. haha

[BEAVER.989]

I knew I'd get mixed results based on the earlier responses in this thread, but so far I like it and I guess that's what matters.

[timmy400exfast]

yea dude looks good

[hypersnyper6947]

Looks good nice job, and if you like it thats all that matters. :)

[RIDEREDson]

good, now time to trim up the rears a little too..

[killer400ex]

looks great, alot like mine jus diff color, the only real diffrence i noticed when i trimmed was that its harder to wheelie at a good speed, when you have the full fender it catches the wind when your going at a good rate and helps catch the wind and pull the front end up, but im a mx and xc guy soo if anything it helped me cause i used to wheelie in almost every gear at a good speed and i would feel my tires skipping on the pavement

[kodymx13]

<a href="http://s122.photobucket.com/albums/o242/kodymx13/?action=view&current=hydie8.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o242/kodymx13/hydie8.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[Muddinguy]

I bought my 00' with cut fenders and i just put new maier's on it and i like the full fender look.. but i havnt riden it yet since no engine.. i rode my buddy's with full fenders i liked it. but the maiers seem to have a smaller more sporty front fender or maybe its just since i dont have the extensions on.. either way i say keep em !