melting mudflap

[KJ790]

Today I was washing my bike and I noticed that the mudflap under the back fender in front of the rear wheel had melted the last time I rode the bike. It is all melted and looks like it liquified and started to drip where it comes close to the pipe. It never touched the pipe (there is nothing melted on the midpipe, and it would look different if it had touched it), my pipe just got hot enought to melt it. I've never seen anything like this before. Has anyone else? Here are some pics I took with my phone, sorry about the quality.

[grayracer513]

What I see as odd is that there are parts of the flap that are nearer the pipe that are not melted, and the melt spot looks very focused. Is there a slip joint close by that's leaking, or a hole in the pipe, that blows exhaust directly on the flap?

[KJ790]

nope, no leaks in the pipe. The bike is up on a stand in the pictures so the suspension is not compressed at all. When the bike is on the ground and I am sitting on it the midpipe is more inline with the melted spot. I just can't figure it out.

[SXP]

nope, no leaks in the pipe. The bike is up on a stand in the pictures so the suspension is not compressed at all. When the bike is on the ground and I am sitting on it the midpipe is more inline with the melted spot. I just can't figure it out.

Is the tire very close to the front of the swingarm? If so, do the knobs just barely graze the flap when the tire is rotated in the forward direction? If that's the case, then there's a possibility when you backed the bike up (reversed direction) at some point, the tire knobs snagged the flap and folded it up and to the side pushing it into the mid-pipe. This happened to me when I switched from a Maxxis IT to a Desert IT with the slightly taller knobs. I try and run my wheel as far forward as possible for handling reasons, and the wheel position that worked with the Maxxis IT was not okay with the Desert IT as it would snag the flap and scrunch it up every time I got stuck on a trail and had to back the bike up.

[KJ790]

I thought about that, in fact, that is the only thing I could come up with to explain it. But I can't figure out how it melted that badly without touching the pipe. If my pipe was hot enough to melt it that much from being in close proximity, shouldn't my numberplate be toast by now?

[sprint4425]

yeah i have a way to fix it. Take it off. I took mine off right after i bought my yz450 because the paddles of a paddle tire wouldnt clear the mud flap. I took it off and went on ebay and bought some "shockerz" mono shock covers. They are like 5 or 10 bucks plus shippping and you can get them in any color you could possibly think of, mine is bright orange to match my graphics.

The only real purpose that thing serves is to help protect the shock, and thats hwat the shockerz slip cover is for.

[sleeperz28]

sprint4425 do you have a picture of your shock cover? or who you bought it from. i was considering buying one for the sand dunes but was unable to find one for bikes. i have seen those mud flaps sand blasted almost gone from a few days on the dunes.