Original intention to have that footfender was because by that time i got this made, tsi still made alu brakes (which was a looong time ago). I had been riding a full fixed fender (covered the whole wheel) for a year and wanted to go back using brakes, i knew that having alu flexfenders was gonna be a hassle.
So I decided to write a letter to TSI and explained what I kind of features I was dreaming of considering the circumstances of having alu brakes and personal preference (83-degree headtube with integrated headset; 21.5" long frame, 5" wide plate; old Freestyler type dropouts for easier wheel change; 125mm wheel compatibility since I hoped that companies would have started producing more of these by now, but they haven't... bummer): the footfender would give me the option to ride either brakeless or with brakes.
The guys at TSI were cool enough to do this customized plate with the footfender and two holes for the flexfender which are enough far front that in fact when you use a normal 110mm tsi flexfender with the plate that i have, the brake holes are shifted forwards so it can fit 125mm wheels. (for the current setup i had to use bearing washers to bring the brake down closer to the 110mm wheel since i don't feel like breaking 125mm plastic yaks all the time). When TSI shipped that, spring steel flexfenders were a fresh news then and they actually shipped the deck with one which came as a suprise to me. Nevertheless, i haven't snapped any steel flexfenders ever since.
All this above might make you think that since tsi's heat-treated spring steel flexfenders don't snap, then what's the point of having a footfender on the deck then? Good question. At some point because of having such a burly deck I started being into big-ass/long 180's to fakies, over gaps, stairs, over funboxes to flat etc
With a regular footfender-less deck: once you're in the air and you can feel the break against your heel or the side of the shoe, there are chances that you might actually land your shit to fakie smoothly OR somehow hit your brake on landing causing it to block and you'll bounce head first to ground. BUT with the fixedfender or footfender+flexfender combo, when ever that's against the side of my shoe, i know i'm safe since the footfender is keeping my feet clear from the brake. If I feel that my leg is over the footfender, then I know when to bail before landing onto the brake fakie. Bottom line: the footfender helps you to keep your rear foot away from the brake when you land tricks into fakie, especially on bigger jumps.
If that made any sense.
edit:
oh yea, it definitely wasn't the only one made. There were some plates with fixedfenders and footfenders made but not very many people felt like going brakeless back then.
have to use my 20 tall in scs rup bars until I raw my 22 high ones tomarow
