Mudguards!!! Aghhhh!!

[DWiggy]

Is there such thing as a reliable set of mudguards for bikes with little or no clearance?

I unfortunately only have the one bike that's used for everything, commuting, sportive's etc but the clearance between the tires and forks/frame is minimal even with 23's on.

This is my experience so far....

• Crud2 (Doesn't fit at all) (Was superb on my old bike)
• Swan seat post mounted rear guard, really simple and kept the crud from my back but no front guard so feet got wet. This is my most reliable guard so far but have replaced with the Race Blades.
• Raceblades long, I could only get the rear parts fitted as not enough clearance for the part that fits to the inside of the rear wheel.
  After a week of constant use the front mount snapped in half and then about 2 months the rear guard snapped in half for no apparent reason, they were great and easy to remove but they seem to be unreliable, my LBS swapped them over for the following:
• Std Race blades (The ones that fit to forks via rubber bands) This is my current set up but they seem to need constant adjusting as rubbing on tires especially after a bump or two....so annoying!! (Anyone know a fix for this?)

I'm just a little frustrated, hopefully I can get the STD Raceblades set up so the rubbing stops!

 

[PaulSecteur]

Portland design works full metal seem to be about the best bet.

Aint cheap though!

 

[User269]

No.

+1

Although as the OP has already found, the Swan is about as good as it gets. If you wear winter cycling boots your feet will stay dry. I never managed to get raceblades to stay properly adjusted either.
Of course, if it wasn't for the coalition govt., none of this would be necessary as winters would be dry and warm.

 

[DCLane]

I use Raceblades on 3 bikes but have taken to adding blu-tack at the bottom of each frame-holding point just to lift them a bit from the wheel.

Seems to stop the rubbing as none rub any more.

 

[Venod]

Having fitted guards to various frames with very little clearance its a compromise and I never found a perfect solution, I now only run guards on frames with clearance & mounting points, the best ones I used on a tight frame were Crud2 but they were very close and annoying, not what you want to hear but consider getting a different frame for wet weather use.

 

[Joshua Plumtree]

Mudguards! So named because of the copious amounts of mud they attract. Almost impossible to cycle with them on muddy roads without having to stop every 10 minutes to scrape the mud away with a small stick!

Unless you travel on 'clean' roads in the wet, I'm coming round to the conclusion that they're a complete waste of everyone's time and money.

Might be ok if they actually stopped other cyclists getting a mouthful of dirty rainwater off someone's back wheel, but this they patently fail to do!

Ahhhh! Give me a wet arse any day of the week.

 

[Venod]

Might be ok if they actually stopped other cyclists getting a mouthful of dirty rainwater off someone's back wheel, but this they patently fail to do!

I went on a club ride on very wet roads, I have SKS longs on with decent mudflaps keeps the crap off the bike and off others, but I came home looking worse than than I do when MTBing without guards, there were a couple of guys with no guards and several with very short ones, result everyone gets showered with crap.

Ps Whats wrong with s**t as a descriptive word, crap is allowed.

 

[Hicky]

On the surly I've got sks full, superb job they've done....on the road bike I've just started using raceblades.
I found rubbing an issue but after a bit of fettling its fine...I have the rubber bands very tight(they'll perish and ping off soon no doubt) and to solve the rubbing either raise the attatchment point up the fork(mine is SO close to fouling the downtube cables) and close the angle of the arms before drilling and screwing for a permemant fit which raises the skirt/apron.
All in all the raceblades are'nt great as I still get a fair amount of splash/runoff from the guards however if I run them closer the rubbing would annoy me far too much.

 

[martinclive]

drilling and screwing for a permemant fit

+1
My race blade XLs are much better now I have drilled and screwed the guards to the supports

 

[DWiggy]

+1
My race blade XLs are much better now I have drilled and screwed the guards to the supports

I haven't done this yet...will give it a go

 

[Deleted member 35268]

Fortunately for me, my Giant Defy was designed to take mudguards, and they made some special guards to go with the bike - genius!
I am on my second set, as the rear guard broke after about 2 years of winter use - I am being more careful with the 2nd set.
RRP is about £25 a set, but I did managed to get them as low as £23 this time round.
They are the best thing I ever bought for my bike.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Salmon Profile??

I had a set on my Dyna-Tech for a few years.
The clearances were so tight, with them on, that it needed '20' sections, but they worked.................

Only real issue with them was, the alloy clips that held the stays into the 'P Clips' eroded to dust after a couple of winters

 

[biggs682]

@DWiggy I have been using race blades secured by the rubber bands and I have added a cable tie to each point for a 3 months now on 3 different frames and once set up I have yet to have an issue

 

[400bhp]

Portland design works full metal seem to be about the best bet.

Aint cheap though!

FINALLY



JOIN ME BROTHER

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Cable ties are very useful in the mudguard fixing world.

Cable ties are very useful in the cycling world, full stop.