My thoughts and attitude towards winter cycling

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I remember seeing a photo in Cycling Weekly of a rider who was in a coma after he had gone over the bars and landed on his head due to an acorn (!) jamming his front wheel/mudguard.

I had a conversation with a bike shop owner who had stopped selling mudguards after his best mate was killed in a similar accident. (Though I'm sure that it wasn't an acorn that time!)

Having said that ... I think mudguards with Secu-clips and fitted with adequate clearance are perfectly safe.
Exactly, the first bit says it all.
 
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johnnyb47

johnnyb47

Guru
Location
Wales
I'm still on a learning curve as regards to cycling, and when I fitted my guards I never gave it a second thought as what or why the " euro clips" were for. After reading some of the posts here , It appears they are a safety feature that will enable the front guard to detach itself if something gets jammed in between the wheel and guard causing the front wheel to lock sending you skywards. After googling this, there's many pages on the web on it too.
You learn something new everyday :-) :-)
 

rogerzilla

Legendary Member
I doubt the Secu-Clips are very effective, as things can still get jammed at the fork crown. In any case, plastic mudguards just break if a decently large twig is sucked under them. I've seen it happen. Metal ones are riskier.
 

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
I've got full guards on 4 of my 6 but that doesn't stop me riding the other 2 in the rain if the need arises. As mentioned previously you can limit any additional wear and tear with a good regular maintenance schedule :okay:

With regards to the weather I have found some of my favourite rides to be during terrible weather but if I look out the window and see drizzle I still think twice before putting my kit on :laugh:
 

Johnno260

Veteran
Location
East Sussex
I ride through winter but my miles do drop off, I have done more since I got a 2nd bike fitted with full mudguards.

I don’t mess with ice, thick fog, or strong winds.

I also invested in some water proof layers.
 

mikeymustard

Veteran
I had a stick go through my forks once on a really fast bit of road: I went from about 20mph to zero in a blink, full somersault over the bars. Nothing to do with mudguards (and I wasn't wearing a helmet, either!), just saying, sh1t happens, sometimes for absolutely no reason whatsoever :smile:
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
Fixed in winter, gears in summer, mudguards on both bikes, I tend to do less miles in winter but get out whenever I can.
 
To be honest I quite enjoy winter riding as there are not as many "look at my bike I'm gonna beat you on this segment" types about.

Usually when you meet other cyclists in the winter they are genuine cyclists out for the enjoyment of the ride not fashion conscious wannabes!

When you look at my winter cycling attire fashion conscious is something I will never be accused of!!!!
 

winjim

Smash the cistern
I do find that the snow gets trapped between my studded tyres and mudguards which is a bit of a pain but nothing serious. Winter city riding can be a bit unpleasant because of all the lights dazzling and reflecting off wet roads but winter leisure rides in the snow are utterly magical.

The only weather that stops me is high wind. Ice is fine with studded tyres and it's slidy funtimes on snow as they're only 30mm so you need to slide and spin them to get them to bite, but if I get round to buying the fat bike, even riding on snow will be rock solid.
 
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