Why do people hate mudguards so much?

[dellzeqq]

How many rides have you done? what's the total time "lost" in that above?

Divide that by the total number of hours cycled on your rides and what percentage has it added to your ride time?

It seems a bit of an odd request to me, but they are your rides & your rules and respect to you for organising them.

it's not a rule. It's advice. And big delays are few and far between, the mudguard episode being one of the bigger ones.

 

[mcshroom]

Definitely only advice. I've only done one ride without guards (Manchester-Blackpool 2011) and I rode LonJOG with full guards and front and rear racks

 

[GrumpyGregry]

today.......I shall be riding a road bike in Hampshire, and then come back, change, take the Brompton to Wickes, load the rack with 25kg of gravel and ride back home, grateful of the rack and not worried about the mudguards. That's because the Brompton is not really a bike - it's a utility vehicle with pedals.

The rack, being the size and shape it is, is incredibly strong, and the mudguards mean that when I can use it in light rain when I've got a suit on. Now........it may be that I'm very fortunate in having both the Brompton and the road bike, but when I want to ride a bike for the love of riding a bike I don't really need the extra clobber.

See, despite his best post-hoc rationalisations he sometimes rides a bike with mudguards. Interesting. He could have bought a Brompton without mudguards. He could have removed the mudguards post purchase. But he didn't.....

I don't think we are being told the whole story.

 

[Drago]

So I do mudguard now and again. So what? I'm in control. It doesn't control me. I can give up any time. It's a victimless crime. Mudguard users are chilled, they don't start fights like alcohol abusers do.

 

[jaynana]

no madguards for me. i find them totally 'uncool'

 

[beastie]

I have Crud Roadracer 2's on the road bike for the winter, and I pop em on if it's pouring the rest of the year. It takes about 4 mins to fit em. Without them on, the bike definitely LOOKS faster.

The commuter has them on permanently. Certain CC'ers have mentioned something about it only raining 12 times per year at commuting times. They obviously don't commute in Cumbria. I have experienced at least 12 wet commutes in a row! Mudguards are the way forward.

 

[ColinJ]

I have Crud Roadracer 2's on the road bike for the winter, and I pop em on if it's pouring the rest of the year. It takes about 4 mins to fit em. Without them on, the bike definitely LOOKS faster.

The commuter has them on permanently. Certain CC'ers have mentioned something about it only raining 12 times per year at commuting times. They obviously don't commute in Cumbria. I have experienced at least 12 wet commutes in a row! Mudguards are the way forward.

I'm a Crud Roadracer user too.

I have mentioned dry commuting times in Manchester several times in the past. A lot of the Manchester CC commuters would disagree with me, but all I can say is that I walked to and from university in Manchester/Salford for 3 years in the mid-80s and I only got soaked a handful of times. Perhaps the climate has got wetter in the past 25 years?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I have Crud Roadracer 2's on the road bike for the winter, and I pop em on if it's pouring the rest of the year. It takes about 4 mins to fit em. Without them on, the bike definitely LOOKS faster.

The commuter has them on permanently. Certain CC'ers have mentioned something about it only raining 12 times per year at commuting times. They obviously don't commute in Cumbria. I have experienced at least 12 wet commutes in a row! Mudguards are the way forward.

Chortle. It rained on my commute more than 12 times in the last month for Pete's sake! I'll stick with the Roadracers on the fixed ta, though when I swap from 23's to 28's I'll have to attack them with a hair dryer.

Perhaps the 12-times-a-year crew don't ride at all if it is raining before they set off?

 

[J.Primus]

I just saw a mudguard on my way back that I think everyone would unanimously agree was terrible. I actually wasn't sure what it was until I cycled close to him to have a look.
He'd butterflied a plastic 1 litre milk bottle in half and attached the end where the lid would be to his seat post so the flappy bit left over was hanging down off the end of the bottle.
I was hoping we would hit a red light so I could take a covert photo with my phone but alas they were all green (for once) so you'll just have to take my word for it!

It was like this but upside down

 

[potsy]

I just saw a mudguard on my way back that I think everyone would unanimously agree was terrible. I actually wasn't sure what it was until I cycled close to him to have a look.
He'd butterflied a plastic 1 litre milk bottle in half and attached the end where the lid would be to his seat post so the flappy bit left over was hanging down off the end of the bottle.
I was hoping we would hit a red light so I could take a covert photo with my phone but alas they were all green (for once) so you'll just have to take my word for it!

It was like this but upside down
View attachment 13925

 

[dellzeqq]

Definitely only advice. I've only done one ride without guards (Manchester-Blackpool 2011) and I rode LonJOG with full guards and front and rear racks

you see I don't have a problem with Marcus turning up with mudguards or Olaf carrying half a tonne of kit, because I know they look after their bikes and they have loads of stamina. I do think it sad when two women come on their first ride, having read all the stuff on the website, and, on a dry clear night have mudguards and racks that wobble around and so much clobber that their rig weights 45 pounds and they are so completely exhausted, demoralised and embarrassed at the halfway stop that they make for the station - never to be seen again. That's a crying shame, and it's the kind of crying shame I hope to forestall.

 

[ianrauk]

I hate my mudguards... really do.

 

[swansonj]

you see I don't have a problem with Marcus turning up with mudguards or Olaf carrying half a tonne of kit, because I know they look after their bikes and they have loads of stamina. I do think it sad when two women come on their first ride, having read all the stuff on the website, and, on a dry clear night have mudguards and racks that wobble around and so much clobber that their rig weights 45 pounds and they are so completely exhausted, demoralised and embarrassed at the halfway stop that they make for the station - never to be seen again. That's a crying shame, and it's the kind of crying shame I hope to forestall.

I have one bike only (excluding Brompton and tandems, obviously) and it has mudguards and rack. As well as being functional, I freely confess it's partly an image thing - it's a way of asserting that my cycling is functional and leisure, always enjoyable, but never sport.

The first FNRttC I did, I took them off (first ride without mudguards for twenty years), in deference as a newbie to Dell's wishes, and because I was unconfident about my speed. I can't say it felt much different.

Subsequent Fridays, I've left them on, and if Dell or anyone else has batted an eyelid they kept it well hidden.

 

[Mac66]

'Schizophrenic' on the mudguard issue.

I have full mudguards with flaps on the commuter, after having used some shortish clip ons that just sprayed the carp all over the rear brake and top of the front fork. Non streaky posterior, drier feet and a cleaner frame are winners in my commuting mindset.

However when on the posh bike - heavens no! You'll be asking me not to shave my legs next.

 

[Leaway2]

I'm a Crud Roadracer user too.

I have mentioned dry commuting times in Manchester several times in the past. A lot of the Manchester CC commuters would disagree with me, but all I can say is that I walked to and from university in Manchester/Salford for 3 years in the mid-80s and I only got soaked a handful of times. Perhaps the climate has got wetter in the past 25 years?

I would agree. Its very rare that I get wet. Yes it rains often, but for short periods. Its raining now but I am already in work. It will probably have stopped by the time I leave. The wind soon dries the water off the road.