Guards!!!!

secretsam

...Arrest that man...
:oops:
no-hang on-does anyone use them anymore? Every bike I see bar the Dawzzzzzes Galazzz doesn't have them. I hate getting wet and dirty (make up your own jokes) so would it be a bit limp of me to have them?

domtyler

Nothing wrong with mudguards, especially when it's wet!
________
Az engine

ChrisLS

...gotta have them if you wanna stay clean and dry...

Ghost Donkey

Got them on my "urban MTB" commuting machine. Makes it look a bit pants but it's easy to keep clean. Keeps me dry too.

Greenbank

I'm probably going to sell my only bike that doesn't have them.

I don't see what is wrong with riding a bike with mudguards on it all the time. It's not as if it's bone dry throughout the summer in this country.

dazzawazza

My MTB commuter has a permanent guard on the back (which looks ok) and quick release on the front (which is ugly).
I've got two sets of front guards and keep one at work and one at home. This way I only have the front guard attached when it's actually raining.

dondare

Guards keep the road spray (usually filthy) off you and your bike, including lights and reflectors. They also keep it off the other cyclist that you just cut in front of and who is either stuck behind you until there's room to pass, or has to drop back so as not to get a face-full of spray off your back wheel. So if you're not using guards and the road is wet, don't position yourself in front of someone who's waiting at the lights, for instance.

belgiangoth

gruds also stop as much crap getting into your chain/gears.

SKS all the way.

Greenbank

Full SKS guards keep my bikes, and me, dry and clean. But if you want to stop the spray from your backwheel getting someone behind you wet, you have to fit a mudflap (or an extension to the guards). If your mudguards end at 3'o'clock or 9'o'clock (as most SKS mudguards do) then plenty of water is still thrown up off the road.

dondare wrote:

So if you're not using guards and the road is wet, don't position yourself in front of someone who's waiting at the lights, for instance.

I don't on principle. If someone got there first then I'll queue up behind them (and sometimes along side them if I know I'll be getting away quicker than them). The vast majority of people that I see on my commute, who push to the front, are usually overtaken not long after by the people who've been patiently waiting and queuing at the lights.

dondare

Perhaps no-one on this forum does that. But many of the cyclists that I encounter on the street do.

Greenbank

Exactly, see the bit I added in afterwards.

It's the slow people on what look like badly maintained and badly setup bikes, with little road sense that barge to the front.

The Joe Show

I've also found that to be annoying, you overtake someone weaving along slowly, to then have them scoot past you at the traffic lights and block your path, leaving you going slowly with a bus revving behind you.

On another note, my commuter MTB has had full-length mud guards for a damn long time. I only recently took them off as I passed my driving test, hope the weather will improve and they were starting to annoy me by coming loose every 5 minutes.

overmars

There ya go Sam. Respect yourself, get some guards!

secretsam

overmars wrote:

There ya go Sam. Respect yourself, get some guards!

Thanks, a resounding "yes" to guards...yet every bike I saw today in London was guard free (mind you, our office is near the base for a bunch of couriers, and boy, are they...odd (nice bikes though - hey guys, quick note, a bike covered in tape with the word "Condor" on it is still a nice bike to someone who knows, that trick doesn't work...)

PS: my name isn't Sam

PPS: "Overmars" as in Marc?!!! how's the knee?!?!?!?!

llanberispass

Depends whether its dirty wet or clean wet. In the lanes use guards, on main roads probably get away without them but need to clean chain quite often.

joebe

I'd rather be dirty and wet. But hey, that's my choice

hevipedal

SKS race blades for my Spec Roubaix in winter.................. rest of the time wet

baudman

Guards on the commuter - but then, it's a fluoro 80's relic so I'm not overly concerned what it looks like.

Jacomus-rides-Gen

I don't use a fron't guard, I just don't see the point on my roadbike, but I do on my MTB.

An SKS race blade does a fine job on the rear, though the vain side of me hates it, and the tinkerer in me is convinced that it affects the handling of the bike. :roll:

I hate the spray being fired up my crack, which is why I like the guard, and it does cut down on spray for following riders, which is polite.

Tynancp

entry level cyclist doesn't want to stump for proper mud guards, I well remember the capital investment for my first set, still using them, no brainer for me

I like hearing the water gurgling in the mudguards in the wet

I didn't like a face full of road water from some article's back wheel on Monday

Greenbank

Jacomus-rides-Gen wrote:

I don't use a fron't guard, I just don't see the point on my roadbike

3 points for me:-

Dry(er) feet (eventually you'll get soaked from above though).
Longer life from chainset, chain and bottom bracket (this is where the majority of the water flicked up from the front wheel goes).
Less cleaning required.

overmars

SecretSam wrote:

hey guys, quick note, a bike covered in tape with the word "Condor" on it is still a nice bike to someone who knows, that trick doesn't work...)

:oops:

SecretSam wrote:

PS: my name isn't Sam

Sorry, er... dude.

SecretSam wrote:

PPS: "Overmars" as in Marc?!!! how's the knee?!?!?!?!

One word: Glucosamine. 8)