Muguards... why are there none?

missmarple

I don't want mudguards because I like getting caked in sh*t and it adds weight to an already heavy bike. Plus, I'd look like a c*nt with mudguards on my bike.

R2 D2

Used cruds when I first started biking but came to the conclusion that they are a pain in the butt. Less is more when it comes to putting stuff on the bike these days:
crud catchers removed
bottles removed
computer removed
gears ..... Well not removed yet

Valy

stu8975 wrote:

Mudguards are simply not necessary..its all personal preference...optional extras...why don't cars come fully equipped with all the bells and whistles? because not everybody needs sat nav, a/c etc..its all down to the individual who uses it.

A pretty essential thing really... especially, I'm trying to stress this, especially in the fu*king rainy weather in this country. :roll:

Do keep in mind that I'm talking about bikes full stop, not just mountain bikes.

MM - you would look like a c*nt with them on? Damn... poor you..

R2 D2 - Well, I dono about a computer/bottle. Going for a minimalistic theme here are we?

Northwind

Valy wrote:

A pretty essential thing really...

es·sen·tial (-snshl)
adj.
1. Constituting or being part of the essence of something; inherent.
2. Basic or indispensable; necessary: essential ingredients. See Synonyms at indispensable.
3. Medicine Of, relating to, or being a dysfunctional condition or a disease whose cause is unknown: essential hypertension.
4. Biochemistry Being a substance that is required for normal functioning but cannot be synthesized by the body and therefore must be included in the diet: essential amino acids.
n.
1. Something fundamental.
2. Something necessary or indispensable.

I think they're a great idea and all my bikes have them, but they're so obviously not essential.

R2 D2

Valy wrote:

stu8975 wrote:

Mudguards are simply not necessary..its all personal preference...optional extras...why don't cars come fully equipped with all the bells and whistles? because not everybody needs sat nav, a/c etc..its all down to the individual who uses it.

A pretty essential thing really... especially, I'm trying to stress this, especially in the fu*king rainy weather in this country. :roll:

Do keep in mind that I'm talking about bikes full stop, not just mountain bikes.

MM - you would look like a c*nt with them on? Damn... poor you..

R2 D2 - Well, I dono about a computer/bottle. Going for a minimalistic theme here are we?

not exactly , bottle cages broken x2 mudguards broken x2 computers broken x3 . More crap on bike = more broken crap on bike. And I don't crash that often either - honest!

Valy

[beinganal]

Northwind wrote:

Valy wrote:

A pretty essential thing really...

es·sen·tial (-snshl)
adj.
1. Constituting or being part of the essence of something; inherent.
2. Basic or indispensable; necessary: essential ingredients. See Synonyms at indispensable.
3. Medicine Of, relating to, or being a dysfunctional condition or a disease whose cause is unknown: essential hypertension.
4. Biochemistry Being a substance that is required for normal functioning but cannot be synthesized by the body and therefore must be included in the diet: essential amino acids.
n.
1. Something fundamental.
2. Something necessary or indispensable.

I think they're a great idea and all my bikes have them, but they're so obviously not essential.

Reeealy? Did you just do that? Ohh..... .holy shit, you did. *wtf*

R2 D2 wrote:

Valy wrote:

stu8975 wrote:

Mudguards are simply not necessary..its all personal preference...optional extras...why don't cars come fully equipped with all the bells and whistles? because not everybody needs sat nav, a/c etc..its all down to the individual who uses it.

A pretty essential thing really... especially, I'm trying to stress this, especially in the fu*king rainy weather in this country. :roll:

Do keep in mind that I'm talking about bikes full stop, not just mountain bikes.

MM - you would look like a c*nt with them on? Damn... poor you..

R2 D2 - Well, I dono about a computer/bottle. Going for a minimalistic theme here are we?

not exactly , bottle cages broken x2 mudguards broken x2 computers broken x3 . More crap on bike = more broken crap on bike. And I don't crash that often either - honest!

Must be prone to braking things then....

Northwind

Valy wrote:

Reeealy? Did you just do that? Ohh..... .holy shoot, you did. *wtf*

Desperate times call for desperate measures If you're going to take offence at people pointing out that you don't seem to understand some of the words you use, perhaps you should stop using words you don't seem to understand... Just a thought.

Valy

No, the thing is - I do understand the word. I'm getting a feeling that you are just trollin.

Northwind

Nah, I'm just getting genuinely annoyed at the broken record nature of this thread. Though if you know what it means, why not just use it correctly?

Valy

Northwind wrote:

Nah, I'm just getting genuinely annoyed at the broken record nature of this thread. Though if you know what it means, why not just use it correctly?

"pretty essential" - seems to be a reasonable phrase to use.

What is broken about the thread though? Might not be the most on topic one, but... is that what bothers you?

leon69

stu8975 wrote:

Mudguards are simply not necessary..its all personal preference...optional extras...why don't cars come fully equipped with all the bells and whistles? because not everybody needs sat nav, a/c etc..its all down to the individual who uses it.

If you ride in the wet/mud and You dont use Mudguards how do you keep the crap out your eyes ?

If you ride in the wet/mud and You dont use Mudguards do you even think of the mud/grit your spraying your bike

If you ride in the wet/mud and You dont use Mudguards do you like to have a brown strip up your back and front driping down your evey thing ?

As you pionted out not all cars come with a satnav But like cars satnav's, bikes dont come with Mudguards to keep the price down
If Mudguards and indeed satnav's were free we would all have them

(if you think a satnav isnt needed you have 1 of 2 things a full print of A-Z maps or you dont get out mutch .If you think Mudguards arnt needed 1 of 2 things you dont go out in thick mud/rain or your daft ? )

Dont get me wrong i dont have Mudguards but then again i dont ride in rain/mud mutch too

leon69

Valy wrote:

Well, no - in general. I'm asking why are mudguards not considered a compulsory feature on a bike?

I would say its a very small amout of poeple that go out in mud/rain in the UK ........yeh we can all sit here and say " I do ! " but i bet your talking about 20% or less that do were talking every one with a bike here not just MTb's or the part time biker as you the hardcore may call them ... so to keep price's down you dont get Mudguards just like you dont get pedal's ?

Valy

Not patronizing you l69, but just read your post before posting maybe?

touchy

leon69 wrote:

If you ride in the wet/mud and You dont use Mudguards how do you keep the crap out your eyes ?
I wear glasses

If you ride in the wet/mud and You dont use Mudguards do you even think of the mud/grit your spraying your bike
Nope, dont think about it

If you ride in the wet/mud and You dont use Mudguards do you like to have a brown strip up your back and front driping down your evey thing ?
Yes, yes i do.

The only bike i have mudguards on is my road bike. Mainly because when cycling in a group, i dont want to be spraying the people behind with water.
I dont have any mudguards on my mountain bikes because i have found that wearing glasses is much more effective at keeping mud out of my eyes than any mudguard i'v ever used.

Valy

touchy wrote:

leon69 wrote:

If you ride in the wet/mud and You dont use Mudguards how do you keep the crap out your eyes ?
I wear glasses

If you ride in the wet/mud and You dont use Mudguards do you even think of the mud/grit your spraying your bike
Nope, dont think about it

If you ride in the wet/mud and You dont use Mudguards do you like to have a brown strip up your back and front driping down your evey thing ?
Yes, yes i do.

The only bike i have mudguards on is my road bike. Mainly because when cycling in a group, i dont want to be spraying the people behind with water.
I dont have any mudguards on my mountain bikes because i have found that wearing glasses is much more effective at keeping mud out of my eyes than any mudguard i'v ever used.

Then you like the getting covered i shit bit...

bails87

Thats the thing, some people genuinely don't mind it. So for them, mudguards are a pointless expense.

As far as I can see, guards don't keep mud off anything expensive and breakable, rear mech, etc so they're not there to protect the bike.

I have front and rear cycraguards (crud style) and a neoguard on at the moment. Sure, my bike looks better without them, but I hate having a soaking wet, gritty crack within 5 minutes of starting a ride! And the front ones let me open my eyes properly when riding, I've got riding glasses but prefer not to wear them.

biff55

valy ;
there have been 4 pages of interesting debate on this subject which you posted which i
and others will have enjoyed.
however it appears you are purposefully creating arguement with the opinion of others.
in the process you are coming across as an irritating jerk.
best you call it a day before you remove all doubt.

Valy

biff55 wrote:

valy ;
there have been 4 pages of interesting debate on this subject which you posted which i
and others will have enjoyed.
however it appears you are purposefully creating arguement with the opinion of others.
in the process you are coming across as an irritating jerk.
best you call it a day before you remove all doubt.

If that is the conclusion you come to, then good for you. I see how I might have been provocative, but nonetheless my main purpose is not to troll.

bails87 - I see.

There does not seem to be much more to get out of this apart from the fact that some people like to get covered in sh*t all over and others don't like the looks.

Snelly

I have mudguards in winter and am baffled by the arguments against. Seems like common sense to have them to me when out riding in mud and rain. As an old wildfowling saying goes - any idiot can get cold and wet.....

weeksy59

Valy wrote:

There does not seem to be much more to get out of this apart from the fact that some people like to get covered in sh*t all over and others don't like the looks.

What more were you expecting ?

steelo

Can someone lock and delete this thread - can't believe I've just spent 15 minutes reading it.

Dammit! Another 2 minutes lost replying to it!!!

Valy

Something more definitive I guess.
Steelo - lol.

Surf-Matt

Snelly wrote:

I have mudguards in winter and am baffled by the arguments against. Seems like common sense to have them to me when out riding in mud and rain. As an old wildfowling saying goes - any idiot can get cold and wet.....

Some MTBers are under the illusions that having no mudguards is:

Cool
Manly
Reduces the risk of injury (should one snap and impale the rider - about a 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance of that happening).

These same people are also under the illusions that in their silly hats and lycra (or "baggies") they look cool and manly and that anything that may reduce the "effect" should be shunned.

They usually give the impression that they regularly either:

Do 20ft backward loops off cliffs

or

Can ride up Mont Blanc without breaking a sweat.

And in both cases they believe they are killer chick magnets.

In actual fact most are a bit wheezy, a bit old, a bit cr4p so spend just that little bit too much effort on image and not enough on actually riding.

MTBIng is fun. It's good for you. But it's not cool. All those that don't use mudguards for image reasons are sad beyond any reasoning.

End of.

Valy

I dono, yo utell it not being cool the the pros!

Surf-Matt

Are any of "us" here pros?

No.

biff55

valy , you have removed all doubt that you are an irritating jerk.

suffmatt , insulting folk who dont use mudguards for asthetic reasons is childish and
narrow minded , you can express your opinion without it.
how people want to look while riding there bike is their own buisness.

this tedious topic needs killing off now.
please dont reply any more to this post , nothing constructive will come of it and will only
give that idiot valy more opportunity to spout sh*te.

Surf-Matt

Insulting folk?

Do they have dictionaries in Blackpool? Clearly not.

Calm down - it's only a forum where people are allowed to express opinions. If you can't handle a bit of banter then try www.theymademecrymum.co.uk - it has a very lively chat area.

biff55

Surf-Matt wrote:

Do they have dictionaries in Blackpool? Clearly not.
.

?

yes , i am way too fragile for your banter , think i'll sit quietly in the corner now ,cant handle anymore of your aggressive opinions , i might cry any minute .

Surf-Matt

You need to look up the word "insulting." :roll:

bails87

Oh dear......

At the end of the day, if every bike had mudguards, then every bike would cost £20 more. And some people would still get rid of the mudguards as soon as they got out of the shop.

As it is, if you want them, you can pay for them. If you don't, then you won't. I use them but they're not essential, tyres and saddles are essential, mudguards are an extra that keep me drier, cleaner and more comfortable, as a result I enjoy riding more. Yes, I still get muddy, but I'm less muddy than if I didn't have them.

Edit: And I don't think Matt was insulting anyone, not to start with anyway, just pointing out that as with most things, what the 'pros' do is pretty irrelevant to us mortals.