i keep breaking rear SKS chromoplastic mudguards...

shefbiker

As i say.. i've now had two SKS chromoplastoc mudguards on the back, and both have cracked at the seatstay bridge mount.
Has anyone else had this?
The first was fitted by the shop, and lasted a while before cracking.
I fitted the second, and it lasted a couple of years before cracking over a bump. I taped it together and the day after, it snapped at the back of the tape, so i taped that crack, and it snapped again the day after. So now it's in about 4 bits, taped together.
What am i doing wrong? I'm not deforming it when i fit it, so i don't get it.
Any advice gratefully received before I other to fit another!
Thanks

cooldad

A couple of years? Buy a new one.

graeme_s-2

I've had one fail in the same place on my fixie. Assumed it was because I was bending it upwards to get my rear wheel out of the horizontal dropouts when changing tyres or repairing punctures.

corshamjim

I've not had them crack, but the set that came with one of my bikes warped after only a year or two and the salt from the roads started corroding the metal in the plastic. I'm now trying the Tortec Reflector mudguards on both my road and commuter bikes. They seem pretty bomb-proof and are easy to fit.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tortec-refle ... prod15328/

shefbiker

cooldad wrote:

A couple of years? Buy a new one.

isn't it reasonable to expect a passive component like a mudguard to last more than two years? and then it's £25-30 to buy a pair when I only need a rear one... the original front is still going strong.

i don't know what i'm doing to cause them to break - or i'm asking too much expecting more than a couple of years from them...

thanks for the replies

mrushton

No. they are a disposable item. 2 years of regular commuting is good. I just get fed up of having a box of front guards from the sets I've had to buy

shefbiker

right oh. not just me then!
thanks

thespanishadam

I've had the same problem, at the moment I have gone with gaffa tape to hold it together.

So it's got me thinking metal may be a better option.

Anyone have any recommendations?.

Hoopdriver

Gilles Berthoud make some very nice stainless ones (and carbon too) I've got a pair of the stainless ones on my newish tourer. It is early days yet, but so far I am quite satisfied.

THey aren't cheap though..

wyadvd

yup , just happened to mine after 2 months of use, right at the bridge near the rear brakes! just put my old set back on this avo

wyadvd

wyadvd wrote:

yup , just happened to mine after 2 months of use, right at the bridge near the rear brakes! just put my old set back on this avo

just forwarded a link to this thread to the sks contact link on their website

shefbiker

yeh, i'm in discussion with them too, and sent them some photos last night.

andyrr

I've frequently had the rivets holding the brackets for the stays break on these - more on the rear I think than the front guard.
I've gone with using zip ties to attach the guard to the chainstay bridge and, now that the bracket at the brake mount has broken, it's zip tied there. And since the stay bracket rivets are bust it's zip-tied there too - long live zip ties !
More zip-ties than mudguard now and really it's proper knackered now. The front is fine and a new rear is all I need - of course the spare I've got is a front also.

El Gordo

I've never understood the fuss people make about SKS guards. I've had a couple of sets break on me in the same sort of way after a similar sort of time. Overpriced and overhyped in my experience.

The Tortec's I have now have been on for five years (which amounts to a good 25,000 miles including a fair few rough tracks) and are as good as new. No cracks, no rust, no rattles. There's no need to think of them as 'disposable'.

Moodyman

Year round commuter here - 100+ miles every week.

I have Bluemels and Chromoplastics - 2+ years. No problems with guards cracking/breaking. I'd expect more than 2 years out of them.

Chains/cassettes/brake pads are consumables - mudguards are not.

Bordersroadie

Moodyman wrote:

Year round commuter here - 100+ miles every week.

I have Bluemels and Chromoplastics - 2+ years. No problems with guards cracking/breaking. I'd expect more than 2 years out of them.

Chains/cassettes/brake pads are consumables - mudguards are not.

I agree with you. I'm a year-round commuter too and expect at least 5 years out of my recently bought SKS guards.

After one winter I had to replace all the alu rivets with stainless M4 bolts/nylocknuts and fashion a brake bridge connection with zip ties. All is rattle free and bombproof again and I now fully expect a few years of hard use.

rolf_f

I think SKS are a bit over-rated. The rear brake bridge mount in particular is nasty and just a rotten piece of engineering which spoils the whole thing.

As for the rest - they've done OK over a good 10,000 miles. The main problem I had was the rear reflector I'd fitted. I caught it lightly on a door frame and it came straight off the mudguard with a chunk of mudguard still attached!

I won't bother doing that again. Might try the Tortecs next time.

Shame you can't just get rears but SKS would probably go bust if they sold rears separately!

Hoopdriver

Bordersroadie wrote:

Moodyman wrote:

Year round commuter here - 100+ miles every week.

I have Bluemels and Chromoplastics - 2+ years. No problems with guards cracking/breaking. I'd expect more than 2 years out of them.

Chains/cassettes/brake pads are consumables - mudguards are not.

I agree with you. I'm a year-round commuter too and expect at least 5 years out of my recently bought SKS guards.

After one winter I had to replace all the alu rivets with stainless M4 bolts/nylocknuts and fashion a brake bridge connection with zip ties. All is rattle free and bombproof again and I now fully expect a few years of hard use.

I've got some 12 year-old SKS on my expedition tourer/winter bike - they are very ratty as you might expect, but they still do the job and although I've bought some nice new ones to replace them I've not gotten around to it yet. It's a finicky job and since the others - with many thousands of miles on them - still work just fine I keep putting it off.

Like you, I do not consider mudguards to be 'consumables'.

wyadvd

is it something about the way they are set up that is making them break on the rear like that? Too much tension on the mudguard stays or something?

davmaggs

Sounds like the set-up. Perhaps putting them on super tight at an angle so that the part is under stress, then as you go over bumps in the road the part gets put under tension until it gives up.

wyadvd

FYI Sks have sent me a replacement set.

holiver

Dragging up an old thread here, but I discovered that the metal rear brake bridge holder thing on my 10 month old guards has failed today. Must be the rough Liverpool roads!

I wonder if I can source a spare from anywhere? I

mwalters

Google for SKS p35 bridge and you'll get a bunch of hits - about £1.50 a piece seems to be the going rate. Mine failed and several repairs have also given up - must be something that is concentrating the stress in that area. I'm going to stick with cable ties and replace as needed I think.

patrickf

holiver wrote:

Dragging up an old thread here, but I discovered that the metal rear brake bridge holder thing on my 10 month old guards has failed today. Must be the rough Liverpool roads!

I wonder if I can source a spare from anywhere? I

This happened to me recently. I contacted Wiggle if they had spares and they sent me one FOC. Get in touch with the seller.

DrLex

Also chipping in; mine lasted under two years - broke three times in three places between the seat stay bridge and the support stays- vibration & brittleness? Switched to the Tortec ones already mentioned, reusing the metal stays & mudflap and no similar problems.

holiver

patrickf wrote:

This happened to me recently. I contacted Wiggle if they had spares and they sent me one FOC. Get in touch with the seller.

mwalters wrote:

Google for SKS p35 bridge and you'll get a bunch of hits - about £1.50 a piece seems to be the going rate. Mine failed and several repairs have also given up - must be something that is concentrating the stress in that area. I'm going to stick with cable ties and replace as needed I think.

Ah cheers guys I will investigate further. I have already contacted SKS.

jc8

Had break above the bolt securing the rear guard to the bottom of the chainstay after only 2 months! Hats off to Tredz for dispatching a replacement set which arrived the next day after reporting the break. Hope the new one lasts a bit longer, will drill a hole to connect to seat stay bridge in an attempt to reduce the forces going through the chainstay mount.

holiver

Quick update from me. Wiggle said they didn't have the part so can't help.

SKS have said via email that they will send one out to me for free which is nice!