Mud Guards are ace

logitech208
logitech208 Posts: 167
edited February 2013 in Road general
I never thought I would say I like Mud Guards but WOW, after riding through the wet summer and constantly getting wet feet and spray all up my back I finally bought some mud guards and went out last night to test them.

I fitted SKS Race Blades and came back totally dry after the ride I am most impressed and think they are probably the best thing I have bought for my bike. :D

Comments

  • Mikey23
    Mikey23 Posts: 5,306
    Cool, thanks for sharing that. Am about to do that myself
  • antfly
    antfly Posts: 3,276
    The problem is they dump muck all over the bike, particularly the rear brake until it can start to stick. Cruds are far better if they fit your bike.
    Smarter than the average bear.
  • tiredofwhiners
    tiredofwhiners Posts: 598
    antfly wrote:
    The problem is they dump muck all over the bike, particularly the rear brake until it can start to stick.

    Can you explain a little further ? My blades go under the brakes and over the wheel so I'm not sure what you mean. Its a tight fit for certain but with careful setup its fine.

    Thanks
  • PHILATHAM
    PHILATHAM Posts: 50
    finally, people loving not having a wet backside and seeing the sense of keeping their pride and joy (the bike not their backside!) in tip top condition.
  • antfly
    antfly Posts: 3,276
    Oh, that must be the new ones, the raceblade longs, mine stopped at the brake. They may be an improvement, mine made the bike very dirty.
    Smarter than the average bear.
  • seanorawe
    seanorawe Posts: 950
    Agreed. My front guard is a little off centre form the wheel but everything behind the fornt brake is covered. Although its probably because its held up with a cable tie
    Cube Attain SL Disc
    Giant CRS 2.0
  • shimmyhill
    shimmyhill Posts: 42
    tiredofwhiners wrote:
    antfly wrote:
    The problem is they dump muck all over the bike, particularly the rear brake until it can start to stick.

    Can you explain a little further ? My blades go under the brakes and over the wheel so I'm not sure what you mean. Its a tight fit for certain but with careful setup its fine.

    Thanks

    Have you got a pic, the longs i have seen have a bar under the brake and not a full mudguard so the brakes are still open to the elements?
  • Wardster00
    Wardster00 Posts: 143
    I've been looking at getting some mudguards. The crud road racers Mk1 are on sale at Halfords for £13 and the Mk2 are £30.

    Does anyone know if there is enough of a difference to warrant the extra cash? They just look a bit longer on the picture.
  • Bustacapp
    Bustacapp Posts: 971
    Wardster00 wrote:
    I've been looking at getting some mudguards. The crud road racers Mk1 are on sale at Halfords for £13 and the Mk2 are £30.

    Does anyone know if there is enough of a difference to warrant the extra cash? They just look a bit longer on the picture.

    Quoted for replies.
  • logitech208
    logitech208 Posts: 167
    The MK2 cruds have a longer rear guard as far as I can tell and they are supposed to be stronger, my LBS warned me off about the cruds although they sell both, I had a look at them as I was going to get these but the construction looks so flimsy and the clearance would have been so tight for me the race blades seemed a better option.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Wardster00 wrote:
    I've been looking at getting some mudguards. The crud road racers Mk1 are on sale at Halfords for £13 and the Mk2 are £30.

    Does anyone know if there is enough of a difference to warrant the extra cash? They just look a bit longer on the picture.

    I have both. It certainly is possible to break them - the stays are designed to break if something gets caught up in them so there is always the chance you'll need to order spares. Crud Charge £6.50 for spares packs so for the price of two of those, you can get a complete spare Mk1 set and only miss out on the longer noses and tails for the rear guard. The nose is highly unlikely to ever need replacing and the long tail is a matter of taste anyway. I use the short tail and would only fit the long tail if I was going on a wet group ride.

    But I'd definitely pay extra for the Mk2 to actually fit to the bike - the extra coverage at the front of the rear wheel is worth its weight in gold (ie about £9!!) - my front mech barely ever needs cleaning no matter how bad the conditions are - in this respect Crud Mk2s are superior to SKS.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • tiredofwhiners
    tiredofwhiners Posts: 598
    Shimmyhill wrote:
    Have you got a pic, the longs i have seen have a bar under the brake and not a full mudguard so the brakes are still open to the elements?

    Here you go hopefully - Crud Road Racer Mudguard Set MKII - I thought they were race blades but that was the previous set. My apologies.





    The rear goes down past the 3 o'clock position so not much throwback and the front goes much further down. they come with a few extra ends so you can choose how long the mudguards are.

    Gaps under the brakes are abour 2mm clearance so not much mud to be coped with but much better than getting flooded everywhere. The rear has a strange shaped bit which goes between the wheel and the chainring so that no mud gets thrown into the drivetrain.

    My experience of fitting them is that its much quicker to take the wheels of completely, and then fit the wheels back on afterwards - too many bits to assemble in the right order to get around and in gaps etc.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    I put off using mudguards for years.
    But then I succumbed and never looked back. You can't beat a proper full mudguard on your Winter bike.
  • Drumlin
    Drumlin Posts: 120
    I'm amazed at the number of folk who train and commute through winter without mudguards. I have them as a matter of course on all my bikes except the one I have reserved for sunny days in the summer. (It hasn't seen much use this year...)
    Would welcome company for Sat rides west/south of Edinburgh, up to 3 hrs, 16mph ish. Please PM me if interested/able to help.
  • Chris87
    Chris87 Posts: 224
    I've got raceblades as well, I find if you set them up so there is actually a slight gap (1" or so) between the guard and the brake it doesnt collect as much crap without affecting the performance.

    Although I also just accept that when its crap weather I have to clean my bike more
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    I've had SKS Raceblades before, and the Mk 2 Cruds, and imo the Cruds are loads better ...
  • fgaffney
    fgaffney Posts: 49
    Wardster00 wrote:
    I've been looking at getting some mudguards. The crud road racers Mk1 are on sale at Halfords for £13 and the Mk2 are £30.

    Does anyone know if there is enough of a difference to warrant the extra cash? They just look a bit longer on the picture.


    I just fitted a set of Crud Roadracer II's and had them delivered next day from Merlin for £22.50... great set of guards offering complete protection of your bike.

    http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/a ... uards.html
  • gloomyandy
    gloomyandy Posts: 520
    Crud Mk 2's are £23.69 from Amazon at the moment... But see above for a better deal! Just got mine, not fitted them, looks like a bit of an Airfix kit though!
  • fgaffney
    fgaffney Posts: 49
    gloomyandy wrote:
    Crud Mk 2's are £23.69 from Amazon at the moment... But see above for a better deal! Just got mine, not fitted them, looks like a bit of an Airfix kit though!

    Make sure you watch the video clips on the Crud site and take your time fitting them so you don't encounter any problems. I found them quite easy to fit although I've heard of others having problems with them rubbing on the tyres... although not me!
  • k-dog
    k-dog Posts: 1,652
    I just got a winter bike and fitted proper mudguards - fantastic. They're rock solid and protect my feet and everything. The bike stays pretty clean too - just a little spray reaches the BB and chainstays.

    I used to have raceblades for my good bike but now they're off and I'm giving it a good clean with the plan being that it won't go out in the rain now so shouldn't need that again.
    I'm left handed, if that matters.
  • tiredofwhiners
    tiredofwhiners Posts: 598
    fgaffney wrote:
    Make sure you watch the video clips on the Crud site and take your time fitting them so you don't encounter any problems. I found them quite easy to fit although I've heard of others having problems with them rubbing on the tyres... although not me!

    Its entirely bike specific. Same mudguards are easy on one bike and impossible on another as its down to clearances. I am guessing that somewhere out there, there are bikes with insufficient clearance no matter how hard you try.
  • Frank Ricard
    Frank Ricard Posts: 4
    fgaffney wrote:
    gloomyandy wrote:
    Crud Mk 2's are £23.69 from Amazon at the moment... But see above for a better deal! Just got mine, not fitted them, looks like a bit of an Airfix kit though!

    Make sure you watch the video clips on the Crud site and take your time fitting them so you don't encounter any problems. I found them quite easy to fit although I've heard of others having problems with them rubbing on the tyres... although not me!

    noticed you have yours on a malt rs with no rubbing. I am having a shocker with the front wheel rubbing - any tips? Cheers!
  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    Frank Ricard wrote:
    noticed you have yours on a malt rs with no rubbing. I am having a shocker with the front wheel rubbing - any tips? Cheers!

    What size tyres? If you have 25mm ones they may simply not fit. 23mm tyres often help.
    Yellow is the new Black.
  • fgaffney
    fgaffney Posts: 49
    Frank Ricard wrote:
    noticed you have yours on a malt rs with no rubbing. I am having a shocker with the front wheel rubbing - any tips? Cheers!
    I've never had any rubbing but the front guard can 'slap' the top of the tyre quite a bit on bumpy terrain which can be annoying.

    At the moment the guard is set so it's hanging from the cable tie rather than the cable tie pulling the guard up tight. It moves about a fair bit but doesn't rub anywhere... TBH it's never rubbed anywhere.

    I'm not sure what to suggest as any rubbing I had during setup was quickly sorted out by me pulling the top of the guard upwards in a straight line away from the tyre, or by me grabbing both plastic arms and pulling them both together, outwards and away from the spokes.

    Don't be afraid to pull the guard and mounts quite firmly as this will safely reposition them and should stop any rubbing?
  • fgaffney
    fgaffney Posts: 49
    smidsy wrote:
    What size tyres? If you have 25mm ones they may simply not fit. 23mm tyres often help.

    Yeah should have said in my previous post... I have 23c tyres fitted front and rear on my Malt.
  • Frank Ricard
    Frank Ricard Posts: 4
    Thanks guys. I have the lithion 23mm tyres. Maybe I just need to get a bit rougher with them/bend them into shape. Seems like when I get one bit to stop rubbing another part starts :cry: I got them on no problem but need to persevere with the fine tuning.
  • Frank Ricard
    Frank Ricard Posts: 4
    Thanks for the advice guys. Think I was just being a bit gentle - pretty much sorted now with some "roughness". Only problem is the rear guard closest to the down tube keeps twisting/slipping round and hitting the sidewall. Think it should be easy fixed.
  • fgaffney
    fgaffney Posts: 49
    Frank Ricard wrote:
    Thanks for the advice guys. Think I was just being a bit gentle - pretty much sorted now with some "roughness". Only problem is the rear guard closest to the down tube keeps twisting/slipping round and hitting the sidewall. Think it should be easy fixed.
    Is the guard properly cable tied to your down tube? It should be really tight?

    I had to remove my bottle cage before cable tie'ing the guard and then refitting the cage again. The rear guard never moves, his never rubbed and unlike the front one it never slaps the tyre on rough terrain.

    You can be quite rough with the guards to coax them into place so don't be afraid to push and pull them!
  • prhymeate
    prhymeate Posts: 795
    I know that everyone sings the praises of the Crud MK2's but mine have been nothing but hassle. I'm going to order some SKS Raceblades soon so hopefully I have better luck.
  • wongataa
    wongataa Posts: 1,001
    I have just put some Raceblades on my bike. They were easy to fit and so far they are keeping nicely off the tyres.

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