What mudguards

alamb200

Hi,

Hopefully a quick question for you.

I have just bought a second hand Specialized Allez bike and need to get some mudguards on it.

What do you recommend taking in to account purchase cost, ease of fitting, durability and effectiveness?

I have looked at Crud, SKS and Zefal and have been told good and bad about all of them depending on which shop I went into.

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks,

Alamb200

NeXXus

SKS Raceblade Long

alamb200

Just as an update, I intend to use this bike all winter to comute to work and back so need to be effective.

NeXXus

NeXXus wrote:

SKS Raceblade Long

MichaelW

Proper bolt-on 'guards or velcro/elastic/gaffer tape/string?

IanRCarter

MichaelW wrote:

Proper bolt-on 'guards or velcro/elastic/gaffer tape/string?

Allez frames don't have mudguard eyelets, at least the recent ones don't (my 2013 being an example).

SKS Raceblade long is the correct answer, don't mess about with Crud Roadracers, they're a pain to get off and on (not important during winter but in the mixed weather conditions of sprint/summer/autumn you don't always want them on), they're extremely brittle (designed to snap if they get caught in your wheel, they also snap if you catch them with your foot, or catch them on anything) and they sit very close, so they can rub on the tyre.

Raceblades are split into 4 parts, you attach 4 metal brakes to the brake fixing bolt, then the 2 small mudguard pieces clip into these in front of the brake, and the two long pieces attach behind the brake and also have arms which clip into brackets which attach to the QR skewer on your wheels. It takes seconds to take them off and refit them, they're a lot stronger than Cruds and there is more adjustment for clearance of the tyre.

genoni

For what it's worth, my SKS race blades just disintegrated. I gaffer taped the and the went again, more gaffer tape..... Gave up in the end salt

rolf_f

Cruds are fine as long as you don't have a habit of instantly having a hissy fit and throwing the toys out of the pram when things don't work first time. They can need a bit of finessing or tweaking to set up but once done, are largely trouble free and apparently more long lasting than Race Blades (which seem to have something of a reputation) and give better coverage. The main bother I've found is the main section wearing away at the top of the rear tyre. I've now got a simple fix for that but the replacement sections are cheap to buy from the manufacturers anyway. Otherwise I must have done a good 30,000 miles with them on and I'm happy with them.

Incidentally, IanRCarter is mistaken - they are pretty easy to get on and off but I rarely bother as they are hardly visible when on anyway.

If you don't like the standard stays, one mod I have seen is to use the stays from conventional mudguards with Cruds - ie the bracket that connects the stays to the mudguard on a standard SKS type conventional mudguard is riveted to the crud and the SKS stays are p clipped to the frame.

blackpoolkev

Mudguard threads already, I'm still browsing short sleeve jerseys!

alex222

Rolf F wrote:

Cruds are fine as long as you don't have a habit of instantly having a hissy fit and throwing the toys out of the pram when things don't work first time. They can need a bit of finessing or tweaking to set up but once done, are largely trouble free and apparently more long lasting than Race Blades (which seem to have something of a reputation) and give better coverage. The main bother I've found is the main section wearing away at the top of the rear tyre. I've now got a simple fix for that but the replacement sections are cheap to buy from the manufacturers anyway. Otherwise I must have done a good 30,000 miles with them on and I'm happy with them.

Incidentally, IanRCarter is mistaken - they are pretty easy to get on and off but I rarely bother as they are hardly visible when on anyway.

If you don't like the standard stays, one mod I have seen is to use the stays from conventional mudguards with Cruds - ie the bracket that connects the stays to the mudguard on a standard SKS type conventional mudguard is riveted to the crud and the SKS stays are p clipped to the frame.

I concur with Rolf. Eveery so often I need to adjust the stays a little to avoid rubbing but otherwise I don't have any issues with my Cruds.

KINGGARY

Portland design works full metal fenders, not cheap but far better than cruds or raceblade longs.
I have owned all but the PDW are metal with rather more substantial mountings, well worth considering if you intend to leave them on, I run them on my Roubaix which had now become my wet weather bike.
They are designed for bikes without mudguard mounts and limited clearence, you will need to run 23's though as nothing larger will fit.
http://road.cc/content/review/95213-pdw ... al-fenders

whoof

This is a review of clip ons from Cycling Weekly
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/product- ... uards-1681
I've got bikes with bike with SKS Racebaldes (std not long). These are very easy to set up, adjust and have good clearance with the tyres.
I also have Crud Roadracers, they are fiddlier to set-up, have close clearances and are designed to rub on the tyre wall with little brushes. They do give better protection for the bike but I don't find much difference on the protection offered to me.
On the whole I prefer the Raceblades.

Steve236

IanRCarter wrote:

MichaelW wrote:

Proper bolt-on 'guards or velcro/elastic/gaffer tape/string?

they also snap if you catch them with your foot, or catch them on anything) and they sit very close, so they can rub on the tyre.

I had the Crud's last year and both of these were true - luckily they didn't snap until spring when I was about to take them off anyway. They didn't rub all the time but did going over bumps. They did keep the muck off everything well though. I think if I bother with mudguards this year I'm going to give the SKS a go.

alamb200

Steve236 wrote:

I think if I bother with mudguards this year I'm going to give the SKS a go.

Which SKS mudguards are you going to try?

Steve236

alamb200 wrote:

Steve236 wrote:

I think if I bother with mudguards this year I'm going to give the SKS a go.

Which SKS mudguards are you going to try?

The raceblade longs as I don't have eyelets so they'll have to be clip ons.

rolf_f

madasahattersley wrote:

Don't bother with mudguards is the answer. Makes riding and maintaining the bike a breeze, plus they won't rattle annoy you and slow you down if they aren't there!

That's an answer but it is a particularly silly one. It might be easier to do maintenance on a bike without mudguards but without them you will be doing a whole lot more maintenance in the first place.

Also, I have to say that mudguards have never made riding a less of a breeze for me - got to wonder how you've been installing them. You probably need to read the instructions first.......

Rodders30

What about a bike with hardly any clearance, my Trek 1.5 has hardly any room between the tyre and brake calliper.

I don't know what will fit the gap?

alamb200

Hi All,

Thanks you to everyone who posted here.

I think I would have gone for the SKS raceblade long but seen as someone stole my bike last night it is not going to happen now.

Thanks again,

alamb200