Mudguards !?????

zak3737

Ok, so after todays soaking from the road, the time is here for some mudguards.....

I understand that my choice is perhaps limited for a Roubaix, being Carbon with no guard mounts/eyelets etc...... but that the Crud Roadracer Mk2 would work, and if fitted carefully, would be a good choice ?

Anyone any experience of them, or alternatives ?

Thx :-)

Anonymous

I gave up trying to fit those.
They did not really fit my bike. I could have modified them, but felt they were just too much of a faff.

Went with RaceBlades in the end. Would consider RaceBlade long as an alternative to the RoadRacers.

Bobbinogs

If you ride 25s you will struggle with the Cruds. Raceblades or Raceblade Longs are a better solution IME (I rode a Secteur which has the same geo). If you go for the Longs then keep an eye on making sure they are well attached (they can become detached and are currently being redesigned). Ultimately there is no ideal solution (yet) just some are better than others.

zak3737

Thx fella's - the Raceblades do look more substantial, and sit higher away from the tyre it seems..

Cheers

angry_bird

Used both. Much prefer the raceblades, cruds just didn't cut it for me, lighter but less stable and were much more fiddly too.

Skyewalker16

Purchased crud catchers for a 2006 spesh allez elite. After a couple of hours to install them and following a few rides the front guard ended up in some random skip found mid ride. The rear lasted a little longer. The race blades come with self adhesive brushes to keep the guard from the wheel. Rather than design the problem out associated with contact between the wheel and guard they design something to accommodate the problem. Unfortunately it doesn't really work. Fundamentally the crud catchers are too flexible.

Purchased race blades this year and found them much stiffer and easier to fit. The only problem however is that race blades don't really keep my cycling buddies free from spray, only myself. The rear needs an extension piece like I have fitted to my winter bike (home made) made from an old emulsion paint lid!!

rolf_f

Cruds are fine if they fit and offer better coverage than Raceblades. But some folk just don't have the mechanical sensitivity for them. If you are the sort that throws things into skips mid ride, then avoid.

kajjal

I use an sks s blade on the rear as it is really easy to adjust and so far no problems at all. Not sure about well it protects other riders from spray.

markhewitt1978

Argh mudguards! I have that issue with my Scott CR1, with very tight clearances.

I had a set of SKS Raceblade Long last year, although they worked nicely they wouldn't fit anything more than a 23mm tyre so even GP4000S in 23mm is out (as they run big). The metal attachements to the skewers and to the brakes got fully rusted out by the end of the winter. You can't get them any more, they've been discontinued.

I've fitted a set of Crud Roadracers Mk2 but they were a giant PITA to fit (took me about 3 hours over 2 stints because the instructions basically don't exist) I'm not sure the whole 'floating' thing actually works, wet riding on wet and muddy roads and it sounded like the mud was getting caught in the guards and grating against the tyre

I've been to Halfords today to get some RaceBlades (the short version) so I'll see how they go.

zak3737

Picked up a set of the RaceBlade Longs from a lbs, and fitted them in about 30mins, was easy, and easy to adjust, so all seems good.
Quite a good system they have to adjust the guards away from the tyre too, very impressed.

Only way they could be improved as far as I can see, is if the rear guard went all the way down to the BB area and protected that and the front mech etc, but hey ho, its pretty good anyway.

Not the cheapest at £45, but I guess you get what you pay for, and from what I've seen, a helluva lot easier to fit than Crud Raceguards.

jameses

Bit late on this one, but I've used both.

Cruds - Aesthetically, I think they suit a lot of road bikes better than raceblades (although raceblades look better on more classically styled frames). Coverage is better than raceblade longs, especially around the BB/front mech and brakes. Seem to do a much better job of keeping the frame clean. The problem I had with them was clearance on 25mm tyres. It is just about possible to set them up (depending on clearance beneath the brakes, obviously) without modification, but can be very fiddly. They worked well for almost 2 winters, but the plastic started to wear and they became a lot more flexible, which led to them rubbing on the tyres mid way through a ride no matter how I tried to fix them in place beforehand. I eventually got frustrated with this (and a mate buggered them up completely when he borrowed my bike for a London-Paris trip), so I opted for Raceblades this winter

Raceblade Longs - so far so good. Took a bit longer to get set up initially, but so much more solid once done. Not so keen on the mounting to the skewers rather than forks/seatstays, looks like removing wheels will be a PITA. Coverage isn't as good, but clearance is better. A bit rattly, though this is preferably to the squeaking rub of the Cruds (IMHO). My only concern is the problems reported with the fixings coming loose, something which SKS appear to be working on for the next generation of raceblades.

Had I known that SKS were working on newer versions, I probably would have gone for another set of Cruds and picked up the improved raceblades when the Cruds started rubbing.