Ribble winter trainer tyre/guard clearance

trek_dan

Hi all,

I bought one of the 'special price' Ribble alu winter trainers with 11 speed 105 groupset and having an issue with clearance under the rear guard. Basically the slightest bit of grit or mud in there and it rubs like crazy. It rubs mildly most of the time when I'm using it too. I sold the standard wheels that came with the bike and fitted a set of Amerian Classic Sprint 350's (converted to take an 11 speed freehub).

I'm wondering if the clearance issue comes from
- Rear wheel needing to be redished for 11 speed (but surely this is only a few mm and not enough to make a difference), google search inconclusive about how much out of alignment the dishing would be
- The rear tyre is a Vredestein Fortezza 23c, not sure if this blow up bigger or has a difference shape to those originally fitted.
- General lack of clearance due to deisgn or the cheap Zefal plastic gurads? Thinking about maybe going to SKS Chromoplastics as seem to have more of a rounded profile. There is no room to adjust the guard as it comes through the brake which is where the clogging seems to occur.

sheffsimon

I had the same problem of rear wheel clearance on my Dolan winter frame.

Remove the brake bridge bracket from the mudguard, drill two pairs of holes and tywrap the mudguard up to the underside of the bridge. Worked for me, with SKS chromoplastics, on Conti 25mm tyres.

trek_dan

Thanks, never thought of that will give it a try. Its definitely as it goes through the brake where the 'pinch point' is. The cheapy Tektro brakes that came on it also seem really chunky compared to Shimano or SRAM.

pinarellokid

I managed to squeeze 25mm conti gp4 seasons under mine by taking the mudguards off and making the brake mount hole a loop with a dremmel to give me a few extra mm of clearance

napoleond

I run 24mm open paves on 23mm wide rims with no fitting adjustments at all

jermas

The problem with squeezing tyres under the mudguard is that any collection of mud causes rubbing. The only solution for me, was to cut the rear mudguard into two pieces (at the point it would pass under the brakes). Then fabricate three stainless brackets- one mounted on the bike (on the brake bolt) , the other two attached to the two pieces of guard. With one bolt it's all assembled. This lifts the mudguard up a couple of cm allowing 25mm tyres easily.
A bit of a hassle but it works well.

veryslowtwitch

hi dan,

Do you have a plastic bracket holding the guard to the seatstay mount/rear brake bolt?
If so then I suggest you consider replacing with a thinner metal bracket. The plastic brackets are very thick and lose 3 or 4 mms of clearance, pressing the guard onto the tyre. LBS may have a spare bracket, you need the wrap the thin arms around the guard.

Alan

trek_dan

The bracket is metal at the moment. I think one the biggest problem from a clearance point of view is how thick the Tektro brake is.