Mudguards?

figbat

Summer's over (sorry to be so blunt about it) and rain is becoming more likely. This will be my first autumn/winter with a road bike and I'm looking for input on riding in the wet. I don't mind getting wet - I ride my MTB all-year round in all weathers - but I'm not looking to get wetter than I have to.

On the MTB I have some SKS mudguards on the downtube and seatpost that keep the worst of the crud off of me. I notice that they also do road-going options and wondered what people do about winter riding? A turbo isn't going to happen. I tend to ride home from work so leave around 5-ish, home by just after 6. Since I am going home I am not bothered about staying dry or clean. I have lights. I also have a wife who drives the car home (from the same workplace) and can take all the stuff, so no need for any carriers or the like.

I think of my bike as a road bike rather than a commuter; I like its clean look but am not so vain as to add something to it for genuine benefit. It's a Cannondale Synapse alloy and has long-drop calipers and room for guards.

I guess what I am after is some idea of how 'weatherproof' the bike is naturally? And what your preferences are regarding keeping the spray off of you? I am not in the position of having a 'winter' bike - it is this one only! Or I can put the road bike away for the winter and use the MTB (I am lucky to have a mostly off-road route home too).

iron-clover

If you have the clearance and mounting options for it I would put on a pair of full length mudguards- they will save you from pretty much all wheel spray. You can't take them off without having to fiddle with the brakes which can be a major faff so only put them on when you know there are no competitions ahead.
Your bike will still take a battering though as the front wheel spray will still go into the drivetrain and rear wheel unless you have huge mudflaps, and the rear guard will dump gritty water onto your rear wheel.

If you want to take them off for the odd good day then you cold go for the SKS raceblade longs which use the same bolting points but you can clip the blades on and off. The normal raceblades and the clip on guards aren't worth the hassle IMO unless you have to quickly put a rear guard on to protect riders behind you.

EDIT:
If your synapse has disk brakes then happy days- get proper full length guards. They might be fiddly to bend the stays around the disks when you first put them on (or you could get your bike shop to do it for you...) but after that it's a 10min job to take them off and on.

fat daddy

as a commuter that rides in all weather; full length mud guards despite totally ruining the look of the bike are a gift sent from heaven.

the difference to the state of my gears, my clothing, my body, my panniers, its night and day. Before I fitted them, a short ride in the wet would see my feet soaking, now they stay dry unless its hammering down. I clean the chainset about 50% of the times I used to, I don't get covered in road crap !

they are hideous but full length ones really do work.

And when you come up behind someone that doesn't have them ..... it sucks suddenly getting hit with a load of there spray ! .... still it spurs you on to over take

keef66

When I came back to road bikes aged 50 I knew I'd be riding year round, so specced a bike (Racelight Tk) with clearance / mounts for proper guards (SKS Chromoplstics) Never regretted it for a moment. Last week I popped out the headset for the first time in 9 years and found it still silky smooth and corrosion free which I'm sure wouldn't have been the case without guards. Now have a carbon bike for drier rides but still ride the Tk if it's wet or forecast to be. Which in this country probably means I ride the Tk more than the CR1...

fenix

Full mudguards with flaps are fantastic. I can't believe I rallied against them for so long. Just put them on the bike - its a whole new world of not being covered in crap.

figbat

Seems conclusive! I'll start looking at long 'guards then.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

I ran my best bike through one winter of 5/6 day commuting and it was a pretty horrible experience, bought a winter bike that could take larger tyres and guards and it was totally different.

The problem with no guards is it doesn't have to be raining to get soaking wet, so quite a big percentage of rides I was getting wet arse and feet from surface water or having to run through puddles, I can do wet just not cold and wet! And then cleaning the bike every weekend got tedious.

Cuts down maintence on the bike as well, although the raceblade option still means the bike and front gears still get smothered in crap. And they rattled which I hated!

sloppyschleckonds

figbat wrote:

Summer's over (sorry to be so blunt about it) and rain is becoming more likely. This will be my first autumn/winter with a road bike.

Here in the UK Summer has several weeks still left, and usually autumns are quite dry.

Winter isn't until December so no panic yet, the cold will get you rather than the wet.

Don't overthink it and get one of those cheap ass savers

veryslowtwitch

I highly recommend full length mudguards asap before autumn rain. If they fit well with equal clearance all round then they can look great and enhance your bike in winter. Don't worry about clean looks. Anyone who knows about bikes will recognise a bike which is well set up and fit for purpose on a horrible day. It also allows you to jump on the bike for brief rides in civvies without soaking them. Guardless bikes in winter are a joke, even for an hour. Also you will be loved by fellow cyclists on your wheel!

marcusjb

Even a set of SKS Chromaplastics can be improved on by bigger flappage.

A good front flap keeps even more shite off your feet and chainset and a rear flap that sits a couple of inches off the road makes you the most popular rider to sit behind on the winter club run.

You can make your own easily enough, but if you are lazy like me, then http://rawmudflap.uk are good stuff - have their flaps on both of my long distance bikes (both of which have full mudguards year around!).

Garry H

marcusjb wrote:

Even a set of SKS Chromaplastics can be improved on by bigger flappage

There is very little in life that cannot be improved on by bigger flappage!

the_cyclist_of_catan

Full-length mudguards, with flaps, all year round here.

I like the sound of a dry British summer, but I have yet to experience any month in which I wasn't glad I had 'guards at least once. Whatever the calendar (or weather forecaster) says.

figbat

I've been looking around. The SKS ones look OK, there are some Crud ones that look good but perhaps quite flimsy? And PDW ones which look very nice but £££. I reckon I have the clearance for any of them, given I have long drop calipers (I have a set of 25mm Schwalbe Duranos about to go on).

pilot_pete

I don't think full guards look that bad...

I would recommend fitting some mud flaps to really prevent other riders getting covered in spray if you ride in groups. I just used some 2" wide platic strip and cut it to shape, drilled a couple of holes in each guard and attached the flaps with a couple of little stainless steel bolts, washers and nyloc nuts.

As iron clover says, on a disk braked frame they take a while to bend the stays into the correct position to miss the calipers, but once done can be fitted/ removed in minutes...in fact I just refitted mine yesterday after changing back from cross tyres to road after a little adventure!

PP

Nick Payne

Garry H wrote:

marcusjb wrote:

Even a set of SKS Chromaplastics can be improved on by bigger flappage

There is very little in life that cannot be improved on by bigger flappage!

I cut mudflaps for front mudguards from empty plastic detergent bottles. Costs nothing and really reduces the amount of spray off the front tyre. Adding the mudflap to the front mudguard makes a big difference to how dry your feet stay and how much less crap ends up on the chain and cranks. Here's my touring bike with a plastic mudflap riveted onto the SKS mudguard - I have the same setup on several other bikes:

daniel_b

Wiggle and ribble both currently have the sks guards for under £15.

Tortec guards are also excellent.
I have pdw guards, but yet to fit them.