Mudguards - how much better are proper ones?

bigmonka

I'm in the market for a new carbon road bike with discs, but I'm finding that very few of them have got mudguard mounts. It'll be used as my daily commuter and I'm used to having the very good full chromoplastics on my Planet X London Road, but I've got no experience of clip-on type guards - how much worse are they? Is there constant fiddling of the clips? Is the coverage much worse than full guards?

prowlbass

Clip ons aren't bad these days - if you set them up properly, most half decent ones won't rattle around much and offer fairly good coverage. Nowhere near the coverage of a full guard, though SKS do some longer than normal clip ons that are a big improvement, and with a full length flap added in place of the crappy one they come with, they're not far off 'the real thing', but you'll never be quite as dry (main difference is the lack of low down coverage at the rear meaning more gunk in your drivetrain and less coverage out front meaning more spray from your front wheel in your face).

Squawk

I've got raceblades as my Trek frame doesn't support full guards. Key points

1. Into wind the front guard introduces a problem: water shoots out of the front of the guard, hits the wind and blows back to hit you. Still miles better than not having one, but you nowhere near the protection of a guard that extends 6 inches out from the fork
2. The rear one doesn't cover quite as much of the wheel so anyone behind you probably gets more spray than they would from a full guard. It helps somewhat, but doesn't get everything. I haven't noticed any issue with it not extending beyond the brakes.

Faff factor is minimal, once in place they stay put pretty well.

dyrlac

I have some raceblade pros that I swap between bikes (though I may fit some permanent ones to the FG come winter when I switch back to riding FG full time). They work well enough compared to the full guards I've had on various bikes (although the lack of coverage forward of the rear brake bridge is noticeable in heavy rain/standing water), and (touch wood) are currently rattle-free on my summer bike. That said, I can never reliably get the setup right on the initial (re) installation and find myself doing a bit of roadside fettling on the first few rides, which does discourage me from swapping on a daily basis.

fenix

Personally I'd rate proper full guards over any advantage that carbon gives you.

My Alu Cross bike is as fast as my carbon road bike when i fit light wheels and skinnier tyres to it.

jds_1981

Word of warning on strapons - I ride along a sandy muddy bumpy canal. I prewrapped my seat stays with frame protection tape, but half a year later when I removed my mudguards found that one had worn a hole all the way into the centre of the seat stay. Would definitely recommend not doing this....

bigmonka

Fenix wrote:

Personally I'd rate proper full guards over any advantage that carbon gives you.

My Alu Cross bike is as fast as my carbon road bike when i fit light wheels and skinnier tyres to it.

jds_1981 wrote:

Word of warning on strapons - I ride along a sandy muddy bumpy canal. I prewrapped my seat stays with frame protection tape, but half a year later when I removed my mudguards found that one had worn a hole all the way into the centre of the seat stay. Would definitely recommend not doing this....

Based on these I'm tempted to go with a cheaper bike with mudguard mounts and use the saving to buy upgraded wheels (maybe some Hunts).
Choosing a new bike is so confusing!!!

gabriel959

My Jamis Renegade Expert, is carbon, has full hydraulic disc brakes and has mounts for mudguards. It is not the only bike either so I am sure you could find a one (Trek Domane, BMC Roadmachine etc)

hopkinb

Race blade pro XL user here. They go on and off in a flash with the new built in rubber straps. They keep the worst of the crap off you and your bike. Most annoying thing is, as someone else suggested, the plume of spray off the front wheel in very wet weather, which depending on your speed/the wind blows back in your face. Much, much better than nothing, but not as good as full guards, which I had on my old bike. I make sure I wipe off the worst of the crud on my front mech after a wet ride. Or at least sometimes I do. After all, I don't get to use the front mech much here.

vimfuego

I moved to a 1x system just to get out of wiping the front mech

Coincidentally I recently bought a set of race blade pro XL too & tried them out this morning. They don't rattle at all and were pretty easy to install and adjust. Downside is as per above with spray from the front wheel (but I was putting up with that anyway) - feet still got wet in any case, just marginally less so / more slowly than without a guard. I always had a post mounted rear MTB style mudguard previously which kept my backside dry, didn't notice too much difference in that or overall cleanliness of the back end of the bike when I got in to the office. Maybe it just kept the drafting fairies a bit drier? Back to the MTB guard if that's the case :twisted:

cookeeemonster

I find with clip ons that they tend to move around on potholed roads and especially when it's wet (when you don't want to stop and faff around adjusting them). The raceblades wore through the helicopter tape I'd put on the bike to protect it and through to the paintwork which didn't impress me either.

Currently testing crud roadracer mark 3's...but not that impressed. Come winter I'll stick on proper guards I think, you just cant beat them.

ManiaMuse

It's really annoying that bike manufacturers don't make frames to accommodate proper mudguards, it's as if they think we all enjoy wearing a brown stain on our arses in the winter as a badge of honour...

Some carbon forks have mudguard holes on the inside of the fork, usually about halfway up so will work with disc brakes, might not be obvious on photos online though.

I was in a similar situation, I have a Cannondale Synapse disc brake bike which has some holes on the forks and chainstays but not really enough clearance and the hole where you would fit a rear rim brake is at the wrong angle to work with the SKS style guards.

I tried the Crudracer MK3 stick/clip on guards for a while but tbh they are just....well crud. Impossible to set up, they rattle about loads, don't offer complete coverage, the front one has a stupid peak which they expect to stay on with just a small bit of tape but falls off after a few rides, the rear one is too flexible and inevitably ends up hitting the rear wheel and eventually cracking.

I've managed to get a set of Tortec full-length mudguards (basically the same as the SKS guards but slightly different) to fit eventually. Was a bit of a bodge though.

1 - Had to revert to 23mm tyres, no chance of getting 25mm or bigger to fit with the limited clearance.
2 - Had to squeeze them in a bit and the expense of a fair bit of paint.
3 - Had to put a long bolt through the hole in the front fork which didn't come with my mudguards.
4 - Had to drill a small hole through the rear guard to mount it
5 - Had to shave a bit off the rear guard at the bottom to stop it rubbing
6 - Had to switch one of the front Tortec mudguard stays with an SKS one I had lying about to stop my spokes hitting it when I replaced my front wheel with a different spoke layout (they have some plastic break-away mountings on the front stays, the SKS ones are a bit thinner than the Tortec ones so give a bit more clearance)

Definitely worth it though....at least until the rear one cracks as they tend to do eventually from road vibrations.

keef66

Genesis Datum? Carbon, Discs, fatter tyres / clearances , mudguard mounts F&R.

2017 models on sale...