Mudguards

PinarelloPrince

I had no intention of ever doing winter riding again but I've cracked and I'm currently building up a winter bike with an oldish Orbea Orca frame.

It's a while since I had to bother with mudguards and my abiding memory is most of them were faffy and generally poor. I'm sure the technology has moved on but I'm out of touch.

So, recommendations for mudguards that actually work and are easy to fit and adjust please.

webboo

I have an Orca Silver with 25mm tyres and I can’t get mudguards under the forks. I used it for a bit last winter using those mudguards that don’t go under the forks.
It wasn’t great.

ugo.santalucia

They are still faffy and to my knowledge SKS are still the to go option if you have mounts. If you don't have mounts, then it's even more faffy

big_harv

I use the race blades (clip on jobbies). If in a group it's still considered polite to extend the rear guard by means of a cut out milk carton or something similar.

arlowood

Might be worth considering the Flinger Race Pro mudguards.

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Flinge ... lsrc=aw.ds

Specifically designed for bikes with no pre-existing mounts. They will fit to fairly tight frames but appear to be limited to 25mm tyres.

Got a good review on Road CC where they were tested on a Cannondale SuperSix

https://road.cc/content/review/242413-f ... -mudguards

bobones

oxoman wrote:

Got a set of SKS longboards on my winter bike and pretty much fit and forget.
https://www.parkersofbolton.co.uk/produ ... 73EALw_wcB

Fit and forget until they break that is. I like the longboards but it's almost guaranteed that the bottom portion of the front will get broken, but it's any easy enough repair. The rear can also crack near the bridge. Having gone through a couple of sets of longboards, I've since switched to aluminum Radial Avert Pro guards, which were one of the bargains of the century at £18 delivered, but now sadly no longer available.

If the OP has eyelets then mudguards are much less of a faff and I would be fitting something like the Flinger F35 Deluxe, which are really solidly built. Without eyelets, then I'd be tempted to try the Flinger Race Pro clip ons instead of the oft recommended SKS Race Blade longs

mrb123

I've got SKS Chromoplastics which are robust but a pain in the backside to fit.

I've heard good things about the Bontrager ones which have adjustable stays.

figbat

M:Part Primoplastics. Adjustable, absolutely stable and silent on my Synapse.

the_cyclist_of_catan

bobones wrote:

Fit and forget until they break that is. I like the longboards but it's almost guaranteed that the bottom portion of the front will get broken, but it's any easy enough repair. The rear can also crack near the bridge. Having gone through a couple of sets of longboards, I've since switched to aluminum

In six years I’ve used two sets of longboards. The first set were destroyed in a "bike on roof rack" incident, but the second set are fine.

A big part of avoiding cracking (whether with these or chromoplastics) is ensuring that the curve of the mudguard isn’t altered by the way they are fitted. Try to modify the natural curve of the mudguard to better fit the circumference of the wheel and it will crack at some point.

asprilla

MrB123 wrote:

I've got SKS Chromoplastics which are robust but a pain in the backside to fit.

I've heard good things about the Bontrager ones which have adjustable stays.

They are a pain if you are faffing about hacksawing the stays but a cheap pair of tin snips or even my park tool cable snips will cut them easily.

mercia_man

Don’t know what Orca model the OP has but I owned a 2007 Orca and there was no way you could fit standard mudguards such as SKS Chromoplastics. There were no eyelets and clearances were tight with 23mm tyres, particularly under the rear brake bridge.

diplodicus

I use these
https://www.charliethebikemonger.com/po ... 9719-p.asp

They are aluminium and come with metal adapters that your quick release go through to create eyelets for the mudguard to connect to. They are solid and quiet in use. I have them fitted to a CAAD 8 and they stay on there most of the time, they are not the type of guard you want to be taking on and off

jgsi

diplodicus wrote:

I use these
https://www.charliethebikemonger.com/po ... 9719-p.asp

They are aluminium and come with metal adapters that your quick release go through to create eyelets for the mudguard to connect to. They are solid and quiet in use. I have them fitted to a CAAD 8 and they stay on there most of the time, they are not the type of guard you want to be taking on and off

PDWs now into their 3rd winter.. thus far, one rivet replaced,one qr attachment replaced after someone kicked my bike.
23s is the max for my type, although the choice is better now.
Addition of 10mm foam tape under rear brake bridge to silence the 'clatter' which happens only if you clatter a pothole by mistake, otherwise totally silent.

webboo

Mercia Man wrote:

Don’t know what Orca model the OP has but I owned a 2007 Orca and there was no way you could fit standard mudguards such as SKS Chromoplastics. There were no eyelets and clearances were tight with 23mm tyres, particularly under the rear brake bridge.

I did mention the clearances in the first reply to the OP but everyone appears to have ignored this. With mine running conti gps 25 mm tyres the rear brake bridge ends up as a tyre scraper at this time of year. At times I’ve had to stop take the wheel out and scrape the mud out. There is no way you can get a mudguard through there, not even one of those that just has an aluminium bridge between the bits of the mudguard.

PinarelloPrince

arlowood wrote:

Might be worth considering the Flinger Race Pro mudguards.

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Flinge ... lsrc=aw.ds

Specifically designed for bikes with no pre-existing mounts. They will fit to fairly tight frames but appear to be limited to 25mm tyres.

Got a good review on Road CC where they were tested on a Cannondale SuperSix

https://road.cc/content/review/242413-f ... -mudguards

Thank you for this recommendation. I bought a set and fitted them yesterday. Product is superb. Fitting was simplicity itself and though the clearance is tight, they're on with no cutting or bodging needed. I'm yet to try them out but can't see there being an issue.

d00d4h

PinarelloPrince wrote:

arlowood wrote:

Might be worth considering the Flinger Race Pro mudguards.

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Flinge ... lsrc=aw.ds

Specifically designed for bikes with no pre-existing mounts. They will fit to fairly tight frames but appear to be limited to 25mm tyres.

Got a good review on Road CC where they were tested on a Cannondale SuperSix

https://road.cc/content/review/242413-f ... -mudguards

Thank you for this recommendation. I bought a set and fitted them yesterday. Product is superb. Fitting was simplicity itself and though the clearance is tight, they're on with no cutting or bodging needed. I'm yet to try them out but can't see there being an issue.

I've got some too, based on this recommendation.
FWIW, I've got them fitted with 26mm Gravel King SKs.
I've only done about 50 miles on them, in relatively "clean" conditions, so don't know if there will be any clearance issues in the wet and mud. Time will tell...

PinarelloPrince

There's obviously more clearance on your frame than my Orbea. I've got 23mm tyres and I'm not convinced that 25mm would work. I think you'll always have issues in muddy conditions.

daniel_b

Asprilla wrote:

MrB123 wrote:

I've got SKS Chromoplastics which are robust but a pain in the backside to fit.

I've heard good things about the Bontrager ones which have adjustable stays.

They are a pain if you are faffing about hacksawing the stays but a cheap pair of tin snips or even my park tool cable snips will cut them easily.

I used to use a hacksaw, combined with a pair of molegrips - if you have a dremel, this vastly shortens the time taken.
I've fitted several sets of mudguards now, and SKS are good, but do crack eventually, Tortec are marginally more tricky to fit, but slightly better quality, and pretty much on parity price wise.

If you have spare cash, PDW guards are the ultimate (imho) though, both in terms of fitting, and quality\longevity.
Cannondale use\d them as factory fit for some of their bikes.

skooter

I think its the bike that's the issue as I had some SKS on a Genisis Equallibrium and couldn't fit the rear guard in a month of Sundays but I fitted them to a Cannondale CX 1 no probs but I did have to use a different fixing mud guard ( rubber strap ) type to the front. Its odd looking but it works very well?