front fork and mudguards - exposure lights waterproofness?

clunkychunky
clunkychunky Posts: 178
edited January 2011 in Road beginners
my winter bike has a fork which doesnt have clearance for a full mudguard - cant even fit cruds! so i have been making do with the sks raceguards which do help somewhat, but yesterday i did a longer ride of 4 hours and after 2 my feet were drenched and even worse than that, my entire front was soaked because of the spray coming up from the wheel.

so ive been thinking of changing the front fork to get one with clearance. thing is i have no idea how to tell what size forks i need. can someone tell me how i find out? does it say anywhere? I don’t want to spend much on a set, so any recommendations?
Or is there an alternative guard which could somehow attach to the fork to offer some protection from the front wheel spray??

also, i have an exposure race light on the front. this is getting continuously soaked by the spray from the wheel. i know they are supposed to have a waterproof casing but i have been slightly worried that this could cause problems. is it likely to? or are they very waterproof?

thanks for any help

Comments

  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/pp/road-t ... inter/FORW

    Assuming you have a modern threadless headset, either of these would do the job. I have something similar on my Racelight tK. Allows fitting of a proper mudguard. Then the issue of drenching your expensive front light won't arise.

    What may then be a problem however is your front brake. Chances are you won't be able to drop the pads down far enough to hit the wheel rim. You'd need to replace the caliper with a longer drop model

    My bike cos it's designed as a winter trainer with room for 25mm tyres and full guards, requires long drop brakes. I don't think Campag do them, so you're stuck with Shimano or Tektro (I have the former)
  • clunkychunky
    clunkychunky Posts: 178
    not sure really. the bike is several years old (bought in 2002) so god knows what type of headset it has. tbh those forks at ribble are probably more expensive than the entire bike is worth! :lol:

    is there any alternative to replacing fork? is there anything i can do to reduce the spray?

    any idea how waterproof exposure lights are?
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    2002 probably means a threadless headset (is the stem clamped onto the steerer tube by two horizontal bolts?) so those forks would work.

    I have no experience with the Crud Raceguards; you're absolutely sure you can't make one fit? (what bike is it?)

    I think Exposure lights are pretty waterproof, but for me keeping dry feet in winter is much more important

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