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Mudguard choices

(34 posts)

12

  1. mfcity
    Member

    I was wondering whether people more experienced with mudguards could offer some advice. The only type I've used in the past are the Crud road ones that attach with elastic p-clip things, on a bike without eyelets. They're fairly easy to mount, but on the flimsy side.

    I'm looking for full mudguards, first of all for an MTB for utility riding, with 26*2.1 tyres and dropout eyelets, as well as brake holes and chain-stay bridge (though still hoping to find a brake booster to bridge the long clearance on a 100mm rigid fork). Leaning towards SKS chromoplasts, as they seem straightforward and functional.
    The other mudguard aim is for an old Super Galaxy that just fits its 38mm tyres, for longer rides. Here, I'm torn between glowing reports of aluminium 'guards (which might make the bike look prettier and more theft-prone than it should be, really) and the down-to-earth rationale of SKS. I think for both 'guards, being quiet and durable is more important than lightweight.
    Any recommendations about these, or if someone has a suitable set to sell, would be appreciated. Thanks!

    Posted 9 years ago #

  2. wingpig
    Member

    Vavert. They lack the front I eyelets breakaway fixing of SKSes (though they can be fitted as an aftermarket improvement, as I shall shortly prove) but are both sturdier and easier to fine-tune than SKS.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  3. mfcity
    Member

    >wingpig
    Thanks; those weren't on my radar.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  4. Instography
    Member

    The Vavert's are indeed good. I like my SKS Longboards and I imagine anyone behind me will like them too.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  5. fimm
    Member

    Oh! Perfect! I was about to start a mudguard thread, but I'll just bimble into this one...
    ;-)

    How does one work out what mudguards one can put on one's bike? I've decided I should get some for the big bike. It is a Raleigh, and the wheels are, err, round and the tyres are black (but I know how to use a tape measure) - actually I can do better than that, they are fairly narrow road tyres. There are places at the hub where mudguards can be fitted, but I don't know about getting them round (under?) the brakes.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  6. wingpig
    Member

    One either peers underneath the fork crown and brake bridge and places undue trust in the descriptions of mudguards on websites or one trundles to the Bike Station and practices inserting various bits of old mudguard into the various channels through which mudguards would have to fit before buying anything.

    My old Revolution Continental frame, despite having mudguard and rack eyelets at the back, had an extremely mudguard-unfriendly rear brake bridge, under which nothing would fit if you wanted the wheel to roll. There was also no clearance between the tyre and the seat stay (which is also where the band for the front mech wanted to go) and nothing to attach a guard to at the chainstay, not that anything would get that far. Anything I fitted to the back had to finish at the brake bridge, if I wanted to use anything other than SKS clip-ons; I eventually used a B&M light bracket to attach the sawn-off end of the guard to the underside of the rack. Although the front was a bit better it still required a fair bit of bodging and mangling to get the bit which the brake bolt went through to hold the mudguard bracket without the mudguard bracket interfering with the bottom of the head tube, which protruded, being wider than the top of the fork.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  7. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Avoid the aluminium guards at all cost, unless it's a bike that's going to spend most of its time on the wall being polished.

    They're an absolute b*gger to fit, you have to drill your own holes for them (which can lead to failure of the metal if not done correctly). They're near impossible to fine tune the position (single bolt in the middle of the guard to support them on a U-shaped stay, rather than bolts on each side), they are only supported by a single stay which puts unacceptable stresses on the guard and in my case resulted in early failure of two. If they get knocked they kink out of shape. They are noisy. Unless they are freshly polished they look bad... They're expensive.

    Yeah they look the business when brand new or polished up, but for a practical day to day bike there's a reason we moved with the times and went for plastic. I prefer Chromoplastics myself to the Vaverts, but I don't think there's that much in it cost or performance wise.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  8. mfcity
    Member

    >How does one work out what mudguards one can put on one's bike? I've decided I should get some for the big bike. It is a Raleigh, and the wheels are, err, round and the tyres are black (but I know how to use a tape measure) - actually I can do better than that, they are fairly narrow road tyres. There are places at the hub where mudguards can be fitted, but I don't know about getting them round (under?) the brakes.

    Most mudguards come in sizes to fit up to a certain tyre width, and go from about 35 to 65mm. Cantilever brakes make fitting guards easier, but I'd second wingpig's advice to see how some guards fit yourself to get a sense of which model to buy, and other types of brakes don't make mudguards impossible. Also, full mudguards usually need a chainstay bridge to mount in back, and not all bikes have one.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  9. mfcity
    Member

    >They're an absolute b*gger to fit, you have to drill your own holes for them (which can lead to failure of the metal if not done correctly). They're near impossible to fine tune the position (single bolt in the middle of the guard to support them on a U-shaped stay, rather than bolts on each side)

    Interesting and persuasive report. I hadn't heard this, but see the point about different kinds of stays. Thanks!

    Posted 9 years ago #

  10. crowriver
    Member

    Here's a useful resource on mudguards (or fenders as north Americans call them):

    http://sheldonbrown.com/fenders.html

    And another, which touches upon clearance 'twixt frame and tyre:

    http://totalwomenscycling.com/commuting/what-you-need-to-know-when-buying-bicycle-mudguards-15798/

    (I never realised there was a women's cycling web site. Now I know!)

    Posted 9 years ago #

  11. kaputnik
    Moderator

    It's a website for total women. Subtotal women need not apply?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  12. crowriver
    Member

    'Subtotal women', i.e. men?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  13. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @mfcity

    There's a set of MTB Vaverts on the right hand wall of the Bike Station at the minute. £27.99. 50mm wide.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  14. mfcity
    Member

    @I were right about that saddle

    Thanks; I'll try to head over for a look tomorrow. I notice that while the Longboards and Vaverts both go up to 45mm width, the former recommend only up to 37mm tyres, whereas Vavert says up to 40mm. Maybe they're shaped differently.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  15. mfcity
    Member

    >Vavert. They lack the front I eyelets breakaway >fixing of SKSes (though they can be fitted as an >aftermarket improvement, as I shall shortly prove)

    Could you elaborate on this aftermarket mod? I aim to get the Vaverts, and found SKS secuclips for sale from SJS.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  16. wingpig
    Member

    Precisely. I had a poke in the Bike Station for some spare fixings but found none. I'll poke the Vavert stay into the SecuClip on my spare bike when I get a moment to test the fit before ordering.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  17. mfcity
    Member

    Great, wingpig. I phoned and found out Bicycle Works has spare secuclips:) Hoping to still nip out and get some this evening.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  18. mfcity
    Member

    I wanted to follow up and report that the Vavert mudguard stays fit nicely (requiring a little force, as you'd hope) in the SKS secu-clips. Thanks for the tip.
    Next step is to trim down the stays, and I've seen varying pieces of advice about this: the quickest, cheapest way looks to be a junior hacksaw, but others recommend dremels or boltcutters.
    I also need to trim the sides of the read guard a little to fit between the chainstays. If anybody has useful experience cutting polycarbonate (no metal layer in these Vavert guards), I'd certainly appreciate it.
    I tried to upload a photo of the front guard, but wasn't successful.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  19. Roibeard
    Member

    The hacksaw option is actually harder work than you'd think, as the stays are quite hard and it can be difficult to get the saw to "bite" as you begin. Be prepared for initial slipping of the blade, and ensure your fingers aren't what it bites into!

    Robert

    Posted 9 years ago #

  20. chdot
    Admin

    Bolt cutters quickest.

    BUT

    Work out where the bits will 'fly', and make sure nothing/anyone is in the way.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  21. kaputnik
    Moderator

    It's very quick to saw the stays if you have a pin vice (costs under a tenner). Otherwise it's as much faff as Roibeard suggests. Bolt cutters are an expensive but useful outlay. They will fire high velocity lengths of sharp metal around the place, so take care where those might land. they also leave the metal with a "V" cut profile with a sharp ridge down the middle, which is particularly sharp.

    I've never tried the Dremel on stays, but I imagine it would create a lot of sparks and run through 1 (or more) cut-off wheels to do the job. You still have the problem of cutting a bouncy piece of metal so require it clamped down securely.

    I'm not sure if anyone else bothers, but I always file off the sharp ends of the stays as I've ripped clothing before when a trouser leg has caught a sharp stay end. This particularly applies to those who leave the ends of their stays as long as Wilmington's Cow does.

    If anybody has useful experience cutting polycarbonate

    I've sawed up guards to get them to bodge-fit where they shouldn't before. A coping saw with a fresh, fine-toothed blade will do the job. Or a hacksaw if you aren't cutting a curve, the metal blades I find work best and leave the cleanest cut. Wood blades go through quicker but leave quite a lot of fine furring on the cut. The material is pretty flexible so bounces away from the saw, so worth bodging something to hold it in place and not deforming under the saw pressure and cutting slightly off from where you intended.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  22. wingpig
    Member

    I either use a hacksaw or tile (effectively coping) saw for guard-trimming. A junior hacksaw's blade is shallow enough to be able to curve the cut slightly without risking wedging the cut open and causing a snap. I can confirm that bolt-cropped Vavert stay-ends are quite capable of rending flesh.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  23. mfcity
    Member

    Thanks, this is really helpful. For trimming the guard, I'd never heard of a coping saw, which looks feasible, and I'll file them down afterwards. I'm not sure about my budget for bolt cutters, but I'll maybe see whether there are loanable ones at the Bike Station. This is progress, though!

    Posted 9 years ago #

  24. kaputnik
    Moderator

    but I'll maybe see whether there are loanable ones at the Bike Station

    First time I cut stays, they wouldn't loan me the cutters, but they did take the stays and trim them off for me.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  25. mfcity
    Member

    So, the while thing is about 96% done; I just need to file the stay ends off and fasten the rear guard with a longer bolt to the chainstay bridge. Big thanks to everyone for the input, and to The Bike Station for bolt cutters.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  26. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I've never tried the Dremel on stays, but I imagine it would create a lot of sparks and run through 1 (or more) cut-off wheels to do the job.

    I generally use my Dremel for cutting mudguard stays. Actually it's some foreign faux-Dremel thing I bought in Makro for about £15. Surprisingly good, actually. Maplin sells a useful multi-pack of bits for Dremels, including proper fabric-reinforced cut-off wheels that last for ages. Alternatively I'll use a junior hacksaw with the stay clamped in the vice.

    You still have the problem of cutting a bouncy piece of metal so require it clamped down securely.

    You drape a cloth over the free end, or clamp it in a pair of Molegrips. If using cutters, line up where you're about to chop and drape the cloth over the whole thing. Hey presto, no flying spikes of metal.

    I'm not sure if anyone else bothers, but I always file off the sharp ends of the stays

    I bother, every time. There's something satisfying about a mudguard stay with a neatly rounded end. It also helps guard against damage if your toe overlap is such that you sometimes lose the little plastic end caps.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  27. DaveC
    Member

    I spotted these via Audax Facebook page. Portland Design Aluminium Mudguards. They look fab!

    Posted 9 years ago #

  28. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Those PDW mudguads look nice, but suffer from the same basic design issue as Velo Orange ones; namely a single wrap-around stay. This makes fine fettling of the position very difficult, and also puts a long section of metal unsupported between the stay and the bridge, making them quite flexy and rattly (they bounce off the tyre, even when held far off it), and (potentially) liable to over-stress and the appearance of fine fractures eventually leading to failure. The fittings do look easier to handle than the VO ones through (for instance on the VO mudguard, there is a single bolt that holds the stay to the guard, which is only accessible (for aesthetic purposes) from the inside of the guard, meaning when the wheel is off. So you can only fine tune the position of the guard to the wheel when the wheel is off, so for all practical purposes you can't actually fine tune the position of the guard to the wheel!)

    Posted 9 years ago #

  29. DaveC
    Member

    I think my answer would be to buy a rivet gun and rivets and take the stays off my old SKS guards and pop them on the new guards.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  30. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @DaveC - it's a good answer, I ended up pop-rivetting a lot of SKS bits onto the VO guards to get them to fit!

    Posted 9 years ago #

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