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review
SKS Longboard.JPG£33.99
VERDICT:
Impressive mudguards offering optimum protection from rain and spray
Weight:
0g
Contact:
www.chickencyclekit.com, www.madison.co.uk, www.raleigh.co.uk
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
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How to win friends and the respect of your fellow rider(s) (a) Buy a round of tea and cake at the caf' stop (b) sidestep conversations of a political, religious, sexual and doping nature (c) Invest in a set of SKS Longboard full coverage mudguards. Long by name, longer by nature they deliver superlative rider protection while safeguarding cranks, mechs and similarly intricate parts from the onslaught of silt and spray. Stainless steel hardware and top-notch materials mean they'll remain unblemished for many seasons but I was slightly disappointed by the lack of reflective detailing and drilling for a rear dynamo lamp.
Our Fordist black examples will literally complement or contrast any colour scheme but silver and beige are the alternatives. Whatever colour you go for you get a guard made from formed plastic with an aluminium core. Secu-clips will breakaway to prevent a nasty spill in the event of that crushed beer can, or dead pigeon lodging itself between guard and tyre (thanks Shaun I was eating my lunch - ed) while those beefy 3.4mm stainless stays will look pretty long after the galvanised type have turned furry.
The devil they say is in the detail and the finishing kit is reassuringly comprehensive, just be sure to keep feral felines and curious children from scattering them everywhere. Several coffees inside me and Ilpompino on the stand, everything breezed together pretty happily in about forty-five minutes. Achieving graceful flowing curves was easier than I expected thanks to the guards surprisingly malleable properties, although trimming those sturdy stays demanded beefy croppers.
SKS's time honoured refinement requires little introduction but it's surprising how much difference the additional length makes. A prolonged dry spell was making things slightly academic during testing but Mother Nature broke the monotony with gunmetal skies and subsequent thundery downpour. Despite torrents of water battering the chrome plastic, spray was localised to the fork blades rather than engulfing the feet and bottom bracket region, which bodes well for winter and/ or commuting in smart street shoes. The rear works equally well, inviting more persistent wheel sucking! The only other downside to this additional length is a tendency for the rear to catch when wheeling the bike vertically.
Verdict
Impressive mudguards offering optimum protection from rain and spray but as with all full guards take care you don't ground the rear if wheeling the bike vertically
road.cc test report
Make and model: SKS Longboard mudguard
Size tested: Black 45mm
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
"End wet feet forever!
SKS Longboard are one of the longest and best coverage fender on the planet." No quibble here!
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
■section: 45 mm
■rim: 700c
■colour: Latte/Black/Silver
■fastening: Secu Clip
Rate the product for quality of construction:
8/10
To SKS usual high standards.
Rate the product for performance:
9/10
Rate the product for durability:
8/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
7/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
9/10
Rate the product for value:
8/10
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
The Longboard are the last word in protection for rider and machine thanks to superior length and prodigious mudflaps, spelling an end to wet feet and drowned drivetrains. The only minor problem was the rear's tendency to ground when wheeling the bike vertically-say negotiating tight hallways or hanging up in the workshop.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
Superb coverage, build quality and materials.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
The tendency to ground when wheeling vertically was slightly irksome but a minor point.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Unreservedly
About the tester
Age: 37 Height: 1m 81 Weight: 70 kilos
I usually ride: Rough Stuff Tourer Based around 4130 Univega mtb Frameset My best bike is: 1955 Holdsworth Road Path and several others including cross & traditional road
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Experienced
I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, commuting, touring, fixed/singlespeed, mtb,
Shaun Audane is a freelance writer/product tester with over twenty-eight years riding experience, the last twelve (120,000 miles) spent putting bikes and kit through their paces for a variety of publications. Previous generations of his family worked at manufacturing's sharp end, thus Shaun can weld, has a sound understanding of frame building practice and a preference for steel or titanium framesets.
Citing Richard Ballantine and an Au pair as his earliest cycling influences, he is presently writing a cycling book with particular focus upon women, families and disabled audiences (Having been a registered care manager and coached children at Herne Hill Velodrome in earlier careers)
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Add new comment
15 comments
(Commenting here because this article has been linked to in an updated post of November 2021.) I've had two sets of Longboards in the ten years since this article was first published. The latest version - 11068 - uses a different cap to slip over the cut ends. Plus the ends can be cropped in situ without having to be offered up, removed and cut (I don't have a grinder, but I do have decent bolt croppers).
As an aside, in my experience the front guard is too long - it can be shortened fairly easily - and the rear *flap* not long enough for group riding. A lot better than nowt, though.
I can't see how the front guard is too long. My experience is that the fork bracket is too far forward, so not enough guard covers the top of the wheel. This allows spray to blow back towards the fork. I have adjusted mine forward about 20 mm but it could use more, especially as the front finishing cap has fallen off.
I've also lost one of the stay caps and found that spares are remarkably expensive,. But then we never had them in my day and you just had to be careful of leg-stay conflict.
Had I fitted Longboards to my touring bike then the leading edge of the front guard might have been a little short, but my 'boards are for more modern dual caliper brake bikes, where the recessed forks mean the mudguard bridge sits in front of the fork crown. In fact I removed the decal at the front of the fork because there is so much 'spare' mudguard that it moved about and touched the tyre.
Longboard users frequently complain that the front guard breaks off at the lower stay. This seems to be as a result of cumulative snagging of the front flap weakening the plastic guard over time. I cut 2 1/2" inches off and refitted the front flap with a pair of nuts and bolts. Pop rivets would have been neater.
It's far quicker and easier to trim the stays using an angle grinder with a thin cutting disc. Just be aware that the cut end and the off-cut will be extremely hot!
The only problem I have with these is that as is, they tend to succumb to road vibration. After a couple years mounted permanently to my cross bike, my first pair cracked crosswise. Duct tape and superglue can provide a short-term fix, but by that point you should be looking around for replacements.
When I installed my second pair, I used rubber washers from a shower hose in an effort to mitigate the road vibration and make these last a little longer before cracking.
That, and the very fiddly initial fitment, are my only real complaints. Otherwise they're excellent. I use the "P45" width of these fenders over 28 mm slicks.
https://accidentalrandonneur.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/sks-p45-longboard-...
Have these mudguards on my winter bike. Less than a year old and only 1900 miles and the bottom section and mud flap on front has sheared off. On speaking to local shop, this appears to be a common problem. Bottom of extension just flaps around to much which creates stress. Comment from shop, it only appears to happen on the shiny black mudguards.
Same thing happened to mine. Filed down the rough edges and refitted the flap and they've been OK since. Rear guard didn't have a flap as standard, odd given the aim of achieving maximum coverage.
Any owners out there had problems with the brackets for these - excuse my knowledge here!! - the bracket that runs through the bracket caliper?
I have just had mine snap for the second time despite only owning these since sept last on a brand new bike?
(new bracket was replaced when broke first time)
Would be interested to here?
Proper mudguards at last ... only you can't buy them anywhere ... the rear guard should have been left at standard length, as it is the front that is too short on most guards. My only worry would be when I'm riding down steps (there are a few on my commute) whether the guards would catch ... if the flaps are flexible enough, then likely not an issue.
The "excitement" of the cropped part pinging around the shed is a bit much for me - I mark the stay & cut with a hacksaw
Also, are they available in a 35mm width?
Any chance of some pics of the back wheel?
Images elsewhere (google) suggest they are exactly the same only ones longer than the other around the tire
-
http://www.sks-germany.com/?l=en&a=product&r=News2011/2012&i=10439&LONGB...