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Mudguards

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  • December 3, 2021 at 12:08 am #31875
    IanMSpencer

    Has anyone noticed that gravel bikes with 2x gearing typically make great winter road bikes with plenty of mudguard clearance, and the makers typically provide fixing points for mudguards…

    …but the makers have not spoken with any mudguard manufacturers so the only way to fit them to the likes of Ribble and Giant is with the deft application of a Dremel – preferably to the guard?

    There have been a few examples popping up at the club and although they all sport massive clearance, not one has got mudguards fitted without modification. Several have a bolt hole under the fork crown, similar on the rear for me.

    The Giant also has a cunning arrangement for having the stay holes at the rear hidden in a reversible cover… Not helped I reckon Giant last made a bike specific manual explaining all their quirks in 2006 – so I’ll never know what all the spare bits in the plastic bag are for (including the seat post shaped and sized clamp for a rack where their website says “not for use on seat post”).

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  • January 12, 2022 at 10:52 pm #986693
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    srchar

    Pretty much par for the

    Pretty much par for the course, no? Bend and trim the stays, drill a hole in the front guard if the fork has a threaded boss beneath the crown. If you bought a bike without thinking about fitting mudguards, maybe rig up a bracket between the rear stays.

    You only have to do it once.

    December 14, 2021 at 4:51 pm #986691
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    joncomelately

    My experience is different to
    My experience is different to the OP. I have a Ribble CGR AL, and some 45mm SKS guards (?thermoplastic or some such). Aside from shortening the stays with a hacksaw (which is probably de rigeur for guards) no fettling required, and they’ve been flawless. Probably took me less than an hour to fit front and rear.

    Previously had a Boardman CX Comp (I know not gravel) that I fitted some M.Part guards to (forget which). Looking at the two bikes, I’m confident the M.Part ones would have required equally minimal fettling.

    My wife has a Spesh Diverge that I fitted guards to with a slight bend to one stay but nothing else (after Spesh couldn’t supply us with their custom guards).

    Not sure which one of us is experiencing selection bias!

    December 13, 2021 at 4:37 pm #986689
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    IanMSpencer

    The whole decent bike with
    The whole decent bike with decent mudguards is a revelation, isn’t it?

    I’ve never been into the “Real men look like they’ve sh*t themselves” style of winter riding.

    December 13, 2021 at 4:17 pm #986687
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    huntswheelers

    I built up a Boardman CX team

    I built up a Boardman CX team the UCI 2x version into a Gravel spec do anything bike….one I can whack on the back of the Motorhome and go anywhere, town, road, off road, bikepacking and even mountain trails with a huge 528% gear range that they never thought of on the drawing board…lol… . My ride pals and I head out off road, National trails etc so I built one for fun….I decided to whack some mudguards on…and I use SKS Speedrockers…solid, quiet, don’t budge,easy to wash the worst mud you can throw at them…they have been fantastic for 12 months now…I run them with 35’s Gravelking SK or 33’s Terrano MIx for mud…I have a customer I built one for on 40’s under these mudguards….

    December 12, 2021 at 11:15 pm #986685
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    kil0ran

    Yeah, I’ve had this issue.

    Yeah, I’ve had this issue. Rather than retain the front rim brake mounting hole they insist on doing the plug it in to the bottom of the fork thing. It’s a pain for running dyno lights too. And don’t get me started on whether the rear seat stay bridge is (a) present and (b) oriented correctly.

    Fortunately there are enlighted manufacturers out there (why, hello Fairlight) who pay attention to such practical matters. 

    December 12, 2021 at 7:59 am #986683
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    brokenorange

    I fitted SKS Speedrockers to
    I fitted SKS Speedrockers to my Giant Revolt. Works a treat and super stable. I’ve added the rear extender for road duties as the native configuration is too short for group riding.

    You need to cut the mudguard legs but this can be done with a good pair of cable cutters. It did take well over an hour to get everything perfect.

    This is the first time in well over a decade of riding I have had a bike with front and rear mudguards and I love it.

    December 3, 2021 at 12:39 pm #986681
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    TheBillder

    It took me most of an
    It took me most of an afternoon but at amateur speed and being quite pernickity. I agree, hard to tell a customer that £30 mudguards cost the same again to fit.

    I’m hopeful that my old bracket mount has a bit more flex than standard, and I didn’t even move the clip on the guard to avoid fatigue.

    https://cdn.road.cc/wp-content/uploads/roadcc/IMG_20211203_123805596.jpg

    December 3, 2021 at 10:39 am #986679
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    brooksby
    IanMSpencer wrote:
    Mainly because with stays to shorten, and adjustments it was probably an hour’s work, and you could never charge an hour’s labour time…

    Why?  If someone’s paying you to do a job, and that job takes an hour, then surely you charge them for an hour.  If they queried it, then the answer is “That’s how long it takes”.

    December 3, 2021 at 9:47 am #986677
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    IanMSpencer

    When my mate with his Ribble
    When my mate with his Ribble (I think an Endurance too) asked where he could get mudguards to fit, their answer was “Erm?”

    December 3, 2021 at 9:43 am #986675
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    IanMSpencer

    I always hated with passion
    I always hated with passion fitting mudguards for customers. Mainly because with stays to shorten, and adjustments it was probably an hour’s work, and you could never charge an hour’s labour time… and often it was difficult to get them to fit.

    On mine, I had to remove the front angle bracket, I decided rather than drilling out the rivets, to slice off the upright and tape it over with matching insulating tape. At the rear there is no seat stay attachment point, so I swing it back to get a long drop at the rear, and left about 6″ forward of the seat stay. I think that might actually be better, see a lot of guards snap at seatstay due to stress, especially SKS.

    December 3, 2021 at 9:26 am #986673
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    Steve K

    I ordered my RIbble Endurance

    I ordered my RIbble Endurance Ti with Ribble’s own mudguards.  However, because of stock issues it came without them and they sent me them later.  I was a little miffed that their own mudguards supplied for their own bike needed drilling before they could be fitted.  But, to be fair, they had offered to pay for my LBS to fit them; and in the event I fitted them myself, so given my mechanical ineptitude (ask my LBS!) it can’t have been that hard!

    And, as TheBillder says, mudguards always need fettling anyway.

    December 3, 2021 at 8:47 am #986671
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    TheBillder

    Mine – Ridley X Trail with
    Mine – Ridley X Trail with SKS Longboards – needed one hole drilled in the front guard and use of an old bracket from a reflector to compensate for the lack of a seatstay bridge. And the quick release fasteners wouldn’t fit.

    But given that mudguards always need fettling when fitting (and often afterwards) I don’t think it was too bad. I took my time and am pleased at the results.

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