Here in the UK, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to fitting mudguards on your road bike – particularly in winter. Mudguards, or fenders, for our American cousins, can make your riding experience in wet weather a lot more pleasant by keeping the spray from the tyres from decorating your backside and face like some sort of Jackson Pollock-inspired mud-mural.
If you’ve never used mudguards, you’ll probably be surprised at how much difference they make. A lot of the water that covers you when you ride in the rain doesn’t come directly from the clouds; it’s thrown up from the road surface by your tyres, especially in lovely British drizzle.
Mudguards are key to keeping dry – or drier than you’d otherwise be – in typical British conditions. That’s especially true in winter when water tends to stay on the roads for longer. If you’re riding year-round, make sure you have some of the best bike lights to help you stay safe, too.
Mudguards are also a vital courtesy on group rides. Sit directly behind a bike that’s not fitted with mudguards on a wet ride and you’ll soon realise just how much water tyres can spray up. A long rear mudguard, preferably with a flap, keeps spray out of the face of the rider behind you. Many clubs and riding groups demand mudguards over the winter.
Full-coverage bolt-on guards are the most effective option on any bike that can take them and will be used all year round. If you want some of the best road bike mudguards and your bike lacks mudguard eyelets, there are lots of options from full-length guards designed to squeeze into the limited space to clip-ons that at least keep your bum drier.
So, with all this in mind, let’s take a look at some of our top mudguard picks. You can also check out our page on how we review, which explains how products are selected to appear in this most prestigious of all the cycling mudguard buyer’s guides…
29 thoughts on “Best road bike mudguards 2025 — from clip-ons to bolt-ons and everything in between”
Choose Life. Choose a job.
Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose fenders.
I prefer a Les Paul ,Bob
I prefer a Les Paul ,Bob
Honjo (SimWorks / Rene Herse)
Honjo (SimWorks / Rene Herse) mudguards? Quality.
I gave the ass-savers win
I gave the ass-savers win wing a try though I was very sceptical. To my surprise, the contraption works just fine. Very minimalist, stays in place perfectly, doesn’t require cutting metal and easily removeable. Won’t do anything for the guy riding behind you though. They have a front wheel solution as well but on that one I’m a bit less enthusiastic.
On a commuter or when riding in a group they’re pretty much indispensable, though I don’t like the esthetics.
Mudguards can significantly
Mudguards can significantly reduce spray thrown up onto the rider, but unless they pretty much go down to the ground they are of very limited benefit to following riders. It seems that the tyre pattern is far more important in that regard, some tyres certainly seem more prone to picking up water and flinginging it upwards rather than sideways.
My flaps are legendary, in
My flaps are legendary, in Withington Wheelers. You missed the Cheshire Mavericks drop in flap surgery too, just before the clocks changed, when most clubs round here introduce the mandatory mudguards rule.
Bontrager full mudguards
I really rate the Bontrager full mudguards for ease of fit. The stays have a sliding adjustment so you don’t have to take a hacksaw to them to adjust them to size. Means they can be swapped to another bike easier
I’ll second that – I can’t
I’ll second that – I can’t believe these didn’t make the list. They are also great for adjustablility when swapping from road tyres to gravel tyres, as all you need to do is get the hex key out and move them in or out to suit. Plus they come in a few different sizes depending on how big you want to go, tyre-wise.
Agreed. The stays are
Agreed. The stays are slightly flimsy but are mounted outside the guard giving a clear water drainage path. It’s easy to find cheap used guards to extend the Bontragers to give better coverage. Sadly 26″ versions are getting harder to find.
I despair at some of these
I despair at some of these reviews.As the 2 people have said Bontrager guards rate highly.I have tried a few pairs in the review and they ended up in the bin.The Bontragers are in their 4 th year now.They also have an Integrated rear Blendr light mount for use with Bontrager Flare lights,which I find perfect.Not too mention mudflaps to front and rear.
I guess they aren’t in the review as Road CC mustn’t have got a pair FREE ? ?
I have the SKS raceblade
I have the SKS raceblade longs. They work well to keep riders dry but direct all the road crap directly onto the brakes and headset bearings with the inevitable result that rims wear badly.
Best mudguards?
Best mudguards?
Largest possible, longest possible, uninterrupted interior (stays on the outside), rolled edges.
I think I’ve tried every
I think I’ve tried every plastic guard on the market, and they all rattled, scraped and scuffed, and then broke.
The Kinesis are a complete game changer for me – I now have them on 3 bikes, and would only ever buy metal guards in future. They are rock solid, never move, and never make a sound.
For a bike where the
For a bike where the mudguards are fitted permanently, I reckon the best available are the Berthoud stainless steel guards. They seem to last forever (my commute bike has had the same pair installed for more than 20 years, and they look the same as the day I installed them), they have a rolled edge, which helps prevent water coming out of the side of the guard, they’re available in multiple sizes (26″ 650B, 700c) and widths (40mm, 50mm, 60mm), and are available with a good mudflap for the front, which gives a substantial reduction in the amount of spray your feet get off the front tyre. Come in either polished metal or matte black.
Here’s one of the front guards newly fitted to a touring bike.
Fenders ? They’re mudguards.
Fenders ? They’re mudguards.
This really could start a flame war the likes of which not seen since Swift.
Also, we eat biscuits we don’t eat cookies.
I eat both biscuits and
I eat both biscuits and cookies.
I bake far more cookies than biscuits. I’ve made chocolate digestives a couple of times, they were good, really good. Done fig rolls once, just wow. I have made English muffins, but prefer the American ones. Crumpet rings help for the English muffins, and homemade crumpets are different, but worth it.
Chocolate biscuit cookies?
Chocolate biscuit cookies?
Biscoff are speculoos cookies
Biscoff are speculoos cookies…
I’ve the previous generation
I’ve the previous generation of the M’Part guards (mine are a little less refined the the stay ends, just tradditional bolts). I got them because I was sick of SKS guards always cracking and/or their seat stay bridge mount breaking. The MPart ones eventually developed a rattle their chains stay bridge bracket developed play (Ive closed that with gas tape and fingers crossed its silence again) but crucially for me they’ve not cracked despite the state of our roads.
Canyon offers a fairly
The Canyon set is fairly brilliant (which might be suitable for other makes as well). Made from aluminium, with the supportbars on the outside to avoid “congestion” inside, they are light, silent, stiff and robust. Just the front needs a mudflap added – a “toe saver” attached with double-sided tape has done the job for me over 10.000km – in the wet, dry, muddy and dusty.
(And if you’re like me, you may find that their look fits current bicycles better than the look of the chromoplastics – even though you could cover the shiney metal bits in black shrink-tube.)
Velo Orange Al guards fan
Velo Orange Al guards fan here. The external stay fixing type are so much better than trad SKS style stay mounts. I have got some SKS Chromoplastics that have done ~15 years of winter miles though, they’ve done well.
Look up Raw Mudguard Flaps for great additions that make guards work better. I rate the reflective rear flaps from them.
I’m always at a complete loss
I’m always at a complete loss at some peoples aversion to mudguards, especially when commuting in winter; muck hosed up their backs (+ rucksack) and anyone close behind. If you want to be mudguard free when it’s dry, then use clip-ons. The joke are people with a fitted rack and no mudguards; it’s obviously a commuter/tourer so mudguards aren’t going to detract from the aesthetics. My wife’s old MTB commuter, that gets used in all weathers, had simple Crud mudguards, but I was constantly having to clean the chain and free up the front derailleur. Refitted it to a solid forked town bike and put fitted mudguards on; massive reduction in maintenance. I have an ebike with long mudflaps on the ends of the mudguards and they keep virtually all the road muck away from the frame. The bike mechanic I use says there are 2 types of cyclists, one group that are aware of their bike and noises, functionality, condition (and do something about it) etc and the rest who just ride their bike until it stops working and are surprised as to how buggered it is when the mechanic explains what’s wrong.
For easy fit, you can’t go
For easy fit, you can’t go wrong with these
https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/accessories-c11/mudguards-c146/ncs-700c-mudguards-p22287
Only £30 in a sale (narrow only), £50 normally
When I was building the
When I was building the Ultimate Commuter I’d intended to fit some Sykes wooden fenders , but I completed the build in-between employment I couldn’t justify it, so clip on crud’s for the 3 inch tyres. Then Mr Sykes decided to retire. There’s Woody’s as a similar product and MK Fender’s for the most incredible wooden guards, but by that point I’d already broken my forever frame, so I thought I’d give the much cheaper sks blumels 75s a go, see if I wanted mudguards that much, 18 months later after buying all of the extras needed and borrowing a drill to make appropriate holes in the rear they were eventually fitted. They work and they make the bike look good. Not perfect, as they are a bit too narrow and there’s not enough clearance on the front as it goes under the crown, and they are a bit delicate. Direct replacement for the front but when the rear went got a full set of the updated version. Better, with flaps, which I will have to gorilla glue on as they and the strengthener on the front like to fall off. And the clip for the rear was a nightmare to fit, over an hour with some very sore fingers. But could adjust, unlike the finality of drilling. Building up a supply of the little bits now, which will help in the essentially subscription I now have with sks. But even though I want MK’s (dark wood, exposed grain, double curved, maybe matt, perhaps satin, not shiny) but can’t justify £400+ for custom on a frame on its third (and now repaired) iteration.
“18 months later after buying
“18 months later after buying all of the extras needed and borrowing a drill to make appropriate holes in the rear they were eventually fitted”
M Part are better than SKS
Ive a slightly older generation of m’part guards 3 years ago as I got sick of SKS guards always breaking somewhere. After a couple of winters I had to bodge the clip at the chain stay to keep it quiet but they haven’t broken and I rate them better than SKS.
Lol, I made a similar comment
Lol, I made a similar comment last year, its another recycled article. The only thing of note really, a year on they are still siletnt and still whole 🙂
Don’t listen to them, road.cc
Don’t listen to them, road.cc! Revised recycled articles like this are a good thing.
Ah, the annual mudguards
Ah, the annual mudguards article. Stopped by to see if anyone had topped SKS/ Bluemels – seems they haven’t.
Available for £29 in matt black here https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/matt-bluemels-28-road-cycling-mudguard-set/_/R-p-X8385659?mc=8385659
The sizing issue doesn’t get talked about enough – the advice seems to be a 10mm difference between mudguard width tyre profile. Which gets compromised to 7mm by a lot of us running P35s with our 28s, which you can just about get away with.
SKS seem to have two designs of front pop-offs – ASR (supplied with the product from Decathlon) and the Bluemels Secuclip https://www.sks-germany.com/en/Products/Mudguards/BLUEMELS-MATT-28-SET.htm?a=article&ProdNr=109&p=1003. The ASR is integrated with the stays, whereas the Secuclip will work with any double stay.
The other thing in terms of pop-off safety that might be worth trying, (and I’m assuming you’re not running a rack on the same mounting as the guards) is nylon bolts instead of metal. A safety system at the eye and does seem preferable to the clunky arrangements at the mudguard end that you sometimes see.
SKS also tweak the end clips – last time I looked, the clip was intended to slip over the mudguard clip into a sleeve and then somehow on to the end of the stays – now it seems to slide over the bolt and then over onto the ends of the stays. In practice, I just cut off the plastic part that fits over the stays and use that as a simple end cap.
Boltcroppers are the quickest way to trim your stays; I don’t see how you’re going to not scratch anything if you hacksaw them in situ per the SKS /Bluemels instructions.
Boltcropping needs doing before you fit all the fasteners, hence my reluctance to fiddle about with the plastic end clips. You want to be able easily to adjust the fit over time is the other factor.
Longevity is the other question – when I look at my beloved 40 year old Raleigh Record Aces on EBay, most have either lost their splendid gold ESGE guards or they’re in a sorry state; but some have come through. They aren’t as tough as the all metal designs.