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Fitting mudguards...help!!
Yesterday, I spent a good 40 minutes trying to fit SKS Bluemels to my Giant Defy with Ultegra 6800 caliper brakes and failed miserably. It appeared that the calipers were going to crush the guard and I couldn't get the washers to fit behind the front brake mount, so I was worried it was going to scratch the paint from the headtube.
Does anyone have any advice or a decent guide to fitting them?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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29 comments
Great timing! I've got a 2013 Defy and have gone through 2 pairs of Giant Defy Fenders in 3 years, both breakages were the metal tab which connects to the brake bridge on the rear.
Spent a few hours trying to fit a rear SKS Bluemel but gave up because it went on fine but the wheel wouldn't turn. I'm in two minds whether I use cable ties to bodge the Giant fender back on, or hack away the SKS to get it to fit. I reckon will be quicker to get the Giant so most likely to do that, unfortunately it is too flexible and the rattle drives me mad.
Next bike will have more clearance.
If the front mudguard impedes the calipers then the Raceblade LONG set is the last option!
A paintwork protection is supplied together with the guards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K6LAnkKn6s
Defy Adv 2 - with discs on 28mm Pro 4s ... and a set of Giant Speedshield universal 'fenders'
I invented some new swear words.
Rear are now fitting, no rubs - straight as a die...
Front...I have no words to describe this ... I may die if this 'fender' even strays by 2mm from it's currently fitted site...
Think I'll just live with spray from the front wheel...
I second the PDWs. The front went on in minutes. The rear sometimes needs adjustment around the bridge. They are so easy to put on and take off and look great.
EDIT: and I have a 48cm frame - to get a front mudguard to fit in the first place is a minor miracle. The PDW is lovely and snug to the wheel, which minimises toe overlap.
Try these...
http://road.cc/content/review/95213-pdw-full-metal-fenders
The rear guard has a fitting that loops over the caliper to make it easier - seen them on a number of race frames that wouldn't otherwise take a guard. Not cheap, but very well made
Yep n+1, stop destroying quality gear and buy a dedicated winter bike, kinesis or ribble for example! Or one of those boardman disc jobbies!!
or even, god forbid, sell the defy with ultegra and use the cash for above....
I got a new bike 3 months ago, so that plan is out the window!
The Defy is a 2009 model which was my only bike for the past 4 years, the groupset was a very nice upgrade, so the value is less than the sum of its parts.
My new TCR Advanced has 105 and I've considered swapping 6800 onto that bike, but I'm more than happy with the TCR as is, so the Defy is now a commute/winter bike with a very nice groupset.
My SKS standard mudguards saved me last winter when a stick got into the front one, the clips popped out instantly and I didd't get ejected over the bars. The QR mechanism worked perfectly but the front guard was never 'right' again which is why I now have the longblades instead.
Oof. Glad my guards have the qr mechanism. Locked up my guards at slow speed once on a close clearance frame. Went down like a sack of spuds.
There's a lot to be said for proper winter bikes.
I fiiied Defy mudguards to my Defy 2 - quite easily but be careful they fit very close to 25mm Gatorskins and there is no safety quick release device on the front ones. It is very easy to pick up stones, leaves etc, especially this time of year, so there is potential for a serious straight over the handlebars job.
If it's your winter bike and the guards are not going to be removed, don't worry about scratching the paintwork on the head tube.
"At the back I mounted the pressed steel part that holds the guard to the caliper the opposite way round to the instructions so I gained more clearance under the guard. "
If you mean this part
http://www.cycletourstore.co.uk/touring-mudguards-sks-bluemels-review/img_4235/
they are now made of plastic so not fit for calipers. If you have calipers you have to buy a metal bridge separately. The Defy probably won't fit them anyway, o.p. would be better off with these.
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/gear/product/giant.road.fenders/592/54781/
Even fitting Giant's own 'road fenders' without cursing & swearing depends on your Defy's frame size. They're a good fit unless you have an XL frame, in which case they're too small and you'll need to do a bit of modding with a Dremel and a fair bit of fiddling and readjusting to stop them rubbing once fitted.
Even after getting mine on, they broke away from the bracket that fits behind the brake after a few months of being battered on Edinburgh's roads. Luckily, I was able to do a further bodge with zip-ties to cinch them up tight against the underside of the brake again.
They're OK guards, but they still rattle excessively despite being held tight in the right places.
I was commenting to my missus on Sunday morning that I see a market for bike cafe with repair shop in our neck of the woods. Up until the afternoon I thought I was pretty handy and could tackle most jobs, but when it comes to mudguards, there would be a 'we don't to duvets' rule!
40 minutes is nothing...took me hours. With the front you have to bend the mount to fit it at the front of the caliper which is easy enough, with the rear the mount is plastic and not fit for use so will, indeed, be crushed by the caliper. The only solution is to buy a metal mount.
Thanks for the empathy and suggestions thus far. I purchased the 35mm width, which are the narrowest I know of and I didn't go for Raceblades as once these are fitted, I'm not planning to remove them, since this is now my winter/commute bike.
If I have the time and the patience I'll have another crack at them. If not, I shall hurl them in the back of the shed and get Raceblades!
Sounds like you need to take your time. When I fitted them to my bike it took a lot of fettling but I was trying to get a guard + 25 mm tyre under a short reach caliper, I had to file down various parts to make the system work. This included the aluminium L-plate that holds the front guard to the bike (made it thinner and elogated the bolt hole so I could snug the guard further into the caliper). At the back I mounted the pressed steel part that holds the guard to the caliper the opposite way round to the instructions so I gained more clearance under the guard.
From picture the 6800 calipers look to be the newer shimano design and they appear to be deeper than the older designs but if you look at the shape they are no wider (infact they look narrower!) - this may be why the guard won't fit. The suggestion of a dremel or a file may help solve this problem by removing some of the edges of the guard. Take your time offering the guard up and carefully finding out where it is catching before doing this. But at the end of the day you want the guard to keep water out of the bearing surfaces of the caliper so its best to avoid putting holes in the guard here.
The problem with the system you have (short reach caliper) is that its the same old story of them selling race bikes for everyday riding (you may actually use it as a race bike, I don't know). Short reach calipers and guards is rubbish, as is 23 or 25 mm tyres on a winter bike. Its far far easier and more practical when there is more room to play with, but of course that doesn't look like what the pros use so its no good for a commute to work or a punt around the lanes at the weekend!
Apologies for the one word post earlier... Not very helpful of me!
A dremel, however is just one of a number of tools and methods I've used to fit mudguards. Others include: hairdryer; power drill; hacksaw; bolt cutters; a selection of (not supplied in the fixings kit) bolts, nuts and washers and of course cable ties.
Assuming you've bought the right width of guards, there's a couple of things you can do:
- take a dremel to the guard and cut a couple of notches for the calliper arms to move into
- Heat the guard with a hairdryer on max and try to narrow the profile at the brake. Mark where the callipers squeeze then heat and pinch that area in with pliers.
- use the thinnest washer you can find to pack the space between the fork crown and the mounting bracket. Remove any washers that come with the brake and store carefully until needed again. You'll probably need to adjust brake pad alignment after doing this.
-drill out the mounting bracket rivets, remove the bracket and then "hang" the guard from the brake bolt using the two holes you just drilled.
I think my third option should work for you in terms of attaching the guard. Once you've got it fixed post a couple of pics if you still have crush problems.
I have no tips but can offer empathy. I fitted some SKS chromoplasts today and really needed more swear words than I had access to. I ended up very carefully hacksawing off the excess stay; I'm sure a dremmel would be a good idea.
Dremel.
I used the fitting of guards as the excuse to buy one the other weekend.
Made the job so much easier.
One good tip for fitting SKS guards (the rear ones anyway) is to grip the bolt loops in locking pliers and bend the arms over so that they naturally point towards the tyre. This means that as you start screwing the bolts in, the actual arms aren't constantly fighting you as you're getting everything adjusted.
Try raceblades, they fitted quickly. I gave up on giant's own brand guards on my wife's avail, just the same problem plus milimetric clearance between tyre and guard.
Have you bought the wrong width? You will need the narrowest one for a short drop caliper like 6800. This could be why it looks like its going to crush the mudguard.
+1
never the easiest to fit, but once they're properly on, you're sorted. +1 for cable ties too.
Thanks, I saw this afterwards and looked for more videos that were relevant to caliper equipped road bikes. The equivalent front wheel video doesn't show fitting to a road bike with calipers though, they cheat and use a suspension fork with disc brakes.
I'll have another attempt, this time positioning the mudguard mount between the caliper spacer and caliper itself.
Mild tangent: You'd be amazed what decent thin grade cable ties can either fix or repair with mudguards, especially when bad road surface vibrates nuts and bolts apart. Yes they were even given a blob of glue. I currently have front fork end and between the forks mount attached to guards with them and there is a little movement but no wheel rub
Linky linky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsHM24qWmpI
There's a video on YouTube showing how to fit them. On phone so can't link.