Topeak De-Fender RC11 mudguards

Unlike SKS' Raceblades or Crud's Roadracer the Topeak De-Fender RC11 mudguards set is a more utilitarian style with the short front and the rear sticking straight out from behind the seatcluster.

They do having an interesting fitting design though which makes them perfect for attaching in seconds should you get caught out in the rain while commuting. Maximum tyre size is 700x25c and they weigh about 140g for the pair.

Front RC1

This attaches via the rear of the front brake bolt, a neat little adapter passes through the rear hexagonal hole and screws into the thread of the brake bolt. This in turn has a little plastic adapter which allows the mudguard to snap on and off. Adjustability is taken care of by pivoting arms that are tightened in place by small screws. The whole assembly is then Velcro'ed in place.

In use the RC1 is bit pointless really. It's too short to really offer any protection from road spray as your feet and legs are still going to get soaked - and it's too narrow at the fixing point to fully stop water and grit being fired at the headset. The lack of any forward protruding section also means the front brake and headset takes a hammering from the front as well.

Once fitted, it can easily get knocked out of position as it is flexible from side to side. The removal/reattaching process is easy though and takes a minute to reset it to its position.

Rear RC11

This is an even less permanent affair being held on by a rubber bungee around the seat tube and a fabric strap around the crossbar. The angle is then adjusted by the usual allen bolt (allen key is supplied) style fixing - and jobs a good 'un.

The rubber bungee will fit a seat tube up to a maximum diameter of 36mm and along with the Velcro strap it stays put on pretty much any surface. The coverage is decent with a 25mm tyre and keeps the majority of rain and mud off your rear. Your bike's seat cluster still gets a soaking though thanks to the gap inbetween the two joining strips and obviously it isn't going to keep the rest of the drive components dry either.

Overall

The Topeak Defender set are obviously a solution for keeping the rider dry rather than the bike. The front and rear are a nice design which looks pretty good when attached to the bike and as I've said above the rear does a good job at keeping your back dry. Priced at £21.99 they cost virtually the same as the SKS X-Blade recently tested so the fact that the front isn't much cop still makes the rear decent value.

The fitting does literally take a minute once the initial adjustment is sorted which means the rear now sits in my commuting rucksack ready for those rogue showers that pop up when you're about to head home from the office.

All in all then the Topeaks are ideal as an emergency stopgap to avoid a soggy chamois. They fit well and are easily put on and taken off the bike, plus the quality of construction is very good; Topeak must be confident of that to be able to offer a 2 year warranty.

Verdict

Impressive rear performance paired with quality construction, don't bother with the front though.