Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

review

Ass Savers Win Wing

9
£22.00

VERDICT:

9
10
Great for keeping your bum dry and easy to fit
Stops that wet bum feeling
Easy to fit
No help for anyone following you
Needs careful positioning
Weight: 
64g
Contact: 

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 mean

Good scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.

  • Exceptional
  • Excellent
  • Very Good
  • Good
  • Quite good
  • Average
  • Not so good
  • Poor
  • Bad
  • Appalling

Simple but effective, the Ass Savers Win Wing keeps your bum dry by harnessing the power of physics to make a light and minimal rear mudguard that nevertheless works well. It looks handily placed to make it into our best mudguards buyer's guide too.

Sitting really close to your tyre, the Ass Savers Win Wing is in exactly the right position to catch water that's thrown off the tread at a tangent. This is handy because as anyone paying attention in GCSE or O-level physics will remember, that's the direction that things travel when they're thrown off a spinning object. (It's also why those shorty mudguards you saw on cheap 'racers' back in the 70s and 80s were useless. They were supposed to stop water that was flung radially off the tyre, but that's not what happens.)

Ass Savers Win Wing mounted close to tyre

It Just Works™ and in terms of what it's like to use there's not much more to say, except that it's also stable and rattle-free.

The Win Wing comes in two parts, a wishbone that mounts on your seatstays and a blade that clips on to it. You mount the wishbone so there are just a few millimetres clearance over your tyre, then clip on the blade so it sits at -10°, 0° or +10° to the wishbone.

Ass Savers Win Wing strap

The idea is that you get it in such a place that it puts your back from the knees up in a sort of 'rain shadow'. That means you want it horizontal or slightly tail-up. A tail-down position will let water past from further down the wheel.

The wishbone's held in place with two polyurethane rubber straps and you're rightly encouraged to reef them up good and tight. That done, it's possible to move them up and down the stays if you really shove hard, but they don't move in normal use.

2022 Ass Savers Win Wing - 1

The downside of course is that the Win Wing doesn't stop water from your back tyre from spraying up at anyone following you. This is a great aid to staying dry on solo rides, but please get your full-length-mudguards-equipped bike out for group rides.

Rivals

There are loads of rear mini-mudguards out there, including the Zefal Shield Lite M that Stu reviewed, which costs just £6. The best of them include the £12 Zefal Swan guard that Ash rated very highly and the SKS X-Blade mountain bike mudguard that Shaun liked nearly as much. There have been loads of others that we've liked over the years but this is a product category where being good seems to be no guarantee of longevity.

The Ass Savers Win Wing can hold its head right up among this company. It's as effective and simple as any of them, albeit at £22 it's at the top of the mini-mudguard price range. Oh, and if you run tyres fatter than the 38mm upper limit of this version, there's a Win Wing Gravel for you.

Who should buy the Ass Savers Win Wing?

If you've got a bike that just won't take mudguards, or you want a guard that you can pop on your best bike for the occasional damp solo ride, the Win Wing is for you.

Verdict

Great for keeping your bum dry and easy to fit

If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website

road.cc test report

Make and model: Ass Savers Win Wing

Size tested: Road (tyre width up to 35mm)

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?

It's a mini-mudguard that has its own mount and does a very good job of keeping your bum dry.

Ass Savers says:

Full backside rider protection from the knee and up

Patent pending Wishbone attachment system

Attaches in seconds to every bike, requires no tools

Ultra-lightweight at 64grams

Suitable for tire widths up to 38mm

We have yet again rewritten the rules of fender design with our new, ultra-lightweight, clip-on performance mudguard – the radical Win Wing.

The Win Wing Road fits practically any skinny tire bike, protecting the rider in even the worst conditions. Ideal for winter training or if you want to add some comfort to your puristic urban ride. The Win Wing won't rattle or jam, and with only 64g, you won't even notice it's there.

Based on the principal of Tangential Coverage, the Win Wing catches the spray by shielding the upper rear quarter of the wheel, protecting your critical areas (thighs, butt and back) and drastically increasing your comfort. And when comfort can be had without a weight penalty, that's what we like to call a 'win-wing situation'.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Ass Savers has several times more words of tech info about the Win Wing than there are grams of material in one!

Technical data

Measures: 375x85mm

Weight: 64g

Material: Blade - 0.9mm PP (Polypropylene), Wishbone holder - glassfiber reinforced PA (Polyamid or Nylon) and Strap - TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane).

Tangential Coverage

The key to understanding how the Win Wing works lies in physics: water and mud leave the wheel in a straight line from the tangential point of release. By shielding only the upper rear quarter of the wheel, the Win Wing eliminates spray from reaching the critical areas of the rider with a minimum of material.

Mount right, mount tight

For the Tangential Coverage to work properly, the mudguard needs to be installed very close to the wheel. Aim for 5-10 mm tire clearance for maximum coverage.

The right angle

Just as important as a tight fit is the angle of the blade. There are three different settings to compensate for the angle of your seat stays. Choose the one that allow a horizontal or a tail-up position. Avoid a tail-down angle as this will reduce the efficiency of the fender.

Strap it hard

The straps are made from ultra-tough TPU and should be pulled as tight as you can comfortably do by hand. If you experience that the mudguard is not stable, try to use the next hole in the strap.

Anti-Jam

As sturdy as it is, the design of the Win-wing allows it to flex in case of an accident and it's constructed to not jam in case of large chunks of nature get stuck to your wheel.

Anti-Theft

If you like to keep it attached to your bike permanently, the Win-Wing can be secured to your bike with a standard zip tie, through a designated slot, making it easier to resist for people with sticky fingers.

Reliable

Thanks to its sophisticated simplicity and careful choice of materials, the Win-Wing is virtually indestructible. With only four components (competitors use as much as 40 components) it's not that much that can go wrong. The glassfiber reinforced wishbone holder is both flexible and tough and the rubber straps are virtually indestructible.

Pre-folding

The secret to transforming a flat piece of plastic into a functioning mudguard lies in the pre-folding prior to use. All the scoring lines have been carefully engineered to achieve locking mechanisms, self centering abilities, spring loading and material endurance. Please take the time to properly read the instructions/see the instruction video to ensure the best performance.

Sustainability

The black blade is made from 80% recycled PP and the Win Wing has been designed for efficient shipping and easy recycling. Each component can be purchased separately, making repairing and upgrading convenient. The Win-Wing is 100% Made in Sweden in ISO 14001 certified factories.

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10

Everything's tidily moulded and pressed.

Rate the product for performance:
 
9/10

It keeps your bum dry. Nuff said.

Rate the product for durability:
 
9/10

It's early days, but the wishbone, straps and blades all resisted a bit of simulated abuse.

Rate the product for weight (if applicable)
 
9/10

64g is bugger all.

Rate the product for value:
 
6/10

It's worth £22 for such a simple and effective way to keep your bum dry, but that price is a bit higher than most of the competition.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Very, very well.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Ease of fitting, stability, keeping my bum dry.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Nothing.

How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?

There are loads of rear mini-mudguards out there, costing from just £6 for the Zefal Shield Lite M. The best of them include the Zefal Swan at £12, and the SKS X-Blade at £25. There have been loads of others that we've liked over the years but this is a product category where being good seems to be no guarantee of longevity.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your overall score

This is an excellent mini-mudguard and pretty much the only thing stopping it getting 10/10 is that it's £22 instead of, say, £15.

Overall rating: 9/10

About the tester

Age: 56  Height: 5ft 11in  Weight: 100kg

I usually ride: Scapin Style  My best bike is:

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, club rides, general fitness riding, mtb,

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

Add new comment

9 comments

Avatar
Steve K | 1 year ago
2 likes

Mudguards like this are the height of selfishness - only concerned about your own cleanliness and not anyone else.

(I post this semi in jest, but only semi!)

Avatar
peted76 replied to Steve K | 1 year ago
1 like

My name is peted76 and I have a confession.

I ride in a club which doesn't have a mudguard policy, a lot ride their race bikes all year and traditionally those bikes couldn't fit full guards (although I concede that there seems to be a mudguard to fit everybike nowadays) however a faceful of road muck once or twice a week on a training ride is our accepted norm, indeed sometimes weirdly enjoyable.

Social rides are a different affair and most if not all on those rides will be kind to their fellow riders and utilise guards. My point being, the ass saver type of guard do have a place, however much users of said guards may be vilified.

Avatar
Steve K replied to peted76 | 1 year ago
1 like
peted76 wrote:

My name is peted76 and I have a confession.

I ride in a club which doesn't have a mudguard policy, a lot ride their race bikes all year and traditionally those bikes couldn't fit full guards (although I concede that there seems to be a mudguard to fit everybike nowadays) however a faceful of road muck once or twice a week on a training ride is our accepted norm, indeed sometimes weirdly enjoyable.

Social rides are a different affair and most if not all on those rides will be kind to their fellow riders and utilise guards. My point being, the ass saver type of guard do have a place, however much users of said guards may be vilified.

Yes, I don't disagree with that.  It's really cycle commuters my comment is aimed at  1 

Avatar
JustTryingToGet... | 1 year ago
1 like

I hate these so much that I suspect it's an emotional response rather than a logical one! 😆

Avatar
peted76 | 1 year ago
1 like

As someone who doesn't like the faff of mudguards and therefore doesn't fit them this is a solid choice over my usual ass savers. I know I should fit proper guards and I do own some, but as I have a couple of bikes which I'll use in these inclement seasons and as I'll put either bike onto the turbo and I put my bike in my boot once a week, convienience is king. 

Avatar
IanEdward replied to peted76 | 1 year ago
1 like

This for me, I have the luxury of my old CX bike for nasty winter rides, but for summer gravel on my nice bike this is a perfect product to pop on and off just to save a wet bum.

Also (extreme niche alert!) if you're still running rim brakes this is probably a lot easier to fit than some other gravel mudguards that assume no obstruction at the seat stay bridge.

Am liking the rainbow version also 😎

Avatar
huntswheelers | 1 year ago
0 likes

I don't see the point personally......at times like now....when it's sloppy bridleways and wet roads along with hard trails Speedrockers are a better bet....I've had them for 2 years, no rattles, easy to take off (I don't as I use my Gravel when motorhoming) if needed and full cover too....... I guess....you pays yer money and takes the choice....

 

Avatar
fukawitribe replied to huntswheelers | 1 year ago
0 likes

Choice is as good a point to them as anything - they do what they're supposed to, they're smaller, cheaper, and look slightly easier and quicker to fit then Speedrockers - and some folk might just like the look of them. I can't see any point in not having them available, after that it's up to potential buyers.

Avatar
shufflingb replied to huntswheelers | 1 year ago
0 likes

Speedrockers are excellent on road and for hero gravel but if wander into swamp buggy territory they get easily clogged with clay and/or leaf detrius and are pita to clear (as does anything with full coverage). These on the other hand look like they might work but possibly a bit too flimsy to dethrone the X-blades, will see ...

Latest Comments