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Crashed because something got stuck in mudguard

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  • November 24, 2014 at 8:36 pm #22779
    Dutchie

    I was out riding about a month ago, going down a very quiet backroad where there were leaves all over the road. Suddenly I was lying on the tarmac – something had got stuck in my front mudguard, locking up the front wheel and throwing me over the handlebars. Now recovering from breaks in both my jaws. I’m wondering if anyone has had similar experiences with mudguards?

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  • November 25, 2014 at 10:33 pm #821717
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    KiwiMike

    rabeynon wrote:I had a

    rabeynon wrote:
    I had a problem with SKS Raceblades. the ziptie from the front mudguard that goes around the brake mount just snapped, dropping the mudguard onto the wheel and locking it up, catapulting me over the handlebars!

    only my second outing on them, so just assumed it was the 1 in a million dodgy ziptie

    You sure they were SKS Raceblades? Sound a lot like Crud Roadracers to me. I have two sets of Raceblades, and no zipties are ever harmed in their application. Also, they only mount on the fork legs.

    November 25, 2014 at 10:12 pm #821715
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    pga

    This happens more often than
    This happens more often than we care to think about. Frost and damp can be fatal making tyres sticky and debris easily picked up and jamming the wheel. Front wheel jams are more serious. In the old days when we all had good clearances and Blumels mudguards that snapped on impact it was usually ok, but not always. Today however the mudguards use different plastics and do not snap on impact, hence the need for safety fixings at the mudguard eyes. Again front more important than back. The Giant Defy mudguards fit brilliantly on my close clearance Defy bike but have the big failing of no safety fixings. Touring in France this year and forced to cycle on newly laid chippings for several kilometers was a nightmare with chippings pinging away all the time inside the mudguards. I have searched in vain online for safety fixings to use with the single stay support for the front Defy mudguard.

    Meanwhile my sympathies go to Dutchie and best wishes for a full recovery.

    November 25, 2014 at 9:54 pm #821713
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    rabeynon

    I had a problem with SKS
    I had a problem with SKS Raceblades. the ziptie from the front mudguard that goes around the brake mount just snapped, dropping the mudguard onto the wheel and locking it up, catapulting me over the handlebars!

    only my second outing on them, so just assumed it was the 1 in a million dodgy ziptie

    November 25, 2014 at 8:35 pm #821711
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    Dutchie

    Thanks all. My mudguards were
    Thanks all. My mudguards were fully fixed, no safety releases anywhere (like I said, I’d never really considered anything like this happening). If I do fit a front mudguard again, it will surely be with safety release clips!

    P.S.: the most annoying thing apart from having to live on soup and ready brek for a month is that I’ve missed out on several good weekends of riding :”(

    November 25, 2014 at 3:53 pm #821709
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    Super Domestique

    Get well soon!
    At least I can
    Get well soon!

    At least I can use this as another reason to dislike mudguards!

    November 25, 2014 at 3:35 pm #821707
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    Chuck

    That’s rough, hope you mend
    That’s rough, hope you mend soon. I’ve got to say though that I think this would be such a freak occurrence that I wouldn’t start doing anything differently because of it. Avoiding front mudguards altogether sounds like a massive over reaction!

    November 25, 2014 at 1:10 pm #821705
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    KiwiMike

    Wow, that’s unlucky there
    Wow, that’s unlucky there Dutchie. Get well.

    Was once in a shop where the retailer ranted on about never using front guards (despite having the full SKS range on a wall display behind him) – he was terrified of a dropped arm warmer or pump getting stuck.

    It’s one of those things that needs context though – I reckon our small club has racked up maybe 20,000 miles over the last two winters-worth of crap all over the rural roads, and the one crash we had (last week) was a guy with new Ultegra brakes grabbing a handful at low speed, locking the front and going OTB.

    November 25, 2014 at 12:31 pm #821703
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    gthornton101

    Sounds nasty, hope you’re
    Sounds nasty, hope you’re recovering well.

    I’ve recently just put on my first set of “proper” mudguards (not a Full Windsor fold up type). They are the SKS Bluemels and they do have a safety release clip on the front mounting to try and prevent exactly this problem. It was not something I had considered before but makes perfect sense – did yours have this and not work properly, or do yours not have a release?

    November 25, 2014 at 7:41 am #821701
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    CXR94Di2

    Not with mudguards, but my
    Not with mudguards, but my mate decided he would come cycling with me, having not been on a bike for 20 years. We were travelling around Rutland water trails. I knew it wasn’t going well within 2 miles, he was seriously struggling, realising he was very unfit. Then all of a sudden he went over the handle bars having some how managed to flick up a twig into his front wheel spokes….

    Fortunately it was only his pride that was dented. Needless to say Rutland water loop ended there. He hasn’t been on a bike since, such a shame as he was once able to do 10 mile TT in 24 mins.

    November 24, 2014 at 10:44 pm #821699
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    joemmo

    Nasty, hope you recover
    Nasty, hope you recover quickly. Did you have safety release clips on the front stays like this?

    http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/mobile/sks-secu-clips-for-front-mudguard-stays-per-pair-prod666/

    They are designed to help prevent this happening and from personal experience I can say that they work. The stay basically pops out of the clip and although the mudguard can still get crumpled you are less likely to go over the bars suddenly.

    This article explains why you should have them and what happens if it goes wrong

    http://www.ctc.org.uk/article/technical-guide/mudguard-safety

    I’d still be wary of trying to run full guards with a very tight clearance on short drop brakes though.

    November 24, 2014 at 10:03 pm #821697
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    Dutchie

    Thing is I’ve grown up in the
    Thing is I’ve grown up in the Netherlands where everyone rides bikes with mudguards (on any type of bike except road bikes) and you never hear about anything like this happening, so I never thought about it. But then the mudguards on citybikes and the likes are a lot sturdier than the lightweight things you get for roadbikes, so they wouldn’t deform and get stuck like what happened to me. Think I might be going without a front mudguard as well in future…

    November 24, 2014 at 9:56 pm #821695
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    NickK123

    Likewise – rear (Raceblade)
    Likewise – rear (Raceblade) only. Very sorry to read and hope you make a quick recovery. It confirmed my view that I will accept wet feet and legs rather than the varied problems with a front mudguard.

    November 24, 2014 at 9:42 pm #821693
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    pablo

    Jesus that sounds nasty. I
    Jesus that sounds nasty. I don’t run a front mudguard only rear but the unused fronts i have come with a quick release for this very reason. Hope you get back out!

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