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Fitting mudguards…help!!

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  • October 24, 2016 at 2:04 pm #26432
    Bowks

    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? 

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  • October 25, 2016 at 9:30 am #880877
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    P3t3
    Bowks wrote:
    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!

    October 25, 2016 at 8:23 am #880875
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    Anthony.C

    40 minutes is nothing…took

    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.

    October 25, 2016 at 8:18 am #880873
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    Bowks

    Thanks for the empathy and

    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!

    October 24, 2016 at 10:57 pm #880871
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    Jack Osbourne snr

    Apologies for the one word
    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.

    October 24, 2016 at 8:26 pm #880869
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    Roadie_john
    P3t3 wrote:
    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.

    October 24, 2016 at 7:53 pm #880867
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    barbarus

    I have no tips but can offer
    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.

    October 24, 2016 at 7:31 pm #880865
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    Jack Osbourne snr

    Dremel.
    Dremel.

    October 24, 2016 at 6:24 pm #880863
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    StraelGuy

    One good tip for fitting SKS

    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.

    October 24, 2016 at 5:07 pm #880861
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    rnick

    Try raceblades, they fitted
    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.

    October 24, 2016 at 4:51 pm #880859
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    P3t3

    Have you bought the wrong

    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.  

    October 24, 2016 at 4:03 pm #880857
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    Bowks

    Thanks, I saw this afterwards

    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.

     

    October 24, 2016 at 4:00 pm #880855
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    NPlus1Bikelights

    Mild tangent: You’d be amazed

    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

    October 24, 2016 at 3:20 pm #880853
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    Martyn_K

    Linky linky

    Linky linky

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsHM24qWmpI

     

    October 24, 2016 at 2:29 pm #880851
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    dottigirl

    There’s a video on YouTube
    There’s a video on YouTube showing how to fit them. On phone so can’t link.

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