Full Windsor Quickfix rear mudguard

There's still a bit of life in our wet and windy spring yet, so these Full Windsor Quickfix rear mudguards might be a life-saver.

Full Windsor is a London-based bicycle accessories design company, named after its founder, Mark Windsor. From the name, you might think they actually make ties, but in fact these are mudguards with a clear resemblance to a necktie. Made from durable plastic and available in a range of colours, they're easy to fix and work very well.

There are two models, which only differ in how you attach them to the bike: the Fold'n'Fix is fixed with cable ties, while the QuickFix is attached with poppers. Each is a tapered piece of plastic, that's wide over the wheel, narrower at the 'neck' of the seat stays and then wider again where the mudguard meets the seat tube. To put it on, you fold the plastic by pinching and feed it through the gap above the brake bridge. It then attaches to the seat stays and the seat tube, either with cable ties or poppers, depending on which model you have. Simples. Took me about 10 seconds to understand and 20 seconds to do - and you can watch a little video here, if you like.

They're also easy to adjust, so there's no scraping on the wheel, and they come with little clear vinyl stickers, to protect your paint from rubbing. The Full Windsors are only designed for bikes with twin seat stays - so no wishbone stays - and centre-pull calliper brakes won't work either. Normal side-pull callipers and cantilevers are fine, so they're good for probably 95% of road and commuter bikes out there.

It seems to me these have one huge advantage over most other easily attached rear mudguards - they give some protection from rear-wheel spray towards the seat tube. This means your feet, calves and the backs of your thighs stay much dryer. It works well and the design is truly easy to use.

I mainly used the poppered one - the QuickFix. The Fold'n'Fix, while slightly more streamlined and discreet, seemed to lose the crucial on-again-off-again-stash-em-in-yer-bag advantage of the poppers. I just couldn't be bothered farting around with cable ties.

The poppered version is a little more expensive, but I reckon it's worth it. I've not seen any of the more 'disposable' rear mudguards (I'd say quick fix, but that'd quickly get confusing) that are as elegant or as efficient as a proper set of full-wheel, close-fitting mudguards, but these work very well, and are less dorky looking than most. Overall, the Full Windsors come highly recommended, for a quick, convenient solution to keeping the rain off your behind.

Verdict

Good design, easy to mount, provide a better level of rear cover than most quickly attached mudguards.