62
votes
Accepted
What are the holes in the mudguard for?
All was said already, those holes are for so called coat protector (those prevent your coat or trench being caught by the revolving wheel).
What was not done is placing a picture of one, and one ...
- 4,201
27
votes
What are the holes in the mudguard for?
The holes are for attaching a skirt guard, a net of cord to keep skirts or long coats from being caught up in the spokes of the rear wheel.
- 391
26
votes
Why are fenders/mudguards undervalued so much?
In e.g. the Netherlands the majority of the bikes are equipped with fenders and lighting. These bikes are used for everyday transportation. Only Road bikes and all-terrain-bikes are seen without.
If ...
- 361
23
votes
Why are fenders/mudguards undervalued so much?
High-end "road bikes" are essentially racing bicycles, and in many countries it's fashionable for riders to dress like riders in the UCI World Tour. The fashion extends to the bicycles as ...
- 2,611
18
votes
Accepted
What are the risks of fenders/mudguards?
First, if you're using a conventional cantilever brake (i.e. with a yoke, not a link wire), you need a fender or reflector or something to avoid the yoke catching on the tire.
As usual, Sheldon is ...
- 45.4k
11
votes
Accepted
"Racing bikes" with fenders and a rack
The problem with nostagia is the n+1 rule. Bikes manufacturers have been on a never ending quest to make bikes more and more task specific. This means most "racing" bikes are not well suited to ...
- 29.8k
11
votes
Accepted
Rear fender angle
The spray will come off at a tangent to the wheel. If you're trying to prevent your back getting wet, putting the short fender to the rearmost position is the best but your legs will still get spray. ...
- 28.4k
11
votes
Why are fenders/mudguards undervalued so much?
For recreational riding, they are often seen as unnecessary weight that can be saved without paying more for lighter parts. A typical recreational rider would simply avoid riding in a rain. And if not,...
- 3,312
9
votes
What are the risks of fenders/mudguards?
Since the current answers skim over what I think is the key point I'm going to add a late answer.
The risk is that the fender itself can jam a wheel. If a front wheel jams you're almost certainly ...
- 23k
9
votes
Accepted
What are these mounts for on inside edge of carbon fiber fork?
They're for full fenders. Many disc road and fitness/urban/hybrid bikes now have them here in order to completely avoid strut interference with the brake. To install the fenders neatly I've been ...
- 65.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Is it safe to mount fender stays and disc brakes on the same bolt?
Do not do that. That's dangerous because those stays are often made of soft steel and it's easy to bend or damage them, which means they'll pull out from under the bolt head. In that case you end up ...
- 23k
8
votes
What are these mounts for on inside edge of carbon fiber fork?
Tommaso here.
We put them on the fork so riders can install fenders for off road and other adverse weather situations. Hope you enjoy the new Sterrata!
- 81
8
votes
Why are fenders/mudguards undervalued so much?
A different way to see things is that fenders are usually considered aftermarket equipment. They are not critical for the bicycle to operate safely, after all. The same could be said of lights, of ...
- 18.4k
7
votes
What are the risks of fenders/mudguards?
I believe the main accident risk is that something gets caught between fender and wheel and blocks the wheel. If this happens with the front wheel, a crash is quite likely.
This can happen in two ...
- 2,070
7
votes
Accepted
Has anyone ridden fenders in a Grand Tour?
Yes, for smaller ones. No, for full mudguards.
Tour de France
Here's Team Katusha using them on the ‘Paris Roubaix stage’ of the Tour de France in 2014, according to Stickybottle:
While mudguards are ...
- 1,329
6
votes
Accepted
A long, straight, stiff mudguard?
I think of three kind of mud guards that fit the description: musguard, quickfix, and fender bender.
An other solution is the ass saver, but this is not what you are looking for.
- 330
6
votes
Accepted
How to release Planet Bike fender safety release tabs
The only purpose of the tabs is to be the weakest link in the chain so that, if something gets stuck between the wheel and the fender, the tabs will break, allowing the fender to come loose. If you ...
- 16.7k
6
votes
Why are fenders/mudguards undervalued so much?
There are a number of reasons:
Many, especially high-priced bicycles are used as good-weather-and-good-road-cycles, only. They don't need fenders.
Fenders are a cost factor to the manufacturer.
...
6
votes
Why are fenders/mudguards undervalued so much?
They have been included in many times and places and for many bike genres.
I think the answer to your question plays out culturally and economically a little differently around the world. I will speak ...
- 65.1k
5
votes
What are the risks of fenders/mudguards?
The fenders on my MTB is made from plastic similar to those used in scuba fins, so they are fairly flexible, so when something does jam, they bend slightly and bend back.
When I first installed them, ...
5
votes
Accepted
How can I avoid mud from splashing onto my back without a rear wheel fender?
Use a seatpost-mounted rear mudguard, like the SKS X-tra Dry:
For the front, you can also use a downtube mudguard like the SKS X-board:
These are convenient for bikes which don't have proper fender ...
- 45.4k
5
votes
Are there fenders designed specifically for bikes with racks?
Fenders don't fall into an "ok with racks" or "not ok with racks" category. Generally speaking, most traditional fender designs will work on bikes with racks attached. There may be certain ...
- 2,040
5
votes
Accepted
How to re-shape a bent steel fender
Generally you'd take the fender off a bike, put it on an anvil, find the right place on the horn of the anvil that matches the radius of the curve, and bang out the ding. Then you'd buff out any ...
- 28.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Mudguard bracket clearance
Easiest approach is simply to bend the top in a vice to get it to clear the head set:
- 29.8k
5
votes
Anyone tried to brush mud/snow in rear-wheel while on ride?
I prefer not using anything in the snow to block the snow. You risk the snow packing in the snow blocker (e.g. fenders) and freezing, which can be dangerous. A brush against the tire (depending on the ...
- 45.4k
5
votes
Chainguard vs front mudguard to protect the chain from spray
Chainguard is not there to protect chain from dirt spray from tires, unless it is a completely enclosed chainguard (which is not feasible on derailleur bicycles). A chainguard is there to protect your ...
- 11.4k
5
votes
Chainguard vs front mudguard to protect the chain from spray
The rear fender will act mostly to keep spray off of you, as opposed to the drivetrain; the spray hitting the bottom bracket and chainrings will be coming off the front wheel. I would argue that it'...
- 3,819
5
votes
Marin's weird fender bolt hole direction
Already mentioned in a comment, but in my opinion worth an answer:
The fender is installed by drilling or punching a hole through the fender and putting a screw through the fender and the hole in ...
- 19.1k
4
votes
Quick Release on Fixed Gear Bike
They come with bolts because QR's typcially don't clamp with enough force to keep the wheel from slipping forward.
It looks like you have rear facing dropouts, so you should easily be able to use QR'...
- 10.9k
4
votes
Mudguard/fender width advice
3mm is definitely not enough, especially with plastic fenders!
A good rule of them is your fenders should be at least 10mm wider than your tires. I run 42mm tires on one bike and it has 58mm fenders....
- 1,584
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible