No protective tape….OP’s error IMO

traildog – Member

It must be me but I don’t really see that as damage to the forks. It’s the paint rubbing off, there appears to be no structural or internal damage. That’s what happens with mountain bikes. If the stantions were damaged like that then I would be seriously upset, but that’s not the case.

I would paint or tape it over if it upsets you, but to me, that’s what happens when you attach things to your bike and ride them in the mud, as the letter suggests. A bit of black electrical tape round the legs for a quick fix.

So if you fitted a bike rack to your car and it took all the paint off, would that be damage or OK by you?

A few scratches are one thing, that’s pretty much devalued an epensive set of forks.

I do agree though, you should have taped them up AND mudhugger should pop a little note inside telling people to do so.

To be fair, it’s pretty ridiculous that there are no warnings about cable rub, the first time most owners find out about it is when it damages their frame.

But this seems to be a lot worse so I’m not sure it’s a good comparison.

Really? Loose fitted parts in close proximity with mud, water and grit all over them, rattling about, and the possibility of rubbing/wear was news to you?

Come on how much hand holding and bright yellow warning stickers do people really need?

I don’t much like the phrase “Common Sense” but if ever it applied…. Well you get my drift.

Not the OP’s fault IMO.
They should give a warning of what can happen to unprotected contact areas with that kind of product. People that have never tried clip on stuff ,would have no idea how fast trapped grit can remove paint.
If he had been riding around Kielder his forks would be in half 😉

I tried a brand of clip on guards with a road bike .
They had rubber contact points , and as it was on a road bike I thought they would be ok.
Lesson learned, road grit,water and rubber moving (just a tiny amount) = perfect paint remover.

Hmmm. Shirley product testing would have highlighted an issue with paint wear. You could go to trading standards and claim unfit for porpoise etc…

That said i feel for you OP. what should have been a product to protect you and your bike has caused damage.

Has anyone mentioned that velcro has a soft side and an abrasive side (a bit like me)?
Never put the abrasive side in contact with something you don’t want rubbed. (Like skin, or er, paint).
Too late now though eh.

cookeaa – Member

I don’t much like the phrase “Common Sense” but if ever it applied…. Well you get my drift.

Common sense to me says a mountain bike product, fitted as designed, shouldn’t cause that sort of damage on the first ride. But if it does, and the company knows it happens, and considers it completely normal then they bloody well should be telling people, and providing them with whatever’s needed to stop it.

I would have helicopter taped… But even then I wouldn’t have expected this sort of damage after a single ride.

Certainly won’t be buying one as they seem to be selling a product that they know will damage bikes, and being **** about it.

So if you fitted a bike rack to your car and it took all the paint off, would that be damage or OK by you?

Well, one I don’t have a car and two I don’t believe that to be a fair comparison at all. If I had a land rover which I regularly took off road and fitted a bike rack to, and it scratched (not took all the paint off as the photos don’t show that) then I would not be that concerned.

The earlier comment about Shimano putting a warning that cable outers might rub your paint off is spot on.
What did OP really think was going to happen? Its going to have to be pretty securely bolted on if its not going to move about when clods of mud and water spraying over it.
Common sense is surely lacking here?

A bit of paint rub, fine, I would have learned my lesson.

This has rubbed a significant amount of the metal away next to the stanchion seals.

Perhaps it should have been obvious to me, but having used similar products in exactly the same way, and experienced NO problems and after weeks of riding there was no damage at all, so it wasn’t obvious that this product would be significantly worse to me.

So, I didn’t expect significant erosion of the metal on my forks, when using a product as designed, in the manner expected.

Its the significant amount of damage caused in a short period that is the issue, not a bit of paint rub

I suspect that people suggesting, what did you expect haven’t looked at the extent of the damage, so no hard feelings hey!

I’ve had frame wear from battery packs in winter riding, so anything which attaches to the bike nowadays, which moves about, gets some electrical tape first, or lizard skin patches on contact points. No issues since.

I can’t see what mud hugger can do apart from provide a roll of tape with their product?

Wisdom can be defined as ‘applied knowledge or awareness’.

OP, you now have the opportunity to be a little wiser.

Live and learn, and don’t put your hands in the fire.

cruzcampo – Member

I can’t see what mud hugger can do apart from provide a roll of tape with their product?

They could do that. Or they could just warn customers that their product will damage their bike. In fact, better still, do that before they buy the mudguard.

None of this stuff is very difficult, they’ve admitted they’re aware of the problem so why not tell people before it’s a problem, rather than after? That’s really all it would take.

@northwind, concur at the very least a disclaimer on the packaging!

Bloody hell, thats pretty substantial wear. Never had that sort of issue with my bender fender.

Northwind, I have found you to be a mine of useful information and counsel on this forum, but please, we’ve got enough dumbing down in society nowadays, so let’s not follow the examples of objects in this mirror type bollox, it will destroy common sense and the gift of free will, schools of hard knocks and learning from our mistakes.

It really is common sense to think about how a product, to be used in primarily wet and muddy conditions, will probably react to and with the parts of a bike, whether it be front or rear, when it is attached to it.

Nanny state, divide and conquer yadda yadda…. The OP ( and clearly others here) have just learnt that not everything will be spoon fed beforehand to warn us of all the multi-various pitfalls that may await.

slackalice – Member

It really is common sense to think about how a product, to be used in primarily wet and muddy conditions, will probably react to and with the parts of a bike, whether it be front or rear, when it is attached to it.

Exactly- and Mudhugger should have done just that. It’s not up to customers to make a product work properly. It’s also common sense that a product shouldn’t damage your bike when used as directed.

A bit of wear is reasonable but you can’t look at that amount of damage after 1 ride and think “Yeah, that was totally predictable”. That’s the equivalent of years of cable rub.

The earlier comment about Shimano putting a warning that cable outers might rub your paint off is spot on.
What did OP really think was going to happen? Its going to have to be pretty securely bolted on if its not going to move about when clods of mud and water spraying over it.
Common sense is surely lacking here?

POSTED 3 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST
Common sense is lacking if you know your product may damage peoples’ property yet fail to warn them. It’s all very well us saying “you should have realised, what did you expect to happen”,etc, but if you were new to this lark and this happened to you,how would you feel?
The producer is a fool for not warning people. Those little warnings that lawyers insist companies put on their products are there for a reason.

Is this a mountain bike we’re talking about? The thing that most of us throw down rocky and muddy trails, crash a lot, and wear stuff out on?

Or is it one of those Audi roof-top accessories?

Stick some electrical tape over the wear (then forget about it when you advertise the forks in the classifieds), stick the guard back on, and carry on riding 😈

I don’t agree, so let’s just agree to disagree shall we please?

I cable tied my one on and no marks on my forks.

^^^^ This

Got mudhuggers on 3 bikes – no problems to report on any of them.

Although – I did do the heat-gun trick that they suggest on the fitting instructions to help shape the guards better to the contours of the fork arch (mainly to help improve tyre clearance though)

Ran a Mudhugger all last winter, nowhere near damage like that over 4 months. But I do benefit from a unique gift called ‘foresight’. I know many other adults who share a similar gift, most of whom can read, write and bathe themselves too!

Cosmetic damage to mountain bike component subjected to continually being sprayed with grit and water caused by user error.

Simples

What’s a mudguard?

Perhaps the OP didnt fit the mudhugger as securely as he thought?

IMO OP is in the right here. Yes, cables and guards can rub but that is a ****load of damage for one ride – and the fact that MudHugger don’t include tape or even instructions to “use some tape” is pretty shit.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a product whose entire purpose is to protect you from mud to be designed such that it doesn’t wear away your frame when used in muddy conditions.

After a particularly muddy ride round Afan, my shorts started to wear the paint off my top tube. Who should I complain to? Troy lee? Santa Cruz? Or Afan for providing said dirt?

Them’s the breaks.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but a mud guard is there to stop you getting crap in your face. Which means said crap is going to collect where it gets stopped. It’s very unfortunate what’s happened but I don’t see why they are at fault.

Remember the fad of shock and fork boots? That was short lived when everyone realised they cause more damage than good.

Remember the fad of shock and fork boots? That was short lived when everyone realised they cause more damage than good.

My opinion (having had a bike that uses a shock boot for the past 8 years) is that they work really well, but they look ugly and ugly bike parts don’t sell.

Not mudhuggers fault but they should put a warning in the fitting instructions (although by the sound of it the op didn’t get instructions with his). I can understand the op’s annoyance and i doubt he’ll be buying anything else from mudhugger therefore mudhugger have lost a future customer which, for the sake of a warning in the instructions, doesnt seem like good business sense

yes, no instructions provided, and I just followed what I had done previously with a mucky nutz, resulting in no damage at all.

elliot, I suspect that the there was no damage to your bike, but only some minor paint scuffing, so not really the same.

if you had worn through half of the tube thickness of the top tube, I would imagine you would be pretty annoyed at santa cruz

Got to echo a lot of the comments here and say the manufacturers response is pretty reasonable (but yes I would be devastated if they were my forks, naturally).

Frame manufacturers do not say to helitape the inside of chainstays otherwise muddy tyres will remove paint. Outer cables do not come with warnings that they may eat your frame. Lights do not come with a warning that battery packs velcroed to your stem will remove paint. Garmin do not cover their mounts with warnings that the O-rings and mount will eventually make your shiney stem look all tatty. Cranks inevitable lose the paint from heel rub… you could go on forever. It is not the manufacturers place to second guess any of this and they don’t.

It is common sense unfortunately a point of contact between any two objects with the conditions we have in the UK will remove paint. I’m afraid it is a hard lesson to learn but is why heli-tape is so well used here on our little Isle

Just to add as well that I’ve damaged a frame to the extent of the OP’s forks in “just one muddy ride” too so do empathize, but unfortunately learned the hard way that the mud we have here is brutal unless you prepare surface correctly. I don’t blame anyone but myself and have learned

elliot, I suspect that the there was no damage to your bike, but only some minor paint scuffing, so not really the same.

Forgive me if I’m wrong but from the look of your photos that’s what has happened to your forks, albeit in areas to the metal. Excessive wear, yes. But ‘DAMAGE’ as you call it? Do your forks still work on the bumpy stuff, can you still ride your bike? Thought so.

if you had worn through half of the tube thickness of the top tube, I would imagine you would be pretty annoyed at santa cruz

So you’re implying from that I should have contacted the people whom the wear was inflicted upon? Surely on that assumption you should be contacting Fox for shitty paint?

I’m playing devils advocate, I understand your annoyance but I don’t really see what you can gain here, apart from blowing steam, the circumstances were such that it is an unfortunate case of wear and tear. Crap happens and I feel sometimes we’re all too quick to point the finger at someone rather than accept it for what it is.

I had wear from a velcro rrp guard. Never take my mudhugger off to look.