If you believe that mudguards should be full length and provide as much coverage as possible, this thread possibly isn’t for you. However if you can help or have advice other than leave them as they are I’d be glad to hear what you have to say 🙂

I’m currently rocking a front Crud Catcher and a rear Topeak Defender m2 for commuting duties – I’m happy with the performance of both, but not too keen on the look of the Defender.

In a bid to find a little better coverage and better looks at the same time I’ve gone and bought a set of SKS Bluemels with the intention of changing things a bit.

To give an idea of what I’m after length wise I fitted the front guard to the rear of the bike and ended up with this…

My intention is to cut the rear guard so that it gives the same length over the top of the wheel, but still protects the front mech/bb area. I also want to fit the guard without the provided metal stays.

Going by the way the rear guard fits to the bike, it looks like it’ll offer a touch more protection as it won’t be so wheel hugging…

So – question time…

Any ideas what would be best to cut the guard with? It appears to be a thin sandwich of plastic, foil and more plastic. Craft knife for a neat job?

If the guard ends up having too much lateral flex after cutting down, any suggestions how I could brace it without using the metal stays or adding too much weight?

Why does the rear guard have an odd shaped cut out near to where it mounts to the bottom bracket?? See pic below…

Any help much appreciated 🙂

Right, fighting the urge to say just do it properly but here goes, obvious ones first…

Cut-out is for the chain and to ensure it dosnt hit the front mech, that pic makes me think you bought ones too narrow, should be approx 10mm wider than tyre as a rule.

Cutting it down, it’ll flap like a flag in a storm. You WILL need to use at least 1/2 a metal stay (you could cut off the 2nd strut each side since your cutting off the second mount point).

Cutting it down still leaves a big bit of your tyre uncovered, this may keep mud off your arse but you’ll still probably get wet in the rain (have same problem with too short crud’s on a 29er).

Having it spaced away from tyre might sound good, but water/mud will just shoot out sides, covering your legs and probably dropping down onto chain.

…just fit it properly! they work so much better that way! sorry, couldnt help it.

I cut mine down with a hacksaw no probs, and tidied it up with a file.

Your plan will result in a very wobbly ‘guard. You will need the stays. Just spray them black and they’ll practically disappear.

If I was you I’d stick with the Defender BTW 🙂

STATO has it covered.

Not actually sure that fitting it properly is an option either (though I thought it would be prior to purchase). The picture with the rear guard fitted is mounted properly at the BB mounting point, but the bridge on the seat stays means there’s not much room for adjustment – it’s touching it in the pic.

As for width it’s a 60mm guard. I ordered a 60mm and 65mm guard at the same time with the intention of sending back the one with the worst fit back, but the 65 ended up being out of stock. Looking at the profile of the 65mm guard I’m not sure that it would have been a better fit anyway!

Thanks for the info!

Width is prob ok then, maybe just the angle of photo. Ideally you want the guard the same distance from the tyre the whole length, the minimum distance usually being at the seatstay bridge (as you point out this is the tightest). As long as you have some clearance you should be fine, NOTE: many people recommend constant spacing, it should stop debris getting sucked in and jamming at the tight spot as there would be no tight spot.

When fitting the disc side, you can easilly bend the struts around the caliper, you shouldnt need much of a bend. I usually put 2 sharp kinks in to sort of ‘offset’ it away from the caliper, looks nice and tidy that way.

Just looking again, does the rear use a plastic mount at the seatstay bridge? if so mount it outside the stay, should give you a few more mm to play with.

Billytinke – I’ve modded two sets of SKS’s. I got best/neatest/slowest results from fine tooth hacksaw. But it was SLOW. Heat /friction-heat works best if you’ve got something to do this for you in the garage, a dremel with a “diamondy” bit thing kind of wore and melted the plastic all in one go. Hard to explain, but it starts off drilling and then starts melty-drilling with nice smooth results and is a 30 second job. Maybe try on an unwanted but first.

#Edit – having looked at your photos in detail – the cut out is for a typical f-mech. Your’s may / will / not be. I’m taking a stab in the dark here really but I’d think about leaving the rear intact (for the 2nd brace) and rotating the guard fwd, cutting it at the front and adding a cutout that suits your f-mech. But – tbf- I like doing that kind of thing -ymmv etc..

couldashouldawoulda – Hacksaw is working well, just a few burrs left that needed a little file down.

Your idea about leaving the rear intact is the way I’ve gone, doesn’t even need a cut out for the mech so I’ve just left it as is in that respect.

Problems with the braces though – not sure if the frame will accept them? The holes that I thought were for the braces are too small for the supplied fixings. Is the hole on the far left for these or something else?

Getting there now…

Just need a way of stabilising the rear end of the guard. Options include either P clips and stabiliser bars or to fabricate a new much longer metal bracket for the seat stay bridge.

Looks like it won’t be finished this weekend though.

Looking like mk1 crud guard now

The holes that I thought were for the braces are too small for the supplied fixings. Is the hole on the far left for these or something else?

That hole does look like its “suitable” but maybe the photo makes it look proper / scarily close to the cassette (ie the far side where a bolt’s big end would normally sit).

So some questions: What’s it like on the disk side (will it clear the caliper / mount)? Are the SKS stays long enough to get from that hole to the guard? Have you got the plastic U shaped thingyies for the ends of the stays? Would an M4 bolt fit through that hole?

Lastly – it that a Whyte 901?

looks awful close to the tyre in those pics – I’d be tempted to cut it off just in front of the seatstay bridge and bodge the leftover piece onto the seat tube to give more clearance

How about one of these?-

Can’t remember the name but someone will- did some v wet commutes and mounted close to the tyre stops most of the spray- also had the added benefit of allowing swingarm movement- plus it can be fittedat the back or the front on your forks. The mounts are a bit clunky but it is fairly secure.

Althepal: bear with me whilst I dig out some photos. I’d guess that’s a “rockrider” or similar.

It works well on FS frames. But usually takes some bodging.

Bear with me for some photos.

The Decathlon Rockrider mounts on Canti Studs. That Yeti in the photo is wearing a Zefal NoMud

Rockrider on my Yeti after hacksaw and cable ties:

And a possible solution to the OP’s small hole problem: from my GT but you should get the gist (see screwfix for parts):

Tried the rockrider but was gonna mod it into something v similar to the current set up tbh..
Works fine and doesnt contact the frame when the suspension compresses- cos I iz soo gnar!
(aye right!).
Anyways, as much as I love a good bodge, it just works and was fairly cheap too..