Hi All

can anyone recommend me some functional mtb mudguards? Rear and front for a hardtail.

I have used plenty of seatpost attachable variants and they simply do not work. I do not have this option now anyway.

Previously I used a decathlon rockrider (recommended from here)that attached to existing V brake mounts and it was fantastic, unfortunately I do not have this option now.

I previously used a shockboard on the front that can be transferred over but would welcome advice on front guards too.

Much appreciated!

Mud hugger rear and fat gut fender with a neo guard up front is the only combination that I’ve found to work. Using a rigid fork btw

Look ugly, work amazingly well. A bit of overspray onto feet from fast puddle interfaces but aside from that all good.

A mud hugger front with a crud catcher does a good job.
Proper protection will require proper guards. P clips makes fitting them possible.
There is a trade off between staying clean and clogging up with mud though.

Still using a mid-nineties Crud Catcher on the rear of my hardtail. Looks shit, keeps my arse reasonably clean and dry.
On the front I’ve got a downtube Crudcatcher and a fender bender on the fork which do a good job of stopping mud getting in my eyes.

Shockboard (or something exactly like it) is still the way to go on the front imo. Downtube guards just aren’t any good and this trend for arch mounted guards just seems daft to me, crown mount avoids all the mud trap issues and is better at catching watery spray too. SKS’s range is pretty confusing though I think, I have some shockboards but I’ve no clue which of their guards I’d buy today, shockblade maybe. Grand DAD for the fatbike maybe.

Rear, only recommendation I have is the Topeak Defender, but it’s a seatpost mount. Certainly the best I’ve tried since crudcatchers went shit. Very adjustable, but still going to have issue with suspension. So not sure if that’s any use to you.

There’s always the Zefal No Mud.

The extra long Mudhugger on the front of my Rocket does a brilliant job of keeping my face/glasses clear enough to see through. Far less concerned about the other end, although I got the missus a matching set of Mudhuggers for Xmas, so I’ll see how she gets on with the rear one of those.

#mudhugger FR front & Mudhugger rear, dropper friendly & guaranteed dry arse

Use a Toepeak front fender great don’t bother with rear.

Do you not end up with toe overlap problems with long front guards on an mtb?

No but I’ve got size 8 feets.

since crudcatchers went shit

For those of us who don’t keep up with developments in the mudguard market, what happened?

Thank you all for the advice.

I have checked my shockboard front and it won’t fit 🙁

I was going to go with the mudhugger rear based on your replies so I think I will just bite the bullet and try the set.

Thank you and long live dry arses!

@edlong, the old 3-bolt design was ace, but they switched to a pretty terrible single bolt/friction fit design. It’s been tweaked and improved but still basically shit. (I got mine working well eventually but I don’t think fitting a mudguard should involve a lathe and plastic welding).

Why doesn’t the shockboard fit? Tyre clearance, or the fitting hardware? That’s my one beef with the boards, the fitting kit is poor, mine are all held on with cableties.

The shockboard doesn’t fit as the attachment that takes the mudguard simply will not fit in the hole underneath the fork arch, even at maximum adjustment.

As said the latest crud rears are just crap. They don’t work and I binned mine. The front have the usual crud guard on the downtube but fitted an SKS one that has a nylon strap, which goes round the seatpost in 29er guise and I haven’t been so clean on a ride for a very long time. It looks a bit meh, like all guards but I don’t care this time of year and it take 3 seconds to unlatch and remove, without spanners. The only bad bit, is it doesn’t stay in shape and can twist a bit, but it does work and glad I got it.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/sks/x-blade-2-rear-29-mudguard-ec049781