I have a crud catcher on frame bosses and it’s a brill bit of kit, but rear mudguards…..hmmmm can’t make my mind up. I’m riding a lot of tow paths and woods at the moment and I know they work but they look awful.

Are they worth aesthetically destroying your bike to only keep some of the crap of your back?

No. It’s much better to ride around with your back covered in mud and with grit in your arse crack.

Get one – your bike won’t look so cool but at least you won’t have all the local kids sniggering at you because you look like a negative photo of a skunk from behind.

Are they worth aesthetically destroying your bike to only keep some of the crap of your back?

maybe

you really think bikes look cool

I’ve got a small flap of plastic that attaches to my seat made by mucky nuts it’s called a butt fender or something there is another company that makes a slightly larger one too carnt remember the name ….. it’s not as effective as a propper mud guard but does save your arse gettin wet thru ! ………… unless you drop off the back of your seat post then it wipes it all over your front on the way back up its quite flexible

Difficult decision for sure.

I know I couldn’t make my mind up alone.

I don’t care how crap it makes my bike look, if the conditions deserve a mud guard it goes on.

There is one called a Zefal no mud (it’s good because its long and swingarm mounts low and out of the way) that and a bender fender keeps the worst off but even so when it’s utterly shite out you’re better off with a set of good waterproofs. Nothing worse than a sopping wet arse on a cold day.

I wear waterproof shorts, the guys I ride with run mudgaurds, my 4rse is dry with muddy shorts, their 4rses are wet with muddy shorts, mudguards seem an unnecessary item as they don’t work when conditions get properly mucky

Not a big fan of the skunk stripe, but can’t find (or even imagine) anything that works once you start dropping of the back of the saddle for descents. So, for now, I’ll stick with (partially) waterproof shorts.

Cheers,

Andy

TBH it depends how much crap and the overall conditions. If you’re going out for a quick blast for a couple of hours, then the difference is smaller. If you go out for 6 hours in the wet in the middle of winter, then it makes a big difference.

If you get a good mudguard, and fit it right, it makes a real difference… But tbh lots of them are rubbish, and get fitted in the wrong place (especially on full sussers where sometimes people fit them really high for wheel clearance), and loads end up pointing in the wrong direction anyway. (and then people say “mudguards don’t work!”

My own opinion is that if conditions are bad enough to make you consider fitting a rear mudguard then it doesn’t matter about the aesthetics because everything will be covered in mud anyway.

[rant]the worst offenders are the people who fit them at the first sign of a damp patch and leave them on until the trails are baked bone dry. Like mr & mrs Matching Specialized Hardrock on the Chase last week – they had identical red & white rockhoppers with WHITE front and rear Crudcatchers arrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhh[/rant]

#atleasttheyrehavingago
#thetrailsareforeveryone
#weallhadtostartsomewhere

http://ass-savers.com/

ass Saver’s are your answer….
easy to install / remove with no tools small enough to fit in your pack and to not astectially distroy your bike, but large enough to prevent a wet bum.

but at least you won’t have all the local kids sniggering at you because you look like a negative photo of a skunk from behind.

Yeah, instead they’ll be sniggering at the uncool person with mud guards on the bike.

But seriously. If it’s tow paths, forest roads and the like, they’re no harm and can keep mud off your back if that concerns you.

Start getting bumpy then forget them unless you want to spend on a decent quality one that doesn’t snap off on the slightest bump, twist round, bang against the rear wheel. In general most people I’ve been with who’ve started out with them rip them off within a few weeks as they just get too annoying. I include myself in that.

Not that I tend to get much mud up the back, but if it’s really that bad a day to be unavoidable it’s always just on the Camelbak and that has a mud cover, if I remember to use it that is.

Just learn to love the mud. You’ll be a more frequent and less fair weather rider if you do 😛

GPWM.

I’ve got that bit of neoprene on the front forks and have a cheap and cheerful muddie on the back that is on for the short road ride up to the Chase and then gets hidden in the bushes at the start of the dog 🙂 easy-peasy

do people really care about what their bike looks like this much?

I don’t at all – I only take it off so’s it does’nt end up pointing at the sky for the whole trail and pissing me off all the time.

Do people care what people think of how their bike looks so much?

motozulu – Member

I don’t at all – I only take it off so’s it does’nt end up pointing at the sky for the whole trail and pissing me off all the time.

Try one of the various options that doesn’t suck. They’re not much more expensive than a cheap one that does.

Used to have one and just ended up being something else to remember/consider using. (Also swung my leg over the saddle getting on the bike at the start of a ride and booted it clean off the bike braking the fixings. 😳 )

Now I just embrace the mud – my local trails are Thetford so just assume mud is default riding conditions anyway!

The one I have is not that bad tbh – cost 12 quid from my LBS and fits on the seat post with a cantilever strap effort and actually covers the old ‘arris pretty well, tightens up with an allen key and is pretty solid – only the heaviest use brings it into contact with the rear tyre. Made by SKS and is the Tra-Dry X3 model. HTH.

If it ends up “pointing at the sky for the whole trail” then how solid can it be?

I have 2 rear cruds, setup properly they dont hit the tyre on a 5 inch full suss, they are more effective on a hardtail where you can run it closer though, one is 2004 the other 2007 or so, neither has broken.

They look rubbish, but I don’t care, I cant bare the thought of how sweaty waterproof shorts must get!!!

I like em. Nothing worse than a wet muddy arse. Clothes, saddles, dropper posts all last longer if they’re not covered in mud.

Cycraguard is my current preference – clamp and guard actually seems tough enough for off road use. Most seem to snap or swing round. QR so you CAN easily decide whether you need it for a particular ride (unlike Crud catcher)

Like the look of the Decathlon one that mounts onto brake bosses for sus bikes – thinking I might get them fitted to my next frame for that reason.

tinsy – Member

I cant bare the thought of how sweaty waterproof shorts must get!!!

FWIW, my Attacks aren’t sweatier than any equivalent non-waterproof shorts… You wouldn’t want to wear them on a hot summer day, mind you, but then why would you anyway?

If it ends up “pointing at the sky for the whole trail” then how solid can it be?

I exaggerated – it sometimes ends up higher than I want it after a particularly rocky section and I just have to push it down again – on the whole not that bad, but I do take it off for anything but the most atrocious conditions, tbh.

There is a bike in our bike sheds at work that has brilliant guard fashioned out of a coke bottle cut down the middle and cable tied to the saddle rails.

I might go with that. Had a new crud catcher last year. It fell off leaving the bracket 🙁

seatpost mounted guards on long travel full suss have to be miles away from tyre. seatflap thing looks pretty ineffective also for same reason.

any seatstay mounted guards for fs bikes? not sure, could work? depends on suspension design a bit.

yeah waterproof shorts i like except when it’s raining. they keep wind out and protect legs, but when they wet through, that’s awful chafing hell.

edit: just looked at my bike, with a horst link/true four bar, the dropout is fixed relative to the seatstay. guard on seatstay would definitely work better than anything else i’ve tried, does anyone make one? probably needs four mount arms, 2 each side, to be stable. one pair go down to axle, one joining higher up the seatstay?

they look awful

Never understood this. Mountain bikers are quite happy to ride round on something that looks like the result of a bad accident in a tubing fabrication plant whilst wearing clothes that Coco the Clown would find embarrassing, yet you’re worried about the look of a mudguard? Just put one on, it won’t look any worse and at least your backside won’t get covered in dog excrement.

get a black (or brown) mudguard, problem solved.

Waterproof shorts are a better purchase.

And weigh less.

Got one. Looks rubbish. Don’t care. On a not too wet day I can get in the car without having to strip off in the street. Better for everyone…