Sensible precaution or fashion faux pas?

If it’s the former, which ones? Crud Catcher/SKS X-board/x-blade or other?

Muckynutz. Crap name, good guard, British firm. You only need the front (bender) fender.

Avoid the butt fender. Job’s a good un.

You only need the front (bender) fender.

Sadly, it looks like you need two fork legs for that, which is a problem for my bike. Is the gut fender any good?

If you ride for a couple of hours or longer in winter a rear crud guard is a good idea. It looks a bit crap but spotting all the mud and water flying up onto your shorts is good.

On the front I’d say crud catcher and neo guard

Sensible faux pas. I use a Bender fender (Muckynutz) for the stanchions, crud guards f+r when it’s claggy for me. Keeps the dollops off my face, dropper and backside. I’ve had (pre mudguards) mud fly up onto the lens on the inside of my riding glasses!? 😯

Regular riding in winter calls for lots of kit washing, the rear flap really reduces the amount of faffing with shorts.

I’d rather be comfortable and be able to see than have a soggy @rse with the hope of not offending someone! Rear mudguards tend not to get on well with full bouncers, which is fine as I’m on a HT.

I do what he said 4 hours riding in mud – I want a mudguard and do same at the front as above

IME front mudguards dont really work and or break easily hence that set up

I’d go with a crud-catcher if it’s a down tube guard you are after…although they only catch a bit of what’s flung at the rider, they are better than nothing, and inexpensive.

I have no experience with these Mudhugger’s but they look like they could work.

Not entirely convinced with the 10mm rear tyre clearance in really claggy stuff, but the blurb suggests the shape of the rear guard will remove the mud as the wheel rotates…. Or something like that.

I’ve had (pre mudguards) mud fly up onto the lens on the inside of my riding glasses!?

Yep, been there, done that. To the point I’ve had to take one contact out because I’ve got grit behind it and ride home effectively one-eyed.

What rear guard, then? And anyone recommend a downtube guard that plays nicely with downtube cable routing?

Next bike will definitely have top tube routing, especially if it’s the el Mar I have my eye on.

Oops, mine aren’t cruds; they’re Cycra guards.

Cycra fronts don’t care about cables which is pretty handy, they have little rubber wedges which lift them out of the way. The rubber fixing straps don’t look great, but they do the job well.

Yep, been there, done that. To the point I’ve had to take one contact out because I’ve got grit behind it and ride home effectively one-eyed.

Yikes!

I’ve been impressed with the Topeak defender – its got a quick release so is good for dropper posts and also really adjustable so should be able to suit almost any frame (as long as you got about 1.5″ of seat post to attach to). Much better than the crud guard I had before.

For front guards, if you want to do it right, get one that rotates with the fork. Bender Fender is ace, but small, if you want more serious mudstopping then something like a Shockboard (the mounting hardware is crap but add a couple of cableties and you have something light, not too ugly, and hugely effective). Front crudcatcher/similiar are just a joke really, both ugly and ineffective.

Rear… Some bikes struggle, on a full suss they tend to have to be so high that they’re not very effective. Crudcatcher used to be the daddy but the current design is a total abortion of a thing, such a step back (but fixable- with a soldering iron and a lathe and a proper bolt, they work very well indeed)

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/article/mudhugger-front-and-rear-mudguards-just-in-38344/