[Closed] To ride with mudguards or without mudguards?

Brave or foolish?

I am always surprised by the lack of people that actually use mudguards, there's a strange macho thing about them. I spent a lot of money on my reverb and I also have a mucky nutz on the front to protect the stantions. Maybe I'm a bit paranoid! 😕

I've only got three on my bike!

Muli-function

[img] [/img]

If i could i'd have full mud guards on the full suss as opposed to the normal crud catcher types.
Some say it makes the bike ugly. Cant see what can be worse than me on it.

[b]Mud guards:[/b]

Negatives: You look ghey
Positives: You stay cleaner

[b]No Mud guards:[/b]
Positives: You look less ghey
Negatives: you end up looking like you've had a fight with a set of dirty badgers after a couple of miles riding, and your car, house, and even girlfriend will smell like rotting leaves and sticky mud for the rest of the year.

yup, no guards it is then....... 😉

Glad to see the rear guard put to such good use Kbrembo!!

I'm using two crud guards and the mucky nutz, the rear guard is right pain when using a reverb as my seat tube is pretty long and I've gotta have the reverb slightly down when it's not dropped.
Can't wait for the glorious summer that we are due and I can take 'em off.

Guards of various types have been tried by me but they rattle, twist, rub and fall off. They end up getting ripped off from frustration if they haven't fallen off. The geometry of my rigs now seems to avoid too much in my face muck. Rear guards get destroyed easily. And I don't care if my back is muddy. Protecting the bike from mud is sissy. A mountain bike should be ridden, not wrapped in cotton wool 😛

Only an idiot would ride in Britain without mudguards.

deadkenny

You obviously don't commute on a daily basis? And only ride your bike at weekends by any chance?

Still can't get one to work on the rear with my reverb though?

I don't run them on the road bike, but do on the MTB.

Anyone that thinks they look less cool running mudguards is deluding themselves, firstly you likely look a muppet anyway (there's like 3 people in California that look cool on an MTB, the rest of us don't) and secondly no one gives a damn, or are you really trying to attract members of the opposite/same sex whilst out on the trails?

Doesn't work with dropper posts and full sus and it's another thing to break. If I were commuting then I'd have a shower and full change.

I use inner tube on the crowns and a strip to protect the dropper post. The water from the sky gets you wet but we don't take umbrellas. It's only water.

I'm with deadkenny on this one. I couldn't give a damn about getting wet or mucky, after all that's why we ride, isn't it? Mudguards are a pain in the ricker, especially with a full-bounce rig, and since everything gets cleaned after every ride, what's the problem? The only nod I give to any form of mud guarding is a Rapid Racer splash guard on the front forks.

Vast majority of my riding is on road - mudguards at all times except racing (and of course, training on the race bike which is on dry days). Off-road, I hate the wet arse thing but never ride for more than a few hours so am not too fussed, I do think I need a good quality set of mud catchers though.

So what's the stock-in-trade realiable/durable/effective MTB equivalent of SKS then?

I should add, I ride either a hardtail or a fully rigid old konan so no issues mounting.

Just the neoprene mud guard on my fork for me! Dropper post makes fitting a rear one awkward for the bracket.

I've always hated guards on the mtb but have been running those Mucky Nutz ones front & rear which do keep the worst of the cack from your face & crack.

what are those chainstay mounted mudguards called?

Mud guards are wrong wrong wrong.

Unless you're a lycra-clad roadie in which case you won't look any sillier and they may in some circumstances actually serve a purpose.

Crudguards and a mucky nutz. I ride long distances and prefer to slow down the spread of the crap. I Agree they look rubbish, but honestly, I ride a mountain bike alone in the woods most of the time, who cares?

Dairy-O-Matic milk bottle based 'homage' to MuckyNutz on the forks, Crud Catcher on the downtube, Crud Catcher over the rear tire (cunningly mounted to the seat tube, not the seat post)

=

Dry arse, clean face/glasses, not covered in crap

I'm with deadkenny on this one. I couldn't give a damn about getting wet or mucky, after all that's why we ride, isn't it?

No. I ride for fun. Being wet, muddy and gritty isn't fun, it's uncomfortable and cold.

Mud guards are wrong wrong wrong.

No. They are not.

I've got a rear crud catched on my Reverb and it keeps both it and me less mucky. I have a homespun effort on the front made dead Defender & zip ties. Never get the chance to take them off as in the Lakes many paths.are like streams all year long, so they are more water guards than.mud....

I find a piece of old road bike bar tape under the mudguard clamp helps secure it to the Reverb with out impeding action.

Full SKSs on the fixie (road bike).
Front and rear crud guards, plus neoprene fork thingy on the SS.
Neoprene thingy on the full sus...

Mostly ride the SS in rank mud weather for obvious reasons...

DrP

Beside the fact that you can't bloody see when water and crap are spraying up off the front wheel into your face.

Anyone found decent mudguards for a cross bike? I bought some SKS ones and they rattle (not all the time, just enough to be annoying). I wish Crud made some!

[img] [/img]
This is my commute. I don't care what mudguards look like as long as they work.

@PeterPoddy - being wet, muddy and gritty is only uncomfortable and cold if you don't have the right gear. Decent water-proof/breathable gear makes a hell of a difference. Plus once I'm out I don't tend to stop for more than a couple of minutes at a time - that's when you get cold.

I've never used mudguards in nearly 30-odd years of cycling (both on and off road); I ride in all weathers and conditions and never had a problem. They're just an encumbrance that I can manage perfectly well without. Still, each to their own, I suppose.

@ DezB - that's what glasses are for - keeps the shit out of your eyes.

I'm not that concerned about them TBH, they do look **** but then so does riding a bike to most people, seems an odd thing for people to evangelize about though...

I use/have used crud catchers, old bits of inner-tube between fork crowns or a DIY version of a "Mucky Nutz" type fender on the front end of various MTBs to keep shite out of my eyes but I can't say I've ever been impressed enough with any rear fender/mudguard to actually want to fit one to any MTB that I own...

Road bike - close fitting guards in winter makes perfect sense to me, but I don't have any at the minute so I cycled in today without, and as there was almost no standing water and I didn't die or get particularly wet... I doubt I'll be able to get away with that for much longer so some new road guards shall be ordered tonight need to decide between something from SKS or Crud race guards...

Neoguard on the fork and waterproof shorts for me practically 12 months of the year here in 'sunny' Wales 🙂

[img] [/img]
And this is how dirty I got this morning.

For dropper post + FS combo use a Zefal No Mud mudguard
For the CX bike I just use a Zefal Swan road guard
I'm not a employee of Zefal :p (in fact the Swan's clamp is a bit too delicate and the No Mud can be a faff to fit right). On the rigid MTB I just use crud's front and rear

Mudguards here. I commute on my HT and its less mud to wash off when I get to work. Gave up looking cool on a bike years ago.

@ DezB - that's what glasses are for - keeps the shit out of your eyes.

And what keeps the shit off your glasses? (And in my case, expensive prescription glasses?)

@PeterPoddy - being wet, muddy and gritty is only uncomfortable and cold if you don't have the right gear

Correct

Mudguards = Right gear.

[i]@ DezB - that's what glasses are for - keeps the shit out of your eyes.[/i]

Mudguards stop the shit from going [i]under[/i] your glasses too.

On the commute they also do a great job of keeping your bike free of most of the road-grime spray. And who likes cleaning their commuter bike?

Broken crud catchers, seen snapped rear spoilers, don't get on our case just because we can deal with mud.

[i]don't get on our case just because we can deal with mud. [/i]

Don't get on ours just because we don't have to 🙂

Full mudguards mean I can ride to work offroad and not look like the swamp thing when I walk into work. Not much good for proper riding tho, so I use crudguards, muckynuts and neoguards, keeps the worst off you.

DezB SKS p50s with the plastic bits on the bolt points don't rattle for me but then again they are new, may start rattling after a few thousand miles dunno. Pretty sure they won't last more than a year or two offroad, have broken some guards after a few years of road riding but I'll be happy with a year out of a set.

@PeterPoddy - being wet, muddy and gritty is only uncomfortable and cold if you don't have the right gear

Covering that expensive gear in abrasive cack is a very good way to shorten it's useful life.

Also, leaving trail of cack in the pub is a no no.

+1 DONK

Quite simply my offroad daily commute would not be sustainable without mudguards.

Walking crap into my workplace is neither fun or fair!

the only downside to decent guards is that they look naff*

erm we're grown men riding bikes in the mud, we're never going to look good are we? And most can be removed quickly [s]when[/s] if the sun shines

*oh alright they add weight aswell but so does mud