I’ve picked up a new (to me) disc-braked road bike for commuting. What’s the forums’ mudguard of choice?

I’m after something full-length to provide coverage for a 28mm tyre. Cost and ease of fitting/removal not too important – I just want them to be solid and not rattle!

Current front runners are SKS Chromoplastics or Bluemels, M-Part Primoplastics or Kinesis Fend-offs. What’s the best – or should I be looking at some other option?

Kinesis are Ace.

I have some Specialized dry tech. Really long and really good.

SKS Longboards, are errr long, & come in a 35mm & 45mm width. Rule of thumb is tyre width + 10mm, so that puts you on the 45’s

SKS rear ones are great. The front bracket on whichever ones I have though (not sure which model) is shite. It’s some sort of wobbly affair evidently designed to come off in a crash, but it means that there’s a wholly un rigid connection at the dropout and the whole thing wobbles and chatters.
If you can get the ones with a one piece front stay, that’s probably be a lot better.

EDIT: I think it’s BLuemels I have.

Can’t comment on the others, but have used various versions of Bluemels/SKS for many years, and they just do the job.
I like to use 45mm guards with 28mm tyres. Easier to set up, more tolerant of any movement in the guards (you’ll always get a wee bit of road vibration through the stays) and clearance for studded tyres for winter commuting.

It’s some sort of wobbly affair evidently designed to come off in a crash, but it means that there’s a wholly un rigid connection at the dropout and the whole thing wobbles and chatters.
If you can get the ones with a one piece front stay, that’s probably be a lot better.

Whatever you do, always use the breakaway connectors on front mudguards, and do not fit them with one-piece stays (intended for the rear wheel). They are designed to prevent crashes by allowing the mudguard to pop out if something jams under the guard/stays, rather than folding up and stopping the wheel. It’s a rare occurrence, but you can come to a rapid halt if it happens.
Breakaway mounts work fine if fitted correctly. I prefer the square block SKS ones, rather than the Y shaped type, which I found a bit flimsier.

Someone on here posted a nice picture a few years ago of his remodelled forks after an incident involving rigid front stays…

Have you got mudguard mounting points on the frame at all? My Cannondale hasn’t – so I got some SKS ones. I think they are raceblade xl stealths (just means they are Matt coloured).

They are much better than previous versions of raceblades I had and attach to the seat stays / forks legs with a bracket and rubber fitting. They came with a clear plastic tape that goes on first to stop scratching to the frame. Run them for one winter and never stayed so dry. I’ve only got 25’s but I think they’re meant to cover at least 35’s – they’re pretty wide / long.

After initial fitting they haven’t needed regular adjustment they’ve just worked. Front was more fiddly to fit than the back but all done in say an hour.

Thanks for the replies so far – keep ’em coming 😀

Have you got mudguard mounting points on the frame at all?

Yes. It’s a disc-specific bike but has hardware to mount points at the dropouts and where the seatstay bridge would be, so I can use full-length fixed guards 👍

Sorry, have to recommend PDWs over SKS (can’t comment on others).

Have SKS on one bike and PDW on the other, PDW setup much quieter and neater. I think it’s the tubular aluminium stays rather the steel wire stays, give them more rigidity.

On the other hand, the SKS guards are ‘good enough’ and I can’t really justify the cost of a set of PDWs for the second bike (yet…)

PDWs are brilliant, but they are rather expensive. It depends how much you value longevity and an absence of rattle.

I have limited experience, but the SKS on my commuter bike are solid, don’t rattle and work fine. I do need to make the front flap a little bigger, that’s easily sorted with an old bottle, some scissors and a a rivet gun.

My PDW’s creak a bit. My SKS would only last 4-5 years of rural commute but were quieter and cheaper.

Jon, mine did that, it was the quick release fittings, if the body of the fitting is not in line with the clip on the stay then they creak, took a millisecond for me to straighten fitting with my fingers and creak went away.

Kinesis fend off for me. No rattle, for a mudguard look cool in anodised black aluminium. They match my matt black frame too and they can be extended with the very clever cut-out packaging.

I did have some longboards, but had to take them off when I got some GP 4 seasons in 32mm flavour – not quite enough room & managed to get a puncture after something got caught.

I also found the nuts holding the screws on were prone to loosening which would eventually end up with a mis-aligned mudguard.

Running some cheapy zefal trail things now. Loads of room, but not full coverage. Anybody getting a tow will get a face full of water…

Despite snapping SKS rear chromoplastics, I’m a huge fan. A P clip around a chainstay bridge provides a much better fitting, and this has cured the problem. I have longboards on the other winter bike (non-fixed). They’ve been OK too, but the metal bridge snapped.

PDW are too expensive, and the carbon ones I bought had awful fittings. So I went back to SKS.

I have a box of spares, inlcuing two sets of raceblades I don’t need, and some raceblades that fit to the QRs. It’s been a passion 😀

Tortec are good, no fuss, long lasting guards.