Back in 1990, when once out on a ride on my much missed splatter Explosif, I met another mountain biker who told me that I needed to have a 0 deg 150mm stem and cut my bars down to about 300mm or so, because that’s how everyone was doing it.
Being, at the time, young-ish and impressionable, I took his advice. For me, it was shite advice. Uncontrollable steering and painfully sore shoulders and neck yet I persisted, thinking that this was how mountain biking should be done and look like.
Suffice to say, as far as what others think in terms of what a bike should look like, I leave with them and follow my own experience. Which, as far as mudguards are concerned, front and back Mudhuggers, even with a down tube crud catcher, keep me almost mud splatter free!