Road bike mudguards – SKS Raceblade or Crud Road Racer?

Looking for some road bike mudguards for the winter.

There would appear to be a choice between Crud or SKS.

Crud Road Racer

SKS Raceblade

SKS Raceblade Long

Anyone any experience of any of the above? Any recommendations?

Raceblade long.

The short ones only protect your arse, not your feet or the guy behind you.

The Crud’s fall appart if you look at them funy and need constant fiddling to keep them vaguely central.

used long race baldes on the commuter, which has tight clearances at the front pita, took them off, mrs kilo has had some proper sks baldes on her road bike with p clips and a cable tie arrangement around the bb/ seattube area looks much better ad works well

Race Blades, the Crud ones are truly shit, although I understand they’ve made them marginally less so of late.

The Cruds have the best coverage and are simple to fit IF YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

The Cruds have the best coverage and are simple to fit IF YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

The crud ones are tiny compared to Raceblade-longs, and the latter point is like saying communism works if you follow the instructions, unfortunately it doesn’t in the real world.

If you can fit them get SKS chromoplastics, but they require quite a bit of clearence.

Tried the cruds before moving to raceblade longs, and find the raceblade longs much better. So much so that despite some disadvantages over the longs, I can’t say I’ll be heading back to get a frame that will take full guards until my current one dies.

The cruds provided good coverage, and I couldn’t really say they were a phaff to set up. But the were prone to getting knocked, which was a pain as my bike is used for the daily commute and gets shoved in a bike shed at work. Also on my bike* riding on rural roads that can get muddy, I found the clearence around the tyre was so tight that a layer of mud/ grime built up between the tyre and guard, and this got to such a point that where the guard ran under my rear brake caliper the pressure of this caused the guard to snap, probably not help by the extra force braking would have created at this point. Odd thing was you could see the mud building up, as it was hidden between the tyre and inside the guard. The only way to have stopped this would have been to take off and clean.

* this is to indicate this situation occured on my bike, and may not on others. I think with the clip on gurds some suit some bike more than others

Yup, cruds are rubbish. Seems very fragile and the plastic arms on mine snapped. Will be getting some race blades for this winter.

If you have mudguard eyes, then chromoplastics are the finest solution. Even if you don’t, for the winter, you could use zipties to hold the stays to the frame. Raceblades come next. Crud fell apart when I used them. I was hugely disappointed, why I have to fix together two parts with a tiny screw is beyond me. Haven’t tried the Raceblade long as they weren’t available, but they can only be better still.

Chromoplastics will limit you to 25c tyres if you are using road calipers. Look at these beauties

I’ve got some cruds and would agree that they’re flimsy and the little screw things are ridiculous. If like me you have very little clearance they might be worth a look, if I had to buy for a different bike with more room I’d probably look at the raceblade longs.

FWIW they do the job I bought them for though so I can’t complain.

I’ve used crud 2’s since they came out (and crud 1’s before but they weren’t as good) and haven’t had any issues. They stay central just fine (something I had constant hassle with on short raceblades), I don’t run the front one though as sometimes sling the bike in the car and need to twist the bars. I do get mud build up under them but other than a graunchy rubbing noise it’s not caused me any grief (although I might clean mine more often after seeing the pic above…). Biggest problem with them is I can only run a 23 tyre whereas Ideally I’d run a 25 or 28 over winter on the rear. If I could run a 25 on a raceblade long I might consider one but I don’t think you can can you?

Raceblade longs are for 23mm tyres only, which doesn’t bother me. I found the longs fitted my px far better with more clearance than the Crud2’s which were really tight.

I’ve got some Crud Road Racers to fit, which judging by the above comments might not be a great thing!

Anyone got any good tips for fitting, other than RTFM? To which I’ve already pffft’d at… 😳

RM.

So how much clearance do you need? New to road bikes, got quite wet from the road spray last night but doesn’t seem to be much clearance on my frame & no mudguard tabs.

Raceblades are a waste of time and money
Not used Raceblade Long
Crud Road Racer are very good IMHO and a good option for road bikes without the clearance/fittings for traditional mudguards

I didn’t like the bristly bits on the Cruds, they stop rub by err… rubbing! Fine when clean and dry, but once they get a bit smingey it’s annoying. Good coverage though.

I use the non-eyelet raceblades, they’re overpriced and give moderate coverage. Blumels Road are great if you’ve got the ability to mount them LINK

What’s the best durable 23c or small 25c winter tyre and Raceblade long combo anyone? I had the older Cruds and clearances were too tight for Armadillo All Condition 25c tyres. Even Michelin Pro 3’s 23c wore a hole straight through the Cruds on my frame where they meet the caliper at the back.

Buy a proper winter road bike with clearance for proper mudguards.

Sorted.

😛

Herman Shake – Member
I didn’t like the bristly bits on the Cruds, they stop rub by err… rubbing! Fine when clean and dry, but once they get a bit smingey it’s annoying.

This.

Used cruds last year, when I went to dig them out of the shed found my housemate had thrown a load of crap in there and they were at the bottom bent to buggery.

SKS Chromoplastics to replace them, completely silent, not much more expensive and the same if not better protection.

What’s the best durable 23c or small 25c winter tyre and Raceblade long combo anyone?

I have Conti 4 Seasons in 25mm with Cruds OK

Useful thread this; I’ve just binned my request for Road Racers for Chrimbles, and substituted in RaceBlades.

This

the latter point is like saying communism works if you follow the instructions, unfortunately it doesn’t in the real world.

…is the kind of genius mix of lol and wisdom I’ve come to love from stw 🙂

Watch the crud racer set up tips video on their website. He cuts one with a bloody great wood saw using thigh as a bench, cries OW and in the rest of the shots has a cut across one finger. Genius.

I have both and prefer the cruds even though I have lost a couple of those silly plastic screws and the extensions have dropped off somewhere. The raceblades were always getting knocked and rubbing.

I had the crud 1s on my commuter and they lasted a winter before they disintegrated. they fit well, they worked well and they looked good. they just didn’t last very long.

Bloody hell, the longs weigh nearly half a kilo, stone the crows!!!

Whilst the Crud mk2 aren’t as durable as Race Blades, they do a better job. I previously had Race Blades, but the rear doesn’t cover the back of the seat tube and the front doesn’t cover more than the downtube. Also, even with some extra protection, the mounts on these got enough grit and movement to wear patches through the paint. Also a touch heavy if that bothers you.

I’ve got Cruds on my carbon Boardman for the 2nd winter now, and they do a good job. There’s good coverage, including under the brakes and down to BB, and the mounts are firm. Weak points are the screws joining parts (lost one section due to loosening), poor clearance for mud and the difficulty in getting good alignment so they’re not rubbing.

If getting another bike with proper mounts and clearances isn’t possible, I’d suggest going with the Cruds. Read the instructions and take time fitting.