So I've just fitted a set of mudguards

without once swearing, injuring myself or throwing anything down the road!

They are the new Giant Speedsheild Universal guards for the Defy and Avail Advanced. Despite utterly useless instructions which amount to 5 tiny diagrams too small for my aged eyes to resolve it was all very painless.
Far easier than fitting standard SKS guards to either my Croix de Fer a Bienn 29 both of which have mounts for guards.
I don’t think the smile will leave my face all day.

Ha!
I’ve got a new set of SKS to fit on the commuter but will wait until my arm is mended. Not a 5 minute job to do well.

Giants are usually well thought out in my experience.

I fitted Defy specific guards to mine when it arrived 2 years ago.

Haven’t touched them since.

The guards certainly are well thought out but you would think that when you decided you were going to put disks across the whole range you’d realise that they would appeal to those who ride all year round and design in some mounts in the first place.

Thanks for that, never knew they existed, was just wondering how to bodge guards on my Defy 🙂

They seem to be new, I couldn’t find anything when I started looking a month or so ago. I got them from Pedalon but it looks like they are out of stock at the moment.

They seem to be new

Like I said, I fitted mine two years ago, also ordered from Pedalon.

Pics or it didn;t happen.

Black in stock at JE James, Silver in stock at Tredz.

Untitled

Not sure how you display the date, but if you can access my Flickr from here you’ll see the photo was taken in Sept. 2013.

Anyone fitted them to non Defy’s? My Boardman could do with some new guards and these look better than the current crud’s.

Defy guards have been available forever and were always handy for bikes without long drop calipers (although they sometimes snap at the metal bridges).
The newer speedshield ones are different (don’t have to bodge the seat tube mount if there is’nt already a rivnet there) and come with mounts for the Defy disc bikes.I always thought it weird when they launched the disc defys that there was no obvious/easy way of mounting effective guards.The rep told me that “they are’nt winter bikes….so don’t need guards”…err ok.But Trek managed it on the Domaines.
Putting guards on quickly (SKS I’m looking at you) is a hard earned skill.
Once after cutting a stay (bolt cropper) I reached over to the stand and felt no pain but a strange feeling, almost like poking a pencil through plastic….taught,then POP straight through.
There was about 1″ of stay poking into my forearm….no blood.And when I removed said arm you could see all the way to the bottom of the hole 😯
Makes me queasy thinking about it….

Once after cutting a stay (bolt cropper) I reached over to the stand and felt no pain but a strange feeling, almost like poking a pencil through plastic….taught,then POP straight through.
There was about 1″ of stay poking into my forearm….no blood.And when I removed said arm you could see all the way to the bottom of the hole
Makes me queasy thinking about it….

I’m pretty glad I’ve always used a hacksaw after reading that!

Like I said, I fitted mine two years ago, also ordered from Pedalon.

The ones you have Kryton57 won’t fit the new disk frames, these speedshields don’t even seem to have made it onto the Giant UK site yet but they are on the US one and when I bought the bike a couple of months ago at the Giant Superstore they weren’t available and the staff obviously didn’t know they were on the way.
I did consider the Trek Rorschach just for the fact that they had thought it through and realised that people would want guards on a bike that otherwise looked perfect for winter use.

The speedshields are in stock in many places within the UK, including pedalon and tredz.

Always a pain fitting SKS guards. Mine are still waiting to have the ends of the stays dremeled off and the caps fitted wish probably won’t happen. Wish someone would design some guards that are easy to fit. I did see some Bontragers in my LBS that attempted to address the stay cutting problem, also had better clearance for big tyres. They weren’t cheap though.

Yes, Bontrager do some ‘guards with adjustable stays that don’t need to be cut. I’m personally a bit wary of how they look- you end up with a lot of surplus metal.

I’ve been eyeballing the Giant mudguards for a while- they look like they’ll fit on my Trek 1.2, making it perfect for the winter

Bontrager not-cut-struts £39.99

Yes, Bontrager do some ‘guards with adjustable stays that don’t need to be cut. I’m personally a bit wary of how they look- you end up with a lot of surplus metal.

Yeah they don’t look great.

Wish someone would design some guards that are easy to fit

They all are when you’ve done a few dozen sets. There’s a couple of tricks but it’s not hard on most bikes. 🙂

They all are when you’ve done a few dozen sets. There’s a couple of tricks but it’s not hard on most bikes.

Hints & tips please- tell us how. I generally like building and maintaining my bicycles but mudguards are a chore.

They are always a chore.When you have to fit half a dozen a week, it gets easier (barring stabbing incidents)…….eventually.

Pretty sure I have sks on my shit old hybrid.
Not sure what the issue is?
Trim stays and fit funny breakaway things or are mine about to start murdering baby robins?

No rudeness intended just wondering where the fearsome reputation comes from

Caveat they don’t have to deal with discs

I’ve just fitted the bontrager ncs ones to my Trek Domane, well I say fitted, because while they thought about mudguard mounts with the tidy screw in adapters, they failed to leave any room under the calipers. Just ordered some 23mm tyres (it shipped with 25mms) and might have to upgrade the calipers to 105s which have a bit more clearance so I can fit the proper brackets. Surely we can have powerful rim brakes which leave space for a continuous mudguard which protects the caliper, not bypasses it. Not everyone has the room or funds for a winter bike. Mild rant over, sorry.

Some mudguard porn for a Friday night.

Linky.

8)

Just needs some fairy liquid bottle cut outs riveting to them to make them long enough flashy.

That’s nice flashy. What is the bike?

Those mudguards look really, really good CFH. I’m still getting used to the Mr. Rush seatpost though…

GD, it’s a Spesh Diverge Expert from 2015. Mine was the first in the country by a fair few months, which was nice! A few changes from stock, notably Time XC8 pedals, Challenge Strada Bianca tyres, Lizard Skin tape, Elite Cannibal cages, saddle changed for better size.

The seatpost is, I agree, a contentious issue. But….it seems to work, and I can’t see it when I’m riding, so that’s good for me!

nice ‘guards, shame about the skinwalls.

Felt quite smug recently when bodge attempt 1 to avoid the BB7 caliper worked using a scrap bit of metal kicking around the garage floor.

Had to drill a hole for the rear mount too. Left room for winter tyres.

Joking aside, neat looking installation on the Diverge. You barely notice they’re there.

nice ‘guards, shame about the skinwalls.

Pistols or swords, sir! You choose. It’s all the same to me. You can say what you like about my seatpost, but a bad word about the skinwalls? Consider my gauntlet thrown!

nice ‘guards, shame about the skinwalls.

I think the skinwalls work myself, might even be part of the reason why the black mudguards look so good….

I think the skinwalls work myself, might even be part of the reason why the black mudguards look so good….

Just being a ****- great looking bike all round. I’d never of attempted to fit mudguards to a bike with such small clearances, nice work.