Someone wanted pics of my Diverge with mudguards

I had mine fitted by a highly trained and experienced, and ever so slightly OCD spanner monkey.

Or “butler”, as you normally describe them….

I recently fitted v2 plug and play (or ‘drill and saw and saw and saw and plug and play’) mudgards to my smart-weld diverge, which has the carbon fork. The fork has a threaded hole at the bottom of the steerer which required the bracket on the front mudguard to be removed by drilling out the rivets, and enlarging one of the rivet holes to allow it to be bolted directly to the bottom of the steerer.

The rear needed a hole drilling through the guard to attach to the brace between the seat-stays, although whereas the instructions tell you to drill through the marked location for your frame size, mine had no markings so I had to work it test-fit the guard and work it out for myself.

The stays for both mudguards needed trimming down which took a little while to get the fit right. Now they are fitted they are great though – look very neat, with no rattling. Only thing is that there is a gap of around 1mm between the rear guard and the frame, so I’ve put a frame-protector patch here to make sure it doesn’t rub.

All simple enough if you ignore the instructions completely and take your time.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6kWpja-xDXSM043RHFvaWltN2s/view?usp=sharing

(OCD alert: it now has two matt-black bottle cages rather than the aluminium one I had lying round at the time, and has lost the wheel reflectors!)

Can anyone tell me the diameter of the plug’n’play support rods. I’m interested to see if i can mount Portland Design Works Full metal fenders instead?

They’re 4mm.

(The bike comes with adaptors which have a conventional eyelet, in case you weren’t aware.)

Yep, as above, you can fit PDW with the screw in eyelets.

I’m working from a frame set that has no extra bits and bobs. By screw in eyelets, do you mean the tiny grub screws in the frame, or external p-clip type attachments on the externally visible mounting holes?

Also, do any of you have a front rack recommendation for the carbon forks?

The adapters are like little metal letter ‘P’s – the leg of the P goes into the hole in the frame/fork and is clamped by the grub screw. The eye of the P is tapped like a normal mudguard lug.

Available for stupid money here:

https://www.bike24.com/p2133533.html

IIRC, Tubus Tara is the front rack of choice.

Awesome adaptor gizmo, looks ideal but WTF kind of money is that?
OK, so i’m good to go with these little dudes and my current guards.

Any photos you wish to share would be great to see

I was astonished at the price being charged for those adapters! I don’t know if a Specialized dealer could get them cheaper – you sure they’re not supposed to come with the frame?

Any photos you wish to share would be great to see

OK then, just for you…

BQ failed to get the Tara’s to fit.

For my recent Wales off-road coast to coast I used Gorilla cages. They didn’t fit either so a mate printed up some custom adapters, which to everyone’s amazement held up to 5 days of abuse. I used Alpkit 8 litre tough dry-bags in the Gorilla cages, about 2 kilos rammed into each.

Tillydog – Member
I was astonished at the price being charged for those adapters! I don’t know if a Specialized dealer could get them cheaper – you sure they’re not supposed to come with the frame?
Any photos you wish to share would be great to see
OK then, just for you…

Snap

I read the BQ review where Jan states that the angle on the Tubus sloped down to far to work, due to the eyelets being a non standard spacing.

I suspect someone who knows what they are doing could relocate the mid fork leg mount on the tubus and get a level bar. If you are such a person, please get in touch as I’d love to get a low rider working well.

Or if anyone’s happily running lowrider alternative, zap up some pics please.

Could you get a close up shot on how the guards are attached – is this with the expensive little gizmo’s?

BTW: You can source these little fellas for £10 for Specialized UK.

My mudguards (and wiggles’ by the look of it) are the Specialized “Plug and Play” ones. Cut, drill and pray would be a better description. They fit can be made to fit directly into the holes in the frame, no adapter needed. Rack mount eyelets are separate.

YWIMC:

Smartweld Elite aluminium frame.

Front:

Fitting at fork crown, after drilling out the rivets to remove the bracket and enlarging the rear hole:

Rear:

At seatstay bridge (it is done up tight, even though I’ve just noticed the daylight in the photo):

‘Scuse the mud – it’s been raining.

Alternative front luggage mount:

[/url]

and with luggage:

[/url]

And in use…

[/url]imgur[/url]

Those luggage mounts are great!

Tillydog, Thank you for the extensive photos. Very clear and very well done. I’m going to try the PDW Full Metal Fender option first. If that fails to work out then I’m following your lead with these Specialised guards.

As I don’t have any of the little grub bolts to secure the guards in my frame. Can anyone tell me what size I need or even better offer a link to purchase some?

I need to know if it’s M4 / M3 grub screws and what length you recommend?

I need to know if it’s M4 / M3 grub screws and what length you recommend?

From memory, they’re 4mm grub screws.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve got some spare stainless steel ones from when I fitted the guards to my Diverge. They were much better than the cheap rubbish supplied with the guards.

I’ll have a look for them when I get home and you can have them if I can find them.

They’re M4 by either 5mm or 6mm long (probably 5mm, but can’t tell without taking one out) – either would work.

I’d suggest ebay if you need to buy some – plenty of sellers offering small quantities in stainless.

Great thank you.

Did you ever try the tubus tara low rider on your diverge?

What sort of maximum tyre size can you run – would a diverge take 38mm tyres?

Those fork mounts are fantastic

Did you ever try the tubus tara low rider on your diverge?

– No, sorry.

What sort of maximum tyre size can you run – would a diverge take 38mm tyres?

I understood that it will take 35mm tyres without mudguards, or 32mm with, but this from Specialized suggest that 38mm will fit (maybe just on the carbon frame?). I’m still using the 28c tyres it came with.

binno, I’ve found the spare grub screws.
Email me your address and I’ll stick them in the post for you.

Mine above has 36mm Clement Xplor. Really quite close.

30mm Challenge Strada Bianca on mine. Good clearance.

Ive got Vittoria XN pro tyres in 31c and they fit under the mudguards. I swapped a wheel off another bike with 38c trigger and it fitted (no mudguards obviously)

What is that mount for the luggage flapjack?

EDIT just seen your post about them being custom printed

Big thank you to notmyrealname, email sent.

Hi all, new Diverge Comp Carbon owner here (YELLOW!). Went the SKS Chronoplastic route (after previously having Giant branded guard issues on a Giant Defy), I also love SKS customer service & support!

Rear is perfect after some fettling (drilling larger holes & cutting down stays). Front is an utter nightmare. On the rear I was able to mount fitted directly to the frame mounting holes. Due to the mounting points on the front fork being infront of the thru-axle I can’t mount them there, as the SKS fittings will not clear the thru-axle on the drive side.

Thankfully my Diverge came with the Spesh adaptors from the shop! BUT… Fitting them, the grub screw point (in the bottom of the fork) is too far ‘forwards’ so the ‘tail’ of the adaptor is only held by a fraction of a mm on 1 side, the other side it won’t grab at all! Gah! Grub screws are also made of cheese so will be swapping them out for something more sturdy.

I notice several of you have fitted the ‘Specialized Fenders’ V1 & V2 which have solid stays fitting directly into these adaptors mount holes rather than using the adaptors themselves. I might end up replicating this idea ‘as a last resort’. The Chromoplastics have 2 stays on the front guard, making it nice and stable and avoiding lots of noise. So I’m trying to figure out how I can keep them… I have many bits of previous mudguards and an extensive range of bolts, screws & fittings. Have a feeling I’m also going to need a new hacksaw and a long weekend’s worth of patience!

Will post up pics to help others! 🙂

Finished off fitting my guards on saturday, SKS Chromoplastics ‘Narrow’ (35mm Width 700×20-28). Clearance over the 25x28mm Roubaix tyres and the 28mm Pro4E’s I also fitted. Tempted to try 32mm Pro4’s/GP4 Seasons next.

Rear went on well, just had to remove 2 rivets to remove the L bracket & fitted to frame mount points (at seatstays & bb), very firm (for a nice quiet guard!). Had to drill out a couple of the holes larger and fitted guard with bolts, washers and spacers (used some old plastic nuts from crud guards & drilled them out).

Front was more tricky, easy fit into the frame mount inside the forks (with similar fittings to the rear), I need to add some rubber to dampen some of the vibration. The stays which came with the Chromo’s were not long enough to fit to the frame mount points (and I had big problems fitting the Spesh mounts – see above!). I had some spare ‘Y stays’ left over from some previous Giant guards which were the same width & longer, but due to where the frame mounts were placed (other side of the thru-axle) I couldn’t use 2 stays each side. I cut them down as 1 half of each stay had an extra bend near the mounting point (due to being a double stay) which helped them avoid the thru-axle (without me having to bend them manually to shape).

Just enough clearance to go under the thru-axle handle too (even with my spacers to protect the frame)!

Did notice something else ‘odd’ with my Comp Carbon… My FD hits my frame when in the smallest chainring! Anyone else noticed similar? Unsure if it’s fitment on mine, or a more generic design flaw.

Feedback: Tubus Tara (current model with 14mm main rail) fits the Diverge carbon fork perfectly. Gives you 8 inches of ground clearance from the base of the rack. I’m currently looking for suitable panniers to fit, ideally roll tops, if anyone has any recommendations?

RoadyUK:
Front mech wise, my 105 11 speed does not touch the frame. However, have you used the mechs frame grub screw to frame plate feature, there to make sure it’s firmly placed when mounted? Check the Shimano fit instructions if you not sure what I mean. There’s a tension screw to further secure the longer reach / pull of the mechs lever action that sits against a small metal backed sticker on the frame.

On a different note, i’m having a lots of issues with my 105 Disk brakes.

Thanks for mech info binno, will take a look this weekend.

What issues with your brakes?