Talk to me about Mud Guards

So it’s raining like it’s going out of fashion, which means lots of mud and gloop, which also means it’s ugly mud guard season. Can anyone point me in the direction of a set of mud guards that above all work well, don’t cost the earth and that won’t upset the look of my bike? (i know I think that last one is impossible 🙁 )

Mudhugger.

for the front have a look on muckynutz website. A fenderbender combined with gutfender is very effective, cheap and light. On the back I use a crudcatcher

Marshguards/Fender Bender do the job of keeping shot out of your face and are cheap enough. I tend to buy the big version then cut them down so they’ve a bit sticking out the front of the arch.

You can run them upside down so you have no graphics on show, don’t look too bad then.

This is my set up:

Rear and downtube: Crud RacePac 29er

Forks: Mudhugger (home modified to fit the reversed arch of the Manitou’s).

It works great for me, especially with the front Crud Catcher positioned quite low.

Just looked at the Crud RacePac 29er. It looks like a big wing on the back, should keep you airborne a bit longer 😆

Well… You actually need a pilot license to use it legally… 😉

Mudhugger if you want fit and forget & want to drop your seat post any time. Plus the guys who own the company are riders like us

x2 for Mudhugger

mudhugger x3.. the are ugly as sin but they do a brilliant job of keeping the mud away

haven’t used one but saw a few with mudhuggers last weekend, if/when i buy mudguards it will be one of those….look like they may actually work!!

Another very strong vote for mudhuggers. Run front and rears and the amount of muck they keep off is impressive! No more sitting in wet muddy shorts on the cake stop!

Another vote for mudhugger rear works very well and marshguard on front, i think it looks better than most mudguards

Mine are pre mudhugger but I got a rockrider thing from decathlon. It’s designed to fit canti bosses but a couple of p-clips soon solved that. Have it set close to the wheel so it catches it all and doesn’t interfere with the dropper or vary with travel. Bender fender up front. Way better than the old crud catcher.

Mudhugger rear, Mucky nutz bender fender XL on the front.

Mudhugger x5

Rather than just being a fanboi I will note the following though:

I need one more cable tie than they specify for the rear or the cable ties keep popping off. I hope with 4 x ties each side they still snap in a crash (the idea is that the cable ties break so the mudguard doesn’t).

Trying to run schwalbe 2.35 tyre on the front, inside a reba, it just rubs the mudguard. Yes there is a video with a hairdryer and stuff for how to deal with mudhugger on reba. No I can’t get it to work with a tyre that wide. It’s great with my 2.25 maxxis though.

The 29er rear was too long, I always caught it on the ground when lifting the bike through moto barriers, so I cut it down.

All that said, get a mudhugger they are great.

I have a muckynutz at the front and a mud hugger at the back and in this week’s slop I have still got filthy twice. The guards do help but you are going to get wet whatever. My next buy will be an old fashioned crud catcher /gut fender type of thing as a lot of crap seems to come up from the rear of the front wheel.
The mud hugger does do a good job of keeping the Reverb clean, though.

Feel free to post pics of your bike and rear mudhugger.
My front mudhugger with crud catcher keeps me spotless from the waist up.

FOG – as per my post earlier, the gut fender in conjunction with benderfender is great. It sees me through muddy west of Scotland winters. IMO every bit as effective as the old crud catcher but less bulk and comes off in seconds for dry days or cleaning bike.

I have just ordered a rear mudhugger to try in place of rear crud one, which is squeezed in at base of reverb after some trimming. I guess big downside of mudhugger is that its not easily taken on and off to suit trail conditions, more of a fit in September and take off in April ?

I guess big downside of mudhugger is that its not easily taken on and off to suit trail conditions, more of a fit in September and take off in April ?

pretty much, but on a brighter note, at least between those months it’s not dry enough to need to take them off

just off out into the deluge to test my rear mudhugger on the fat bike, pics later if i can bear to get the camera out in the rain

Why would you need mud guards apart from keeping crap out of your eye or a shock?

In which case more than mucky nuts (front and back if you need) seems overkill?

If it’s muddy, put a jacket on?

I’d rather wear less and have a dry Arse, 35 miles or so with a damp crack aint fun. If you are just dicking around in the woods for an hour I see your point though

works really well

I miss those old Crud guards with the stays.

Must be easy to make them by recycling/refashioning the many unloved, floppy, post-mounted affairs that lie discarded in sheds all over the place.

Why would you need mud guards apart from keeping crap out of your eye or a shock?

The dreaded wet and muddy crack-stripe is not always welcome in either crevices or pubs, allegedly.

Anyone tried the Assfender/Assguard gubbins that can be made with scissors and an old A4 plastic folder?

Anyone tried the Assfender/Assguard gubbins that can be made with scissors and an old A4 plastic folder?

Marginally useful on the road bike. Utterly pointless offroad.

Another vote for mudhugger. Effective, stays put, doesn’t get in the way.

Rocketdog is that a 29er or 26″ ?

29″

I got a Mudhugger for my 16″ 5 but I had to modify it as when the suspension was at full travel the seat tube pushed the guard back onto the (2.1 Advantage) tyre. The guy at Mudhugger was good though & gave me a refund after I sent photo’s of the modification.
But I haven’t used it since.

(If It’s for a FS make sure to let the air out & drop the suspension then ‘dry fit’ the guard to make sure it doesn’t foul.)

Those mudhuggers look like they’re probably pretty effective. I remain in the slightly tragic group of MTBers that wouldn’t use them on account on their looks. Give them an ironical moto style though…

I recently bought a front and rear mudguard set from Aldi for £7.99. I use a mucky nuts and crud catcher at the front so I bought the set specifically for the rear. I’ve had two trips out, totalling 40 miles and so far been quite impressed. I get less splats on my back and backside than my brother does with his mudhugger. I hate mudguards so couldn’t bring myself to spending £25 on a mudguard. No doubt time will tell whether the £8 is a false economy, but the rear guard seems pretty robust.

Crudhugger

Can’t say I’d ever change from a Marshguard on the front.

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Mucky-Nuts/Marsh guard on the front and mount one vertically to the seat stays close to the tyre (if frame allows it. They’re light, cheap and don’t make your bike look like a Moto-Trials bike.

Just a word of warning to anyone fitting the bendy plastic jobbies to their forks, or frame for that matter. My old bike came fitted with one, which I left on until I sold it a few months later, it had rubbed all the paint off the forks under the arch and on the inside of the legs where it contacts. I’d recommend sticking some helitape of sticky velcro between the guard.

I’ve achieved my holy grail . Full guards ,full sus.
My commute is a total filth fest and having a wonky knee I need bounce.

Back end Mudhugger- secure strong and if you use a dropper its the only one which doesn’t get in the way. Front end I use a neogaurd and Crudcatcher combo – allows me to run a 2.4 on the front end.

Zippy, that is the fugliest yet most practical bike I’ve seen in a long time!
Well done. 🙂

I think it says sensible. It would be even better in beige.