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As I'm getting older I'm starting to think that I might give in and get some mudguards for my hardtail to keep me a bit drier this winter. Having had a look about I think I'm probably going to end up getting an RRP ProGuard Bolt On and a Mudhugger Rear but I'm a bit stuck as to which size I should be going for.
The bike they will be going onto is a Santa Cruz Chameleon set up with 29er wheels and my aesthetic aversion to mudguards means I've been looking at the smaller options for both. I'm not sure if this will mean that I just end up with two ineffectual guards and a wet arse or if these will be enough to provide decent protection on my bike.
So, what is everyone else using to keep dry these days, what sort of bike are they mounted on and do you wish you'd gone for anything bigger?
Nowt at the back, Crud XL up front. The XL is really good (if a bit noisy) - can ride in mud/slop/grime etc without needing glasses or goggles. Only needed some glasses from March-September for midges and flies.
Enduroguard on the front, nothing on the back.
I've got a hardtail 29er with a rear medium mudhugger, which works well. You heed to draw an imaginary line from the outside of the tyre to the tip of the mudguard and carry on towards your head/back. With a little bit of adjustment for forward velocity, when that line hits the back of you, below = dry, above = wet/muddy.
Crud catcher XL on the front and Zefal on the back, worked well last Friday and both easily removed without tools
hack bike - Crud fender XL on the front, mudhugger rear. The the crud fender is really quite ugly, but it's fitted to a cannondale headshok, so the rubber flap is really useful if I need to top up the air in it.
MTB - Mucky nutz long up front with a crudcatcher on the rear. May get another mudhugger for it...maybe.
RRP Pro on the front having just replaced a MudHugger for winter.
It keeps pretty much everything away from my face and is a bit of a revelation in the real slop where I'm used to squinting as I go through the worst patches. No need anymore!
Mudhugger Race front with the extension and Mudhugger rear 29er. No point going short unless for clearance reasons.
Accept the challenging looks and enjoy a dry crack all winter.
Go big, or go home (covered in mud).
In a recent post on here, I shared the advice I was given that the large bolt on was wobbly but another user said that wasn't the case.
On the rear, just get the hugger for the wheel size.
Small guards don't look any less awful than big ones but big ones give better protection.
Huge. No point otherwise.
Yeh both my front and rear guards are extended. Got the shits from having sheep poo sprayed in my face at Summer's end.
RRP Bolt on (standard) - it's great, hardly any face spray now.
Did try a mudhugger rear last season, but it started eating through the invisiframe on my swingarm, so it would need a bit more protection on it to try again.
RRP Bolt on (standard) for me too, it's great! Nowt on rear yet but it may happen.
A bit of old inner tube (remember them?) around the seat stay before attaching the rear Mudhugger - solves that issue.
Have the RRP mini front bolt on for both my full sussers, works a treat and found that the full sized standard would 99% of the time be overkill.
Rear wise, tried a few, if you want to keep as much off as possible it's the mudhugger, it's on my hardtail and forget about looks, it just saves the spray getting on bags or back, also use an under the frame shield style guard to stop that type of spray, yes they look bad but they do the job.
Only complaint about the above is that the RRP do tend to lose their shape after a while, and the mudhuggers take a load of zip ties to fit, and for me i've knocked it off a couple of times unfortunately, found i just couldn't really use it for jumps/drops after that, but general XC and trail it was fine.
There is no beginning to the size of my mudguards.
I just put the Mudhuggers back on the fatbike. They're big enough to raise a family in.
The Remedy'll get its Shockboard back for winter. I love these things, they're flappy and the stock fitting is absolutely useless but once attached with the proper fittings (2 cable ties) they're awesome.
Despite all this, none of my bikes except the fatty have a rear guard. I just can't find one I like- cosmetics, sure, but also function, attachment, all that.
All my bikes have huge mudguards. I like being able to be clean and dry at the end of a winter ride - or more importantly halfway thru so i can go into the pub!
Here's my Pugsley in StrathPuffer trim. I extended the mudguards and the only part of me that gets wet are my lower legs. Sealskinz sort that.
Mudguards are just about essential if you want to spend extended time in slushy conditions because you stay dry. They reduce the risk of hypothermia and you can wear ordinary breathable outdoor gear instead of boil in a bag stuff.
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Just got two Mudhugger shorty's for front & back only want the back one to keep the linkage clean
@epicyclo what did you use for the guards? Finding something with a good compound curve in a good material is hard.
I've got a big motocross style steerer mounted front guard on my sunn.
The XL is really good (if a bit noisy)
Is this from flex and the guard buzzing the tyre? I see Danny Hart uses the Crud XL Fender for DH so assumed this wouldnt be an issue.
They're massive (Mudhuggers F&R) but they work.
Mud hugger FR all year round and a max extender for the winter, I bought the original mudhugger rear before the Large (29er) version was released and so had to buy the extender for that (to make it upto the large/29er size) to make it work on my 29er, as it was useless without it.
@TheBrick I use trials bike mudguards. I get them from https://www.tytrials.com/trailandtrialsuk/prod_1756985-5-Trials-Fender-Mudguard-Rear-TY250-Twinshock-Universal.html but there's other sources.
On a 4" frame I use a heat gun to soften them up at the seat stays so they bend in enough to clear the stays. Alternatively cut a bit out to relieve it. About 3 of them for a TY250 will give you good coverage. You'll have to make the stays yourself. I use alloy tube sourced from B&Q. Probably just under £100 all up.
Here's a Flickr album showing my Pugsley in the process of getting them.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/epicyclo/albums/72157626132171667
There's also a trial fit of the front mudguard from my BMW R100 but there's less clearance for the tyre with them.
And if you click forward from here, you'll see how I fitted them to my carbon fatbike as well
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Is this from flex and the guard buzzing the tyre? I see Danny Hart uses the Crud XL Fender for DH so assumed this wouldn't be an issue.
I think the noise is because it's a split guard - one part in front of the arch, one behind, joined by the bit that o-ring's into the sliders of the fork.
Clattering over rocky/rooty stuff it wobbles about a bit, and in the mud it doesn't fully protect the stanchions (could probably fit one of them shitty flimsy generic small guards under it to fully protect), but it is a good bit of kit aside from that.
One big plus is it's only 3 o-rings per leg to remove it, which means it's dead easy to take off if the bike is going into the car, without cutting zip ties.
It looks like I may have overlooked something when I started thinking about this.
My bike normally gets stuffed (wheels off) in the back of the car when I head out and any mudguards would need to fit in when this happens. Having a quick look at how things pack in last night I'm not sure I'm going to get away with the rear mudhugger after all. So for now I think a small rrp bolt on will be where I start and I'll have a bit more of a careful think about how I might get something that works with my bike transport options.
My bikes bikes have increasingly been festooned with bits of flappy plastic in recent years.
I hate them. They look awful: but since the advent of the mudhugger and decent brace mounted fenders, they are actually pretty effective and I've come to realise they don't really get in the way and make clean-up a damn sight easier.
Because theres less work involved in going to a ride and cleaning up afterwards I've found that I'm less likely to sack it off and go to the pub too.
I’ve been using a set of sks blades. I was sceptical but they are brilliant, no need for glasses or goggles even on the wettest day. Big advantage of being removable in a few seconds with no tools. I should have fitted them years ago.
Also bought a worx hydroshot, that and the mudguards just make riding in the dirt much less of a chore.
Hate them too but last winter looking at my mates relatively clean and me absolutely plastered head to toe I cracked and got the Crud XL and mudhugger 29er. Have wrapped the stays with inner tubes and the Crud can be moved upwards which cuts down on it hitting the tyre landing drops and stuff. Another tip is to lean the bike up on the tyre and not the mudhugger when putting away as it will deform if left for a while. Still hate the looks but love the function! Makes it a spring treat to take the bloody things off as well
Big mud hugger on the front or the hardtail all year round, biggest mud hugger on the rear from last week to late spring on the rear.
Carbon rockguard on the front of the full suss all year round. Crud catcher on the back when it miserable.
The carbon one has lasted for 4 year now. I got it after smashing a variety of other front guards. Seeing a mate with one and coveting the carbon helped me through the cost 😀
I rode the full suss with no rear guard 20 miles in the wet peaks last week, one soggy back and crack later I fitted the rear crud catcher ready for the rest of the winter.
2nd hardtail has a flexible enduro guard. It always takes me aback by how much more crap I get in the face from that compared to the other two guards.