I’m riding my gravel bike to work one day a week (mainly off-road on canal and short woodland section) and would like carry on doing so through the winter if I can (I otherwise WFH/get the train). However I’m getting a pretty damp backside now, and that wears thin when you have to put damp kit back on at the end of the day.
However at the weekend I use my gravel bike for light xc, and given Yorkshire clag, a full guard isn’t going to work.
Any ideas for a mid week solution? Niner RLT 9 with full mounting points and currently running 43 mm tyres.
Mudhugger keeps your ass dry. (They do a cx one now)
Some people don’t like the look of them, if that matters, personally I worry more about my ass than others opinions.
Last winter I used Mudhuggers - front was a bit short, rear was a bit ugly but worked, but was zip tied on
This year I've gone for Speedrockers. Good coverage front and rear, easy to pop on and off. Not sure how wide they go, I only run 38mm tyres.
I run Crud road racer mk3 guards on my gravel bike with 40mm tyres
Perfect for commuting and gravel rides, if im planning on a more muddy/claggy ride then they only take 1 minute to remove/refit and i just chuck a Ass saver on the rear to keep the worst of it off
https://www.merlincycles.com/zefal-no-mud-universal-mudguard-front-or-rear-97140.html
I found this pretty effective, keeps the worst off and hard to clog. Just make sure you tape the seatstays properly and use the rubber fittings it comes with.
I got sks x-tra dry rear and s-board front. See to work well. Live in Glasgow so get well tested! Not as much coverage as some others but no probs with rubbing with 40mm tyres and dead easy to fit and remove.
I use a CX bike as a commuter.It doesn't have any guard fixing points and the tyre clearance at the back would make guards tight anyway.On the front I use a wide grudcatcher zip tied to the downtube and a fork fender flap.On the back I have a 3x40mm wide polycarb strip that sits 20mm above the tyre and stops at the seatstays bridge.There is then another short length of the strip on the inside of the seatstay bridge, down to the back of the front mech* .All held in position by the magic of P-clips,poprivets,some old mudguard spares and zipties. It's a bodgtastical thing of beauty 😉
*yes,some people still use them 😀
I use a Topeka defender M2. It’s quick release on/off to the back of seat tube.
Keeps most stuff off my arse. Not the sleekest solution, but robust and easy.
Get a pair of speedrockers, very nearly as good a full-on mudguards and much less faff than crud-guards or similar.
I fit Pirelli 40c tyres on WTB i23 rims under them.
I found a Zefal Swan rear mudguard plus a slightly cut down Crudcatcher at the front (my gravel bike has down-tube bottle bosses) works very well indeed for both on-road and off-road work.
The zefal ones that mount to the chainstays for me - they're quick to take on & off once you've fitted them the first time. Very stable, especially vertically, so no flapping down onto the wheel and that means you can run it sensibly close
If they fit, you can get them and are happy with the price then get a set of Speedrockers. Otherwise buy something else that isn’t a good then buy speedrockers later having wasted some money 😉
Speedrockers are excellent. Not sure about clearance for your tyres in really claggy mud though.
Mudhuggers are great have them on gravel and CX bikes work great in YUK conditions keeps clothes clean and dry and camelbak .
Speedrockers here too.
Impressed so far.
Because you can adjust how they fit, I think you'd be able to set them up with more clearance for real clag.
I use crud MK3 and in there same way as @escrs. Works pretty well. It's a bit tricky to get them right on wider tyres tho (e.g. my 42 power gravels)
Thanks all. Set of Speedrockers ordered and hopefully here before I ride to work this week. Currently running some low profile 43s (they say they go up to 42) so hopefully they will fit (frame has a huge amount of clearance), but will swap to a narrow mud tyre soon anyway.
I love my rear gravelhugger, just in case the speedrockers don’t work out for you
Thanks all for the advice. Speedrockers fitted and ridden into work with them twice (once on road, once along the canal) and all good. Was a bit confused initally about the noise of the canal gravel being kicked up into them - haha! Its not been wet, so can't say how much spray protection they give - but they fitted my 43 mm GK's in just fine so sure they will be fine; and don't squeak/rattle. Look like they will be simple to take on and off when I need.
Most appreciated - good old STW
Front has a lot of clearance as I haven’t cut the stays. I thought I’d just try it and see how it goes and I’ll shorten a bit if needed.
