Recommendation for mudguards for a Giant Defy 0 road bike

SchrodingersCat

Hi!
For the last two years ive been cycling a Giant Defy 0 (2015) on my commute.



Its a great bike and is serving me well. For three months of the year I have to use mudguards. The ones that I fitted were the official Giant SpeedShield for Defy/Avail.



I was suprised by how crap these were. First off, the Giant shop in Dublin accidentally sold them to me without the spokes for the front mudguard. After going to the trouble of returning to pick them up again, they gave me the wrong sized ones. Not wanting to make a third trip, I installed them regardless.

The guards were very fiddely to install. After a month, the rear guard broke at the mount point nearest to the brakes. I repaired this. However, every month or so I would have to readjust them again as they kept loosing their adjustment. The grub screws sat in plastic and soon de-threaded themselves from all the readjustments. Eventually, yesterday, the front mudgrard broke off while I was cycling home.

I bought the official mud gaurds for my model bike thinking that they would be the best fitting. I was sorely disappointed.

As such, I was wondering what everyone else out there uses on their road bikes? What would you recommend?

Unknown Soldier

Are you in the box?

RobertFoster

I use Crud RoadRacer Mk2 on my 2010 Defy 3. Dunno if you can still get them now that the Mk3 are out. I've to run 23mm tyres due to clearance, so not ideal.

samvimes

Had the Crud Mk 3's but the clearance was a real problem on my Defy 1. Use SKS Raceblade Pro's now which work with GP4000 25's

Borderfox

I use the crud mk3 with 28mm tyres with no problems

SchrodingersCat

Thanks for the responses! I decided to go with the SKS Raceblade Long Mudguard Set Black set in the end from wiggle. Hopefully they will be more reliable than the official Giant set were, and will fit within the clearance of my 28 tyres.

py

SchrodingersCat wrote: »

Thanks for the responses! I decided to go with the SKS Raceblade Long Mudguard Set Black set in the end from wiggle. Hopefully they will be more reliable than the official Giant set were, and will fit within the clearance of my 28 tyres.

I have these for about 18 months now and coverage on them is great. Unsure of the clearance for 28mm width tyres as I'm running 25mm without issue. In the summer months I'll just take the mudguards off but leave the brackets (which are held in place by the brake calipers) in place, whilst also replacing the springs on the quick release (you'll know what I'm talking about when you read the instructions).

Not long ago, 2 of the brackets snapped. 1 on the front and 1 on the rear. You can purchase a replacement bracket kit if required fairly easily online on ebay/amazon. Given the distance I do and the fact that I'm out in all sorts of weather then I wasn't all that annoyed given how well they've served me. I think it was about a tenner for the kit.

Fitting the rear is quite straight forward. I found fitting the front a little tricky due to the recessed bolt on my brake calliper being caked in gunk picked up from the roads. In preparation for fitting it would be recommended to use some GT85 if the front calliper bolt is in anyway sticky and not moving.

mackeminexile

I commute on a 2012 Defy 2 with Conti GPS 28mm. I'm running the RaceBlade long on the rear but the front was a nightmare. With the larger volume from the 28's the front raceblade just wouldn't fit, even with a lot of modification, the main issue being clearance on the downtube with the angle of the forks. I eventually found an SKS commuter adjustable front guard that let me get clearance. An expensive and fiddly way to stick with 28mm tires but the comfort and grip are worth it.

Gerry

I'm fitting raceblades standard length to my 2015 defy 0 currently. It's interesting to see mention of attachment to brake calipers as these are quick fit and dont attach to the calipers at all. the rear wasn't too bad but I'm finding the front a nightmare.. I'm using 25mm conti 4 seasons. Must be the downtube as mackerminexile says. They are going to take a lot of modification to fit at all. Disappointing considering the price of them.

Mercian Pro

SchrodingersCat wrote: »

Hopefully they will be more reliable than the official Giant set were, and will fit within the clearance of my 28 tyres.

Had the Raceblade Longs on my Defy Composite 2 and they were fine with Conti GP4000 25s. Not so sure they would fit with 28s.

If you do have a problem with reliability, SKS are very good replacing parts and have a five year warranty.

SchrodingersCat

Thanks for all the reponses folks!:)

py wrote: »

You can purchase a replacement bracket kit if required fairly easily online on ebay/amazon.

Thats great that you can buy spare brackets. One of my gripes with the official Giant Defy Speedshield guards was that the brackets were integrated into the guard itself. When the "unbreakable alloy construction" broke, I either had to replace the whole guard, or jerry-rig my own replacement bracket, which is what I ended up doing.

Actually, now that I remember it, these official Giant Defy guards didnt even fit my 2015 defy model when I bought them first. The rear lower guard rubber anchorage sat right on top of the front derailleur cable.



I had to cut some of the rubber mount to allow the bottom shifter cable to pass through, as outlined here: http://road.cc/content/forum/209993-giant-defy-mudguards

Im glad in a way that they have finally given up the ghost, as they caused nothing but heartache. I would not recommend them to anyone considering mudguards for a Giant Defy.

@mackeminexile, Mercian Pro & Gerry, it sounds like I may have some difficulty getting the SKS Raceblade Longs to fit my 28 front tyre so. I will try it out when I receive them this week and report back on how I get on.

Thanks for all your advice.

SchrodingersCat

Hi Folks,
Just to give a final update, I went with the SKS Raceblade Longs in the end. I was mistaken when I previously thought that I had 28 tyres, when they were actually 25 in the end. As such, they were straightforward to fit. I have been using them now for a month and have found no issue with them. They appear to be much more robust than the official Giant guards, but this may be due to them being being heavier built. THe "quick release" on them is very useful anytime that I have to remove the wheel and guard when loading the bike into a smaller car.

Overall, I would really recommend them, especially over the official GIANT guards.