Fenders or no fenders on your commuter bike

caputmundi

Not sure if this has already been discussed before, but I'm interested in knowing your views on having or not having fenders on the bike you use to commute and the reasons behind it. On the one hand it seems like a no brainer, it keeps you and commuters behind you clean. On the other it looks better but makes your commuting more challenging, if you get what I mean. I never thought about this until starting the debate with a friend. Maybe it's just a case of functionality over aesthetics.

Plastik

If you're a regular commuter it's functionality over aesthetics in wet weather. I don't know how anyone commutes on days where there is a lot of standing water, and not necessarily raining, without mudguards and puts up soaking wet shorts - particularly on the morning commute. My 'fellow commuters' don't come into the equation, it's about me keeping me as dry and as clean as possible.

Re aesthetics, I use raceblades and they're removed every day that its dry!

magicbastarder

i had to buy a new bike so i could commute - the existing bike did not have the clearances for mudguards.

Chips Lovell

I'd have mudguards on my commuter from about October to April. I use them mainly to keep the bike clean and cut down on maintenance and they do keep the arse a bit dryer.

I don't really understand anyone who says its respectful to other commuters. I commute by bike every day and I've never been sprayed by someone else because I wouldn't be drafting strangers.

daragh_

Ditto.

Raceblades for wet days in the spring/summer

Winter bike has big SKS Chromoplastics.

seamus

More challenging?

Unless you spend significant parts of your commute tucked into the aero position, then mudguards are going to make little difference to the effort you have to put in.

Personally I think group riding on a wet day without a full length rear mudguard is very bad manners. Even commuting without one is inconsiderate.

Seaswimmer

Another issue not often considered is that when riding without mudguards you need to wash your gear more often. Your nice new expensive waterproof jacket will deteriorate very quickly with regular washing.

I made this mistake first year commuting when my jacket ended up pretty much a dirty grey (from hi vis green) and lost its waterproofing from constant washing.

triggermortis

My commuting bike has mudguards on, but in the better weather I have used the good bike with no mudguards. Last job had a secure place to leave the good bike, but new job doesn't so I'll be using the commuter bike all the time now and probably leave the mudguards on in the summer

Tenzor07

I'm offenderd you call mudguards fenders!! :eek:

Water John

Return to Fender. Oh sorry, that should have been, yesterday.

tomasrojo

I call them fenders too sometimes. I call the storage area in a car the trunk and the bit covering the engine the hood. I'm not sure why. They just seem like good words. I did use to live in California.

Anyway: fenders/mudguards. Always. My current bikes all came with them, but when previous bikes came without them I installed them anyway. Mudflaps too.

magicbastarder

i learned the benefit of full length mudguards when i went out for a cycle on a cold day in january and the salt on the roads destroyed my chain*

*coupled with the week i waited before cleaning the bike

Lusk_Doyle

seamus wrote: »

More challenging?

Unless you spend significant parts of your commute tucked into the aero position, then mudguards are going to make little difference to the effort you have to put in.

Personally I think group riding on a wet day without a full length rear mudguard is very bad manners. Even commuting without one is inconsiderate.

More challenging in how to stay dry without them, not aero!

seamus

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

More challenging in how to stay dry without them, not aero!

D'oh, read it wrong. I thought he'd said that mudguards make the commute more challenging.

68 lost souls

I'm confused... How do you play guitar while cycling?

irishrover99

Last year i put mudguards on for the first time.
Within 3 weeks of them been on,one of the newly installed sealed bearings in my rear wheel had completely rusted and would barely spin.
It made me wonder if more water was falling on the rear freehub area that caused it and its ,making me think twice about putting them back on again this winter.

loyatemu

I have crud roadracers on my road bike (which I also occasionally commute on) - I'm curious why anyone would bother taking them off for weekend spins, they weigh nothing.

plodder

68 lost souls wrote: »

I'm confused... How do you play guitar while cycling?

I always thought fenders were bumpers, and thought that's taking the whole "near miss" problem to an extreme..

Alanstrainor

I have a rear guard and nothing on the front. Not too much clearance for one up front, but maybe I could attach one to the frame. I wouldn't commute without them. Nothing worse than getting soaked when it's not even raining because the ground is wet. Obviously it is also nice for others behind you too.

Marvinthefish

Tenzor07 wrote: »

I'm offended you call mudguards fenders!! :eek:

I prefer the Bikesnob-approved term "wheelbrow", with "filth prophylactic" a close second. #useprotection
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.co.uk/2009_06_19_archive.html

MeWantBroadband

No problem: http://www.thebicyclingguitarist.net/graphics/lego/2011-complete.jpg

HivemindXX

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

I don't really understand anyone who says its respectful to other commuters. I commute by bike every day and I've never been sprayed by someone else because I wouldn't be drafting strangers.

I'm amazed. The mudguard free bike with big chunky wheels that you very often see commuting can have at least a two metre long rooster tail of droplets flying up. I don't consider two metres to be drafting especially in crowded city traffic.

I also don't have any control over people who pass me and then pull in front where I can see the spray of filthy water moving to line up with my face.

I can understand people who don't realise this is an issue. People who know they are spraying other commuters and just don't give a damn are assholes.

ED E

Musguard ftw.

tomasrojo

Conventional mudguards throw a fair bit of spray back at the person behind too, but not at face level. The total absence of mudguards, though, lobs schmutz in an arc from near road level up to the vertical, which, after a brief sojourn aloft, rains back down on the person behind. Unless, as said, you keep a good bit back. Not sure what the distance is, but I think you can be in the filth fallout zone even if you're two car-lengths back (7m?).

tomasrojo

Some good stuff about fenders here:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fenders.html

(And a mention of spray with fenders that only go as far as the "equator" of the wheel, and mudflaps.)

beauf

Just saves on clothing. When cycling in rain, you don't simply get wet it throws up all the grime and dirt off the road. That destroys the bike and your clothes and any bags you have. I'm sure it must do the same for people following you also.

I prefer the look of a bike without mudguards, as I assume most other people do also. But not as much as hate the dirt it throws up. On my commuter bike(s) I have the mudguards tweaked with cable ties to stop rattle and keep them perfectly aligned as they get knocked a fair bitl

Really its a god argument to have a wet day bike and a sunny day bike. Perfect number of bikes N+1 where N is the number of bikes you currently own.

eeeee

tomasrojo wrote: »

Conventional mudguards throw a fair bit of spray back at the person behind too, but not at face level. The total absence of mudguards, though, lobs schmutz in an arc from near road level up to the vertical, which, after a brief sojourn aloft, rains back down on the person behind. Unless, as said, you keep a good bit back. Not sure what the distance is, but I think you can be in the filth fallout zone even if you're two car-lengths back (7m?).

I have been in groups where the mudguard threw more shyte up into my face than a mudguard-less wheel. It gets angled sharpy right up onto the following head. I have deliberately chosen the mudguard free wheels. That said it depends on the angle of said mudguard.

Permanent mudguards on the commmuter, never had mudguards on the road bike. Just an ass saver.

tomasrojo

nee wrote: »

I have been in groups where the mudguard threw more shyte up into my face than a mudguard-less wheel. It gets angled sharpy right up onto the following head.

That's interesting. The mudguard should really just cut the upper angles of the spray off. Which means if you're following closely you might well get just as much spray in your face (I was thinking of someone following at commuter distances) as following someone without mudguards, but not more. But you have empirical evidence so I'm not going to argue it! Might get side splash from a mudguard that isn't close around the wheel, I guess?

For riding in groups, Sheldon Brown says rear mudflaps are a real courtesy. I'm assuming virtually no-one who rides in groups actually uses them, but I put one on to keep my trailers clean. Really effective.

Pinch Flat

I have permanent mudguards / fenders on my commuter. An absolute must IMHO. They'll protect you on wet roads, no spray on your back / in your face.

beauf

tomasrojo wrote: »

....But you have empirical evidence so I'm not going to argue it! Might get side splash from a mudguard that isn't close around the wheel, I guess?...

I don't get it either. maybe the mudguards people are using are too short or too far from the wheel or too narrow.

I have a bag on my carrier on my commuter and it doesn't catch any spray.

robyntmorton

When training for the Galway Cycle this year (my first experience of group riding) I learned to equate the amount of countryside kicked up onto my face with how good I was getting at following the wheel in front. Weirdly I started to miss it on a dry training session. I did at one point joke that I should dismount and dive face first into a field, so it looked like I was doing something (I didn't).

That said, getting spray coated while in full cycling gear is one thing. I'm not sure this is a good look when you're arriving into work.

(Spray in part courtesy of Sullivlo)