Originally Posted by
bark_eater
Those PDW fenders look to be flat on the top. I think the lack of depth and "wrap" is going to make them visually undersized even if they have the same width as a set of traditional fenders.
The PDW Road Plus'es have a 30mm max tire width spec'd for them. The 33mm Somas on the bike are 30mm on the nose (at least with 19-20mm wide external rims). I looked at and 'tried on' a number of fenders. The next step up for the PDW offerings has a max tire allowance of 37mm or a little more. The flat section on the top gets considerably wider, and the angled portions get a little longer, but they looked huge, loose, and horrible on this frame. Trust me. No chrome for these tan wall tires as the black tread area, IMO, needs to be seen so as to keep the lovely contrast going. I tried gloss black "full coverage" (wrapping more fully around a 30mm tire, in a lovely semi-circular cross-section) and the gloss didn't look right with the blue (too "basic" a color combination). Basically, I kept to my original goal of a matte/satin black fender color to match the matte black of the tires, a slender fender to match the slenderness of the tires, so that the "airiness" of the frame/bike aesthetic was maintained, even when fenders were added. It's a trim and tidy look, and looks great to me--success. I understand a lot of people like a certain look or visual heft. Things get tricky at the 65cm+ level, so I would invite anyone to try that out if they like.