grantelmwood

I am going to see if my bike fork has holes where I could install a front fender
This way water will not spray into my eyes and face from the tires

grantelmwood

Then where is it from?

Eric F 

Good question. It's not your front tire. When I ride in the rain, water on my face is either coming from the rear tire of a bike in front of me, or the sky. While I'm riding, my head is not behind the trailing edge of the front tire. Water would have to be flung vertically or slightly forward to be in line with my face...but there's a bike frame in the way.

indyfabz

He knows all that. Cut off its food supply.

rumrunn6

I've been hit in the face w/ splash-up & mud bits front the front wheel (back 1/2) when the wheel was off parallel to the frame, as-in an abrupt turn, especially on a mountain bike

with my bikes w/ front fenders, in the rain. at speed, the water that is tossed out the front/top of the tire, from under the fender tip, has flown up, in the wind, at my face

79pmooney

If riding in the rain is going to be a regular feature of your riding, get full fenders. Ones with deep flaps are best. If your bike has fender eyes on the dropouts, good but if not, use P-clamps or the like. I am sure there are lots of YouTube videos out there on how to do it. Bikes that have fender clearance issues around the front and rea brake, brake bridge and fork crown can use River City's fender brackets where you cut the fender and mount the pieces separately behind and in front of the fork or bridge. They work very well and many have made similar ones with materials on hand.

Tires - some are treacherous when the roads are wet, some are excellent. I could say what I use but tires are like religion so I won't. Lower pressure always helps wet road grip until tires get too squishy. So bigger tires give you more margin to go lower; a big help. (But virtually all bikes limit how fat a tire they can fit.)

Brakes - like tires, there are brakes from excellent to very poor in the wet in most forms of brakes. Brakes are a subject again like religion. But optimizing the brakes you have and keeping them in good order could well be the difference between sleeping at home some night or at the ER. Many older types of brakes can be improved greatly with simple upgrades like cables and housing, pads and attention to details.

Drive trains - derailleur drive trains do not like rust. Chains do not like rust. Chain rust is unavoidable unless you stay on top of lubrication. Many of us who ride regularly in the rain do not use derailleur bikes. Simplifies things a lot. (Again, this is getting close to religion.)

Bike maintenance - water causes rust. Taken to extremes, nice steel parts evolve to red-brown powder. Adjacent steel parts merge and become one. With dissimilar metals, the electrons like to go for excursions; depositing themselves as useless powder over here and leaving rotten metal at their starting point. Electrolysis. Your first defense is grease. Between metals. On threads. Lots of clean grease in bearings. (Now many bearing come as sealed units; some poorly and to be considered almost expendable and some very well that run trouble free through all kinds of wet for years and decades.) There's lots of info here in BF and elsewhere. And just as much religion. The Commuter forum is a good place to go. Smaller egos and more interest in what will get them through the next winter.

Eyewear - I wear glasses. Have yet to find a goggle that didn't fog my lenses when worn over and do not want on-the-bike only glasses and have to carry also regular glasses so I buy glasses with frames that work on and off the bike. In the wet - that fender! Yes! Helmets with visors help a lot. Then it is moisture management. A smooth film of water doesn't distort vision a lot. Too many droplets does. I wipe my lenses with a clean wet finger to get the smooth film. Been known to stop and lick my glasses clean. And some rides just suck. Every once in a while, truly dangerous. But I've had rides (and even races back when) in solid rain and they have been pure bliss.

Clothing - another religion. I'm a huge fan of the modern fabrics. Coolmax or the like against my skin. Layers. I love the new jackets that claim "breathable" but that is so religion-like I won't say more. Shoes - likewise, except - if you ever ride and get so wet your socks are soaked - make sure you have adequate holes in your shoe soles. Under your toes or ball of the foot. My first rain race wae 4 1/2 hours of solid rain. By hour two we were as wet as we could get. Hour three the peloton talk evolved to discussing what brand tires tasted best. And at the finish, we all had to listen to the sad stories of the riders with no holes in their shoes. Squish, squish ever pedal stroke. The rest of us just rode the race with wet feet and never thought about it.

This from a guy who's ridden in the rain the past 50 years. No car and never lived walking distance from work or stores 'till my thirties. Spent three years living the life of a bike racer in New England and trained in all weather. Spent the next 20 years commuting 3 days a week by bike regardless of weather. I'm 70 now and the slips on wet leaves, etc. often break bones so I'm getting more careful and riding in the wet a lot less. Good thing for me is that 1) tires are getting better. 2) I now have so many bikes I have several excellent rain bikes. (And all my good bikes but one can be fendered up in 10 minutes.)

livedarklions

This is why I have all water that hits my face dusted for prints.

TBH, I rarely bother with front fenders, because the water that splashes me is from the rear tire and it hits me in my back. I knw this because it generally carries bits of sand and dirt with it, leaving the infamous stripe on the back. If it's raining, water is going to hit your face.

BTW, the knobbier the tire, the more not water crap that gets kicked up. I don't ride anything but road tires, so can't say that I wouldn't find front fenders useful if I rode dirt paths in the rain.

Koyote

True, the spray from a front tire won't hit your face; it will hit your feet, bottom bracket, pedals, chain...Lots of bits that don't like dirty water.

livedarklions

Yup, fenders don't go that low. If I ride in wet conditions, I assume my legs will be a mess.

Koyote

Oh, you can get fenders that go low enough...Then add one of these, attached so that it goes to about 2" from ground level.

staehpj1

I ride rain or shine. Nothing special bike wise. Clothing choices, it depends on the temperature. These days most of my daily riding is trail riding. I ride even in a deluge.

When on a tour, I usually ride on rainy days, but might hang out in camp for a while in the morning if it is raining hard. If it doesn't let up I typically get bored by mid morning and break camp and head out.

livedarklions

Stop that, you're making me feel wimpy!

indyfabz

In all my years of touring, where I usually usually didn’t have a choice about riding in the rain, I’ve never used fenders. I tote my tent and ground sheet on my rear rack, parallel to the bike. That acts as a fender to keep the spray/grit/grime off my back. I’m always amazed when someone says a front fender keeps your feet dry. Maybe in a light rain, but if it’s pouring, the water is going to get to them one way or another.

One dry day I hit a section of disguised, thick mud. The bike sank over and inch up the spokes. The spokes acted like fan blades. Mud went everywhere. Fenders would have been clogged. I had a hard enough time cleaning the exposed parts of the bike with a power washer at a car wash about 8 miles away. Cleaning between the fenders and tires would probably have been really tough.

livedarklions

I get annoyed when a dead leaf gets into one. Have to stop to make sure the sound isn't something broken.

Koyote

If it's raining enough, yeah, your feet will get soaked. Everything will get soaked. But a sufficiently long front fender keeps the dirty roadspray from ALL landing on your feet, chain, cranks, FD, pedals, BB, etc. Water is one thing...water that is mixed with dirt, oil, etc, is another.

​​​​​​Yep. Fenders aren't great if you might encounter something like that.

wolfchild

Agreed and that's the main reason why i ride with full fenders. Sure I get wet from rain but at least I don't get splattered with dirty roadspray. Especially important during winter when there is a lot of road salt and de-icing chemicals on the roads plus a little bit of extra protection for bottom bracket and headset. Can't go wrong with fenders.

wolfchild

That's a very minor issue, not worth stressing about.

BillyD

The principle is spot on, the execution is where things bog down . . . . . over and over and over again.

big john

I rode motorcycles in the mud and the front tire flings the mud up and ahead of you, so you ride right into it.

SpeedyBlueBiker

I do my very best to avoid riding in the rain. It happens from time to time though.

indyfabz

That's is annoying as hell. Leafs seems to like to get stuck in canti brakes.

Imagine all that crap stuck underneath a fender.

grantelmwood

Physics 101
Any of you even own a bike?
Ever seen the mud stripe on your back after a rain?
Also NoT FrOM YoUr TirEs ????

grantelmwood

That's because you actually own a bike and have actually ridden in the rain.

grantelmwood

BuT ThE MuD Is NoT ComInG FrOm YoUr TiReS !!

indyfabz

Food supply, folks.