Carnmore

Just got a Vitus Nucleus 29 VR and need to get a rear mudguard.

I've narrowed it down to the Mudhugger or Topeak Defender XC11.

Is anyone using either and what is your experience?

TIA

Darth Lefty 

I have a long Mudhugger. It's very effective at keeping spray off your body. It dumps it on the bottom bracket, though. I saw that coming and bought a front large Mucky Nutz I intended to put by the yoke, but the angle was just wrong. They have invented the FRX since then and I might try adding one by the yoke, except it seems like their US distributor doesn't have them. So maybe I need another idea.

I've gotten much more mess on my pants and shoes from the front, usually in a turn. I also have a long Mucky Nutz there and a downtube guard. They are effective at keeping it from mucking up the headset and do ok when combined with a downtube guard. But when the tire gets out from behind the downtube, splishy splashy.

Kapusta

I have used at least 8 different rear fenders on my MTBs for real trail riding over the years. Including a few topeaks.

The mudhugger on my Fatbike is the ONLY ONE that lasted a whole season and stayed put while riding. It is a far superior design to anything out there that clamps to the seatpost.

Any rear fender that clamps to the seatpost that is made of plastic would either not stay put or eventually break. Somewhere is the woods of VA and CT there are two rear fenders that I lost while riding. The other 5 or so are in landfills.

The mudhugger has been in my Fat Bike for almost 2 years, year round. It is rock solid for even the roughest trails.

prj71

Which mud hugger you have for your fat bike?

I currently use this one on mine. Yes it clamps to the seatpost, but so far it's been problem free.

https://ridepdw.com/collections/fend...=6852019224633

Kapusta

I have what was called the Mudhugger Long Rear

I bought it along with with the Mudhugger Fat Rear Extender Kit but I ended up not needing the extender kit, as the Long Rear was just wide enough to work for the 4.0 Van Helgas and 3.8 Nates I've run. I notice now they recommend the Medium Rear for use with the Fat Extender Kit. Don't know what the difference is.

To be honest, they really need to make a Fat-specific rear. The ones they have you use for the rear on Fat Bikes are made for 29ers, and involve using a heat gun and a bit of competence and faith to get it to fit the wide seat-stay yolk of a fat-bike. My Wednesday is a 4" Fat bike, and it was hard enough. I think a 5" fat bike would have been a serious challenge.

OTOH, once I put the few hours of work into it.... it is freaking brilliant.

So I recommend this with a caveat for fat bikes, but for non-fat bikes that do not require the heat gun, it is a no brainier, IMO. The only down side is that it is not quick to install and remove, but for that bike I just never remove it.... no need to. Even with the bike on the back or the car with the bike getting a 70 mph wind blowing on the fender sideways, it stays put.

I looks at the PNW one, but with that clamp.... it is just not going to work for me on the trail.

prj71

I have a carbon fatboy and the seat stay yolk appears to be wider than that. Not sure it would work for me.

Darth Lefty 

It was convenient today to circle back to this because I installed my fenders. The downtube one is shot, but the others went back on just fine. This will be the third winter for this setup.

Back when I first got it, it came with stickers to put on the frame to protect it from rubbing but I lost them immediately and didn't really try to find it. This bike isn't a show queen.

Last year I had the thing one or two ties lower. I wanted to put the fender closer to the tire on the theory it would gather spray better. I also had only three zips per side. They kept breaking. They're not very good ties. I found some orange ones to match my bike, and they're brittle. Walmart store brand. But still...

This year I put it on further up. The uppermost zip ties are now on the part of the seat stays that bend inward, so they are not working very hard to bridge the gap. The lower ties are on the "ears" of the fender so they aren't able to put such a load into the ties. I put on all twelve zips and didn't tighten them much, hopefully they will spread the load better like laces.

The fender is four inches wide, about. No trouble with clearance to the 27.5 x 3 in Rocket Ron.

I just ordered a PDW fat bike down tube fender. The non-fat version is only 14 inches long and didn't look like enough. The fat bike version is huge! 2 ft long and 8 in wide. I figure it can be cut down if it's a problem. Will report back in a few months when I've had a chance to try it.

Darth Lefty 

Incidentally, the last notional modification to this bike to make it "serious" is a thru axle rear hub. I had the rear hub scootch out of place on a jump landing a couple weeks ago and it made me think, but so far it just has not been required.

Tubeless conversion was first. Rims were "tubeless ready" but the original tires were not and they wept. When they wore out, got "real" tubeless tires.

Original test-ride pedals got replaced when the left spindle bent, with cleated platforms with chromoly axles and sealed bearings.

The dropper has been on for a year. It was a $100 christmas special from CRC

I got a somewhat clapped out but premium DVO fork for about 10% MSRP, feel very fortunate about that one. I was shopping for something in the $500 range and to get a $1000 fork for $100 was amazing.

Both the dropper and fork are too "long" for this bike but I'm getting a full suspension frame in a year or two and then it will all make sense.

The_Magnet

I use muggaurd from Muckynutz, front and rear. Pretty happy about them, not getting to much clutter in my bottom bracket area.
But in your case I'd choose the Mudhugger.

Take care

Darth Lefty 

Some quick photos from installing the PDW down tube fender. It was a snap and went together just fine. You may be curious what the extra holes are. The mount can be direct mounted if you have a set of bottle bosses that are close enough on the down tube. I didn’t. The frame bag limited placement to two inch increments. I tried it higher at first, then moved it lower. In the low position the cranks hit it until I folded it down a bit more. I don’t think it will be a problem in the field. But I will let you know.