thdave

It was a nice day in Cleveland Monday. I took my son to the orthodontist in the morning and then dropped him off at school. I saw a ton of bikes--it was nice. Yet none had fenders! That stinks. The vast majority of us here agree that fenders are very useful when commuting.

I remember as a kid having fenders and never really appreciated them. I think other parents think the same. They got a bad rap. Yet, they have gotten quite a bit lighter and are very useful.

Kids who ride home in the rain don't know how fun/useful a bike can be and likely sour on them. Can we do something about this?

icedmocha 

fenders are uncool. Sorry fred.

flipped4bikes

When I was a wee one, riding my bike to school was definitely not "commuting". And fenders were so geeky. As a matter of fact, we used ride through puddles just to see how much water we could kick up and get ourselves all wet. Now that I'm a geek in my adult years, my perspective has changed.

ekitel

fenders are very cool! bikes without fenders look stupid unless you are competing in, or training for some bicycle sporting event

AlmostTrick

Maybe since it was a nice day they left their fendered rain bikes at home, that's what I do. Seriously though, being middle school I'd bet many of the bikes were BMX'ers. You just don't put fenders on a BMX bike.

thimblescratch

I think it's more a matter of having no idea what to look for when you go to buy a bike from a store, which is usually Walmart etc. I remember when I was about to leave for college, my parents and I went shopping for a bike and picked up a mountain bike as it was the only thing they made small enough. For youngsters, there are typically only 2 options, BMX or MTB and neither have fenders. I really doubt it's about them thinking fenders are dorky. But in any case, they usually have fun on any bike, kids don't start getting concerned about mud puddles until they're adults.

CBBaron

Whats worse is I'm guessing that over half the bikes are full suspension Walmart specials. At least that is what I see at the schools and on the sidewalks in my neighborhood. I mean whats the point of a 20" wheel bike with 21 speeds and full suspension. The bike is going to be a tank to ride and likely break with only a little abuse.
Kids are young enough to put up with a stripe up there back as long as the bike looks cool. I think cool retro cruisers are the only way you are going to see and fenders on bikes at the school. Full suspension MTBs and 20" BMX bikes just don't look cool with fenders.

Still its promising that you saw so many bikes.

Craig

thdave

How old are you? How do we get our kids to stop thinking as you do?

Seriously, there must be a way to getting people introduced to properly equipped bikes, like the ones most of us ride. Shouldn't it be done while they are young? Can't a "cool" bike be developed with some utility built into it?

I could see a bmx bike style with flared black fenders (now we're talkin') and a integrated rack--extra long. Department stores could have a special section of school kid's backpacks that have rack attachments. I guess I'm just dreaming here.

flipped4bikes

A properly equipped bike? When I was a kid that meant banana seats, streamers on the handlebars, and playing cards laundry clipped to the bike, making noise in the spokes!

I-Like-To-Bike

I don't care where a bicycle shopper may go. The shopper will not find a bike made for children with fenders in the U.S.

Can someone name one outlet for kid's bikes or one bicycle (any type) being marketed in the U.S. for cyclists of middle school age that is equipped with fenders?

aMull

Mud on your face and back is uncooler. And dumber.

Da Tinker

Yep.
https://www.schwinnbike.com/products/...ail.php?id=655
Sting-Rays still come with fenders.

cccorlew

I don't know. In 1902, or or 1961, I don't remember, the first thing I did when I got my bike was take off the reflecters and fenders and other stuff that came on it. Fenders are not cool, like the cheap giant crappy plastic seat bag I ditched too.

Now I commute and love my fenders, but then I have very cool fenders.

BTW, if you really want to be upset, watch them leave and see how many don't wear helmets.

ItsJustMe

Yeah, fenders are uncool. So are lights. I'm going to take all the body panels and lights off my car and drive around a bare frame at night. Maybe I'll paint it black too. That'll be SO COOL.

Or just maybe I have no clue.

ragboy

uh, wrong. Riding a bike with no fenders indicates 1 of 2 things:

1) you use the bike only in fair weather, a.k.a. bike weenie; or
2) you're ignorant about the issue

mtnwalker

Thinking that kids should think like adults? Big MISTAKE! Middleschool and High School is about fitting in and not looking like a dork, even if you look like one. Most common sense goes out the window to make your friends think you're cool. Not just bikes but everything else in life.

I remember hanging around guys in high school that I would not hang around with now. I did some stuff that I knew were wrong but I did them anyway to fit in. Peer pressure is a powerful and dangerous thing.

ekitel

mud is an obvious one, there are other substances on city streets that you'd rather not try to identify much less get on you

mtnwalker

But those other substances that accumulates on my watter bottle adds flavor to my water. Black grit, yumm.

thdave

I know what you mean yet backpacks are now cool but weren't when I was a kid. Things change and evolve. Parents have something to do with it, too.

mikepop

This bike has fenders, as do a lot of the other Diamondbacks:

https://www.diamondback.com/items.asp...d=8&itemid=206

I've seen these and similar in every LBS around here.

Cromulent

Jeez, who invited the nerd patrol? Oh, this is the Commuting Forum - an online community of people who bike to work. We are the nerd patrol.

I'm just guessing here, but I think icedmocha was referring to what a middle schooler might think. The reason you saw no fenders at the middle school is that they are indeed uncool. To a middle schooler. I'd be surprised if I saw mirrors too. Any recumbents?

Are fenders practical? Of course! Just be happy that there were bikes there at all.

kjmillig

Backpacks like kids carry to school now didn't exist when I was in school. So even without the "cool " factor, we couldn't carry one. I too remember taking fenders off my bike and hitting every water puddle I could find all the way up to 8th grade. Being a teacher I can attest every day that peer pressure is more powerful than common sense to most kids. Riding a bike with no fenders doesn't say a word about a kid's ignorance or being a "weenie". All it says is, "Hey, you got a cool bike!" in the child/adolescent mind.

thdave

There are no (virtually none) cruiser style bikes being bought by kids. NONE. The bikes are all mountain bikes or bmx style.

Also, if you go to a WalMart or a Target or a Dick's and look at the bikes, you won't see any mountain or bmx bikes with fenders. The only one's with them, if any, are cruiser style, which kids won't be caught dead riding. You can go to a good quality LBS, too, and you won't see any.

HardyWeinberg

My 5 yr old rocks his fenders proudly, but he doesn't mind the training wheels either.

It was definitely a cruiser, practically w/ fins, that I learned on. Boy did I get a torrent of crap when the 6th grade finally hit. That was when the Huffy 10 spds came out.

mtnwalker

Agreed. Being a parent I sometimes wonder what the heck my kids were thinking or their classmates for that matter when I see them do something that to me is odd. But I've grown accustomed to making myself think back when I was a kid and see it through those kids eyes and you know what? What they are doing makes a sense. Maybe not to us but to them it does.