arsprod 

Hey commuters, I'm putting an old mountain bike in service and after riding today was reminded why I have fenders on my other bikes! I have a rack already on it and want to add a clip on, quick remove fender like SKS X-tra dry. I can't tell if something like this will work with a rack - anyone know?

lasauge 

Unless your rack is the kind that mounts to your seatpost, I don't see how the fender in question would help at all. Either way, no, that little fender isn't going to provide much more coverage than the rack you already have installed.

cyccommute 

It would depend on the rack. There are lots and lots of racks that are completely open. There are other reasons to use clip-on vs stayed fenders. A more open fender with more clearance between the tire and fender is especially useful with wider tires and in snow or mud conditions. I use a clip-on and other pieces of fenders to give more complete coverage. The coverage I get in the picture below is better than many stayed fenders with far more clearance.

arsprod 

Exactly what I wanted to see - thanks! Yes, my rack is open - what rear fender is that?

cyccommute 

It's an Planet bike clip-on. You get both the front and rear fender but the front fender is rubbish. The lower part in the picture is the front fender cut to fit and mounted on bolt on water bottle bosses to cover the bottom bracket and front derailer. I mounted it over the brake bridge to give me the greatest clearance. The only problem with that is that the end of the fender can be floppy. I fixed that by putting a zip tie around the light mount to hold it up.


SKS makes a similar fender called the Beaver Tail which might be stiffer. The front fender is a SKS Shockboard which is much better then the Planet Bike fender

2manybikes

I have a fender just like that on an MTB. It's a good product, but I don't think It will fit on a bike with a rear rack. I have lots of bikes with rear racks.
I have a few bikes with fenders too. The ones that have fenders that fit under a rack are all typical stayed fenders. On one of my snow bikes I had a cut off piece of a fender just bolted onto the back of a rack with a solid plate in it. You can make a flat fender and just strap it to your
existing rack, and extend it out the back more, or forward more if there is room. I saw a temporary fender make of flat corrugated cardboard with a plastic bag over the cardboard to keep it dry, Just attached to the underside of the rack. You could make one out of plastic and keep it on.

I consider plastic fenders as a starting point, then I just cut them or attach them the way I want.

arsprod 

Yup, just ordered some SKS adventures from amazon for $15, about the same as cyccommute's planet bike set. At worst I'll zip tie them under the rack

2manybikes

A good plan. Also you can just cut the zip ties if you want to take it off or change something.

cyccommute 

To give yourself the maximum clearance, drill a couple of holes in the fender



so that you can put the ziptie through




Now use an old ziptie that you have cut off...I keep the cut off for just this purpose...and slide it onto the end of the ziptie




Pull up the head and clip it.



You can see how it works at the bottom of this picture



This picture also shows how I use a water bottom mount to hold the lower fender section.

arsprod 

Hah, you just saved me about an hour's worth of experimentation - thanks!