I wonder if anyone has any first-hand experience with different shape of the front fender, especially on gravel or mud. There's been this "everything" article and sure it tries to explain all possibilities for coverage with different frames including those with limited or no mounting points:
https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buy...ike-mudguards/
But I came across a situation when my CX bike did not have enough clearance in the fork for mud when I tried to use a full-size front fender. As a matter of simple hack, I have sawn off the frontal part so there's now no coverage over the top of the front wheel.
I can tell difference with rear fenders as for their length or if the front fender does not reach low enough - in that they shed more debris on my back or into the crankset respectively. I can totally feel small pebbles being ejected into my face with no front fender at all, but I have not noticed anything when the frontal overlap of the front mudguard is missing.
Also when thinking of the kinetics of this, when travelling at any speed, whatever is thrown in front of the fork crown will be brought down by gravity fairly quickly, not to mention the speed of it should be equal to the tangential velocity of the tire surface which by definition should be equal of the travelling speed. Whatever heavy enough to be worried about will not be significantly slowed down due to air drag to allow catching up with it before it falls to the ground due to its weight.
The reference picture shows that even at least one manufacturer of clip-on fenders bothered to make the effort to include the frontal piece of the front one while it skimped on the crankset/drivetrain protection, as if it was important. What am I missing?