Colorado Kid

But what about the rear? How many have a Mud Flap back there? I understand why but who does that?

Germany_chris

I do

VO sells short and long, long on the back short on the front

rekmeyata

Like one poster said, it's to prevent spray from spraying up and into the rider behind you is you ride in group. The problem is, I see people riding in groups in the rain around where I live with NO fenders...but those are road bikes and it's so uncool to have fenders on a road bike!

All I know is that I haven't noticed anything unusual from my rear spray with the Topeak Defender fenders I use, as I mentioned in an earlier post.

Keep in mind, the wider the tire the more spray there will be, but my fenders were originally installed when I had 45c tires on the bike, I now use 38c tires and I haven't had a chance to test the fenders and spray in the rain yet. but most wider tires like those have more of a tread pattern than a smooth road tire will have, and those treads do kick up more road spray.

But fenders are very much needed to keep dirty road spray from making a rooster trail up your backside. Even a smooth tire road bike will do that, you have to decide if that bothers you, they do make a very lightweight fender for the back tire of a road bike called an Ass Saver, very effective for preventing the rooster tail and for keeping your saddle bag from getting soaked, not effective at keeping spray off of close followers, or off your frame and components. With an Ass Saver a mud flap is completely useless and will do nothing, a mud flap is only good for full fenders, but again you have to figure out if you need that sort of protection so as not to bother those behind you with road spray.

I don't use an Ass Saver on my road bike...yet, I do plan on buying one though, they are cheap.

rumrunn6

since I'm a fair weather rider, except for winter only 1 of my 3 bikes has fenders. on the MTB the rear fender keeps my rack & trunk clean (mostly). in wet weather, I use a waterproof fabric, cycling specific, trunk cover

noglider 

I've been meaning to put mud flaps on for years. I guess I'll do it one of these years. I do like fenders.

ThermionicScott 

I have one, and get thanks for it.

GamblerGORD53

NOBODY makes better flaps than ME. I use my retired high rubber boots. They already are the perfect shape and the rubber is thicker where the bolts go. My latest boots are 100% done for now. LOL. Thicker is better, but they are getting thinner. This year I bettered them by gluing a 1/16" plastic piece on the inside to cover the weaved cloth layer and get the form perfect. I put a soup can inside a 14 oz can to set the shape perfect. I can't remember where I found the 1/16" stuff, it's like a thin car mat. I used PL glue thinly on both surfaces and let it dry a while before putting it together. Mask tape to hold it still and plastic to help when squeezing between the cans. Let set 2 days.
Just a layer of contact glue will work good enough to make it easier to wash off dried sand.
All my bikes have these and always did actually. They last a LONG time. The front one is 4 3/4" above ground.
Using a stiff jug is a stupid idea always said when these are talked about.
>> Also note where I put the rear one, in FRONT of the back wheel. It really protects the BB, kickstand, pedals and the chain from drips. It certainly helps that these are 650B wheels. I can ride this thru puddles all day.
I'm also lucky that these are the best fenders ever made. I was just looking at new ones that come on IGH bikes, short flimsy and useless, yup.

Velogoth

I bought a rubber stair tread protector from the hardware store. It's plenty flexible to move on curbs, doesn't flap in the wind, they cost something like $5-10, thin enough to cut with scissors, comes in black or brown, and it's big enough to outfit every bike in your fleet with mud flaps.​​​​​​​

GamblerGORD53

There's no need for it that ridiculously low.

Velogoth

That's just, like, your opinion man.

79pmooney

I've been riding good flapped fenders forever. A billion years ago, good bike shops carried the English made Blummel fenders with their deep front flap. In several years, I'd replace the now tired flap with a mylar one. (Mylar was then popular as film for drafting and I was in engineering school.) Blummels disappeared/got bought and moved over-channel. Deep flaps went away. I'd buy (and still do) fenders and before I put them on, drill out the rivets, remove the toy flaps, make real ones and secure them with SS bolts, washers on both sides of the flap/fenders and either nylocs or lock washers. My flaps come down most of the way to the road and have enough stiffness, curvature and width to stop a lot of water. That front flap does more than all the rest of both fenders.

I ride alone and do not put on rear flaps. They suffer when I wheelie the bike out the garage side door and drop it down the step. (By far the easiest way to get through that narrow door.) If I started riding with someone, I'd have to change.

Edit: to GamblerGORD53 - my flaps don't run quite that low but close.

Velo Mule

It think this is a good topic. I saved a pair of worn out leather shoes for mudflaps. The top portion of the shoe is what I am planning on making the mudflap from. But rubber and thin plastic also make good mudflaps.

One other note: I saw a bike recently on the C&V section were the member was from England and they had their rear fender below the chainstay with a mudflap and they reported that this was effective with keeping the water and grit off of the chain. I haven't tried this yet, but I am planning on it.

Most of my bikes have fenders. On one of my bikes that does not, I had recently greased the seatpost before inserting it, so it had some grease around the bottom of the seat post. After some rides in dry conditions, the grease was caked in grit from the road. So my opinion is that fenders aren't just for rain. I'm not so concerned with the seat post but I want to keep the grit out of the headset, brakes and front derailleur as well has keep the bike cleaner.

pdlamb

When my bike was new, I put on a mudflap cut from a shampoo bottle and rivet it on. That was functional, and it was also helpful to "uglify" my bike to make potential thieves think it wasn't worth the trouble to steal it.

Later, my bike was covered with scratches, rust spots, and dab-on paint repairs that don't quite match the underlying paint. So when the 15 year old plastic fender started breaking off, I replaced it with shiny new fenders and a $30 VO mudflap. Now my reasoning is that I want something on the bike to look nice. That mudflap cost is down to about $7/year and dropping, FWIW.

alias5000

https://ass-savers.com/products/toet...egular-mudflap

Also exists in longer rear version as brotector

Germany_chris

Those are pretty useless IMO

dabac

I repurposed the tops of a pair of leaky rubber boots into mud flaps and has been quite happy with that. They fit the non-crush criteria while the shape keeps them stiff enough.