Winter Riding Gear

Posted by: Timer

For the fender fashionistas there is now another option: SKS Mudrocker It seems a bit more userfriendly with the rubberized velcro straps and rubber mounting points.

Would love to report if it works as advertised but it doesn't seem to be in stores yet or already sold out. Tried in vain to buy one yesterday.

That would be great on my SC, I get a lot of smoo thrown up on the rear shock which can't be good

the wide down tube of an E-bike blocks a lot of the mud thrown up,

Posted by: Timer

For the fender fashionistas there is now another option: SKS Mudrocker It seems a bit more userfriendly with the rubberized velcro straps and rubber mounting points.

Would love to report if it works as advertised but it doesn't seem to be in stores yet or already sold out. Tried in vain to buy one yesterday.

I'll be keen to read reviews/reports from users. I've tried a lot of fender products and the Mudhuggers on the rear and the MH or RRP on the front are so dialed for function/maintenance I wouldn't assume the SKS will compete with them. Certainly the previous SKS mountain bike fenders I've used haven't been amazing. But, you never know.

Posted by: Vikb

Posted by: Timer

For the fender fashionistas there is now another option: SKS Mudrocker It seems a bit more userfriendly with the rubberized velcro straps and rubber mounting points.

Would love to report if it works as advertised but it doesn't seem to be in stores yet or already sold out. Tried in vain to buy one yesterday.

I'll be keen to read reviews/reports from users. I've tried a lot of fender products and the Mudhuggers on the rear and the MH or RRP on the front are so dialed for function/maintenance I wouldn't assume the SKS will compete with them. Certainly the previous SKS mountain bike fenders I've used haven't been amazing. But, you never know.

I feel like that rear fender is going to slap on the wheel continuously. The mudhugger seems to be so much stiffer and reinforced.

Posted by: RAHrider

Posted by: Vikb

Posted by: Timer

For the fender fashionistas there is now another option: SKS Mudrocker It seems a bit more userfriendly with the rubberized velcro straps and rubber mounting points.

Would love to report if it works as advertised but it doesn't seem to be in stores yet or already sold out. Tried in vain to buy one yesterday.

I'll be keen to read reviews/reports from users. I've tried a lot of fender products and the Mudhuggers on the rear and the MH or RRP on the front are so dialed for function/maintenance I wouldn't assume the SKS will compete with them. Certainly the previous SKS mountain bike fenders I've used haven't been amazing. But, you never know.

I feel like that rear fender is going to slap on the wheel continuously. The mudhugger seems to be so much stiffer and reinforced.

Yeah I like how clean it looks but tough to imagine it not flapping around like crazy.

Posted by: RAHrider

I feel like that rear fender is going to slap on the wheel continuously. The mudhugger seems to be so much stiffer and reinforced.

Ya that occurred to me as well. I'm prepared to be wrong, but I'll wait and see what people using them say. The fact that MHs and the RRP front fender are so fire and forget really sealed the deal with me on fenders for a MTB. Before that all the MTB fenders I used involved a lot of faffing around.

Posted by: RAHrider

I feel like that rear fender is going to slap on the wheel continuously. The mudhugger seems to be so much stiffer and reinforced.

Lets see. The fender is supposed to be made made from glass fibre reinforced plastic. If made properly it should be plenty stiff and i intend to use it on a XC hardtail which doesn't experience the kinds of impacts a bigger bike would.

I notice that @mammal has modified his rear mudhugger to use velcro instead of zip ties, which should make it much less annoying to mount and unmount.

Posted by: Timer

Posted by: RAHrider

I feel like that rear fender is going to slap on the wheel continuously. The mudhugger seems to be so much stiffer and reinforced.

Lets see. The fender is supposed to be made made from glass fibre reinforced plastic. If made properly it should be plenty stiff and i intend to use it on a XC hardtail which doesn't experience the kinds of impacts a bigger bike would.

I notice that @mammal has modified his rear mudhugger to use velcro instead of zip ties, which should make it much less annoying to mount and unmount.

👍

Let us know how it works.

As for the zip ties, I skimped on them at first and paid the price. The mudhugger takes a ton of abuse and forces. I didn't really appreciate it until I under strapped it. Now I use all the zip tie slots and tighten the shit out of each one. I'd be interested to know how a velcro mod worked out @mammal? Is it possible to keep in place with velcro?

On SKS fenders: I had a similar SKS rear fender to what's shown in the picture, but not quite as long and it had semi-permanent mounts. It was made of the same material, and the mounts were sturdy, but it wasn't nearly rigid enough (made noise), and the coverage kind of sucked (too slim, more for commuter tires). That's what's really great about the fenders from MH/RRP, they are made for hard riding, and are super rigid, so no noise and resistant to bending. I also think the SKS ones posted above look worse than the MudHugger/RRP products, but that's personal preference.

On my mounting straps: I enlarged the zap strap holes on both my front and rear fenders into slots, so I could use the reusable cable ties to swap them between bikes (the kind with low-pro velcro, not the fuzzy kind, about a cm wide). It works really well, and only takes about 5 minutes to swap, but you need to make sure there's some kind of ride-wrap type stuff to protect the mounting areas. I use 3M vinyl film from Amazon for that. The thing with that kind of strap is they have just a little bit of stretch to them, so you do need to take care in making sure they're pulled quite tight, and have good overlap, but they keep the fenders in place very well. Also the low-pro velcro is really easy to clear dirt/mud from when it's time to swap them to another bike.

I'm prepared to just leave my fender on all winter.  I mean, how many really dry days will we (in metro Vancouver) experience between now and next spring/summer?  If it's not actively raining it's going to take days for the ground to truly dry out (or freeze?) to the point that a fender still isn't a good idea.  

So a reusable velcro fastener isn't a deal breaker for me - but I would probably invest in some for next season when I am reinstalling these fenders if word on the street is that they work.  Not having to think about this fender is part of what makes it so good.  Totally agree with VikB that the fenders that used to be available were too much of a hassle.  Does anyone remember those front fenders that required you put a star nut or something inside the bottom of your steer tube?  Those things would twist and move so much it made them basically useless.

Posted by: Timer

I notice that @mammal has modified his rear mudhugger to use velcro instead of zip ties, which should make it much less annoying to mount and unmount.

Why would you unmount it? At least for the winter. Assuming you are in BC it's either raining or has rained recently so fenders pretty much make sense the whole time. One of the things I like about the MH is how solid they are when installed and how quickly I juts forget about them on the bike. They do their job and [at least for me] don't get in the way.

I leave mine on year round on the hardtail, but I'll admit to being a bit weird that way and my dedicated summer FS bike doesn't have a rear fender.

Posted by: Vikb

Why would you unmount it?

As mentioned above, to easily swap the fenders between different mountain bicycles. Also, in sping/fall, there are plenty of times when it can be good fender-less conditions, but then take a turn towards sloppy, and return to decent again. It's really a plus for me.

Posted by: Vikb

Posted by: Timer

I notice that @mammal has modified his rear mudhugger to use velcro instead of zip ties, which should make it much less annoying to mount and unmount.

Why would you unmount it? At least for the winter. Assuming you are in BC it's either raining or has rained recently so fenders pretty much make sense the whole time. One of the things I like about the MH is how solid they are when installed and how quickly I juts forget about them on the bike. They do their job and [at least for me] don't get in the way.

I leave mine on year round on the hardtail, but I'll admit to being a bit weird that way and my dedicated summer FS bike doesn't have a rear fender.

I cannot believe you leave the fenders on in summer. That's crazy. No matter how well everything is attached there is still a bit of slap and rattle. I can't wait to peel mine off co.e dry season. It's always so anxiety provoking to remove them though....is it time yet?  One more week maybe? And when you finally do take them off, you get another month of rain 🌧 

I can see the velcro straps having a roll but at the same time, I'd like to see a setup before cutting up such expensive fenders. @mammal, are you taking your bike off drops etc with yours?

Posted by: RAHrider

I cannot believe you leave the fenders on in summer. That's crazy. No matter how well everything is attached there is still a bit of slap and rattle.

No rattle. No slap. They are 100% solid and silent. If they weren't I wouldn't use them. I don't really notice they are there when riding or using the bike. Taking them off would be a hassle and then I'd have to do something with them so why not store them on the bike? It rains in the summer and I blast across creeks on longer backcountry rides so they still are useful even though obviously not as much as in winter.

My one pro-tip for MHs is to use the fuzzy side of velcro on the CS instead of the clear film they provide. Keeps the frame protected and the MHs don't loosen up very often.

I absolutely hate a MTB with any noise or looseness/rattle. I'll skip a ride(s) and hunt down/fix the problem no matter how long it takes! So if my fenders caused me even the slightest irritation/annoyance they'd be gone for a better solution.

Posted by: RAHrider

I can see the velcro straps having a roll but at the same time, I'd like to see a setup before cutting up such expensive fenders. @mammal, are you taking your bike off drops etc with yours?

Sure, whatever aggressive shore/S2S riding I do, gets done with fenders on as well. Because I tend to gravitate towards the hard tail 2/3 of the time in the off-season, it sees the majority of fender rides, but the suspension trail bike still gets fendered up when I'm doing some laps with friends (most of my riding buddies are dually-only). Neither setup is more noisy than the other (1/10 noise factor), and I'd say that the amplitudes of impact are similar (soft suspension bike goes faster, slower hard tail gets jarred around more).

If you look at my photo, you can see the slots on the rear fender. The front is similar, with two slots where it mounts to fork crown, and there is a single slot on each side tab, for attaching to the fork legs. I've found the rear needs more straps for security than the front, which is why there are four on each side for the back. Don't underestimate the toughness of the material they use, it's really tough. There's no issue with cracking around the mounting points, as long you don't make them too close together.