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Mountain Biking - Rear fender to protect front derailleur?

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hamr26

08-17-07, 05:35 AM

cyccommute

08-17-07, 08:46 AM

I have an '07 Hardrock sport/disc:D and started riding neighborhood trails and collected a lot (to me) of mud & sm. rocks on the top of the BB and generally all arround the front derailleur. I clean it off after the ride, but is this worth trying to prevent? I looked at fenders and THE brand fenders look nice and really like the ones from Crud, but it seems only a full length fender will protect this portion of the bike. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I may experiment with some sort of partial fender in time.

Dave

I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you are going to be riding in lots of rain (hurricane, monsoon, etc.) or in freezing temperatures and rain, you might want to do something but the front derailer can take a lot of gunk and still continue to function. Rinse it off when you get home or, if it's particularly gunky, squirt it with a water bottle (or spit a mouth full of water from your Camelbak on it :eek:). Otherwise just ride.

A fender, on the other hand, can cause more problems than it solves. At that tight junction, a fender will pack with all kinds of stuff and make riding more difficult...especially if you are riding in thick mud and muck.

kill.cactus

08-17-07, 08:51 AM

As Cycommute said, a fender there can cause a build up of mud and crap.

But if it is for everyday riding and you just want less slow build up of sand, mud, dirt, dust, water, oil, etc, I would suggest putting some type of shield in place.

Buying a fender seems like a waste of money, though. For everyday riding I usually have a long, concave rectangular piece of plastic I cut out from a Welch's Grape Juice Bottle fixed with tape protecting the downtube and all the componentry attached to it. Works well and when you need to go offroad in the mud, just take it off easily so it doesn't cause the whole build up.

Good luck