Touring - Do race fenders give enough protection?

You know the kind, the ones that are designed for road bikes that don;t have clearance for fenders.

I ask only because they're easy to fix and save a bit of hassle when packing, but I worry that should I use them, the area missing on full fenders might be crucial.

Anyone used them and found they ended up with wet feet, esp from the rear fender?

The only fenders that arguably work better than anything else are far too unsightly for folks who own bikes that aren't meant for fenders at all. :eek:;)

Ideally, fenders should be oversized, like you got them off a '57 Ford pick-up, and should have flaps that reach almost to the ground to be effective for reducing the junk from the road. Alot will still get on the bike. Can't be helped. They do nothing for rain.

My most effective fenders are 2X the width of the tires and the flaps are 2X the width of the fenders. No race-blades - why bother.

Planet Bike Freddy Fenders Cascadia Road Black (http://ecom1.planetbike.com/7028_5.html)

I took one messy, wet, mid-winter ride with race-blades and immediately decided that I NEEDed to find a pair of full fenders that I could fit on my bike. So I got some skinny SKS fenders (this is for my singlespeed commuter but the the experience carries over for sure).
1000X better. My bike stays way way cleaner with full fenders (and so do my feet).

Planet Bike Freddy Fenders Cascadia Road Black (http://ecom1.planetbike.com/7028_5.html)

Just two weeks ago I bought a pair of these for my Schwinn Continental. Haven't had the opportunity to try them out in the rain yet. My Freddy's have a different mud flap though.

I have tried them, they didn't cut it when it came to down to protection from water and grime for me. Do some research and make sure that full fenders will not work for you. I went a some time thinking full fenders would not fit my OCR2, decided to get a set and they work great.

A little OT, but if you are interested, I have posted details of the fender installation on the OCR2 here (http://ebrady.net/velodistractions/?p=36).

i thought the race blade fenders were great last winter. then this winter i got a bike with threaded dropouts to mount proper fenders. i let a friend borrow my race blades because i have no use for them anymore. the real fenders keep me considerably cleaner, dryer, and happier.

go to your lbs and see if they can make some real fenders fit. your feet and butt will thank you.

The brake mounting on my touring MTB won't allow for full fenders, or I would have put them on long ago. I'm looking for a folding bike at the moment, and it will indeed have fenders.

The brake mounting on my touring MTB won't allow for full fenders, or I would have put them on long ago.

FWIW, if you're reasonably handy you can usually cut the fender and make a bridge over the brake assembly using aluminum and rivets.

Thanks for that, chaps. It was actually less weight or fitting restrictions, just that I found last tour that full length fenders were a bit of a pain to dissassemble, pack and reassembele. I was just wondering if raceblades would make life easier. I suspect not.
Again, many thanks.