Touring - Bianchi Volpe - Widest Tires w/ Fenders?

I'm thinking about putting fenders on my 2006 Volpe BUT I want to keep my 37mm Continental TravelContacts for trails and fireroads. I know this is a pretty specific question, but does anyone know if this do-able? Or do I have to down-tire to something like a 32mm to get adequate clearance? Thanks.

I just went out and looked at the clearance on my Volpe. I'm only running 28mm tires right now and 32mm's are the biggest I've used with the fenders I have. The pinch points are going to be at the fork crown and the seatstay bridge. They are the SKS P45, 45mm in width. For tires 35mm and wider, SKS recommends the P50, 50mm wide. The P45 takes all the lateral room on the fork. This is just speculation, but I don't think 50mm fenders will fit very well in the front. The rear has a little more clearance.

Sheldon Brown's website shows the P45 will take up to a 35mm tire.
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/fenders.html

Living in Oregon, I have a keen interest in fenders;)

Another option might be to use split fenders which gets the fender further away from the tire.

http://rivercitybicycles.com/product/reacharound-fender-brackets-737.htm

Probably not too helpful. Hopefully, someone who has actually tried the wider fenders will chime in.

I have used tires very similar to that width on my Volpe with no problem at all. It seems like the clearance will depend on what fender you use. I have used this Planet Bike fender (http://ecom1.planetbike.com/7046.html) with a tire of that width with no problem. I cannot say what you will find with that exact tire, but it should be possible to make something work. Generally speaking the Volpe will fit tires up to about 40mm. You might have to sacrifice a bit on fender coverage. The Planet bike fender I linked to say it will provide coverage for tires up to 35mm but the coverage on my bike has been just fine.

32's fit on my 2005 Volpe with fenders with lots of room to spare. I have no doubt that 35's would fit. I was wondering myself if 37's would fit with fenders. By the way, I have a 700x37 mm Continental Contact (which I know is a different model than you have) that is actually much narrower than 37 mm. It's more like 32 mm in actual width. I've heard that Continental tires run small in general, so you might be ok with what you have.

I'm almost positive that I have the SKS P50 fenders, not P45, on my Volpe (I can't go out and measure because I'm at work). They just barely fit front and back.

Jim S.

snip...The Planet bike fender I linked to say it will provide coverage for tires up to 35mm but the coverage on my bike has been just fine.

+1

I have Planet Bike 45mm wide fenders and 700x37 Schwalbe Marathons Cross tires and this combination is tight, but fits. Continental TravelContacts run smaller than Schwalbe tires. You should be OK.

Sweet! Thanks for the help. No matter what, the fenders are cheap enough to get and if I need to downsize the tires, I'll figure something out.