A very good reason to get front fenders
 

I got to work this morning and was about to take a drink from my Camelback when I noticed a somewhat viscous pale brown substance on the mouth piece. The substance was also on my jersey, the smell was unmistakable as that of dog poop :eek: :eek: :eek: . That's right, I almost got a mouthful of fresh doggy-doo.
I have a rear mud guard, now I just need a front mud/poop guard.

that would have really sucked

Mine are going on tomorrow.

Thought to myself.. "Self, I've got a few minutes before Shogun gets home, why not put them on now"? Whilst I believe I'm mechanically inept, I'm also wondering how gullible I am. I've got these Dunlop mud guards "Fits all MTBs". Should have the proviso "Accept for Haagen's MTB". One size fits all, my arse. I suppose the advertising is true because with some work, I reckon I might get that front guard on regardless of how much it objects. :mad: :mad: :mad:

I run these when it gets wet, but I'm really good at not running through dog crap
Clickhttp://www.topeak.com/products/images/DeFenderRXFX.jpgme

That's some good looking gear mate, how much did they set you back?

...and on dog turds, one does tend to keep one's eyes open for such hazards. I expect though that my arch nemisis Blackberry must be covered in crap most days :D :D :D

I don't remember I've had them for years. I believe they were in the $15 each ballpark The portion highlighted with the green outline is the only part that remains on the bike when the fenders are off.
http://img211.exs.cx/img211/5268/fendermount14cn.jpg
http://img218.exs.cx/img218/6900/fendermount21gd.jpg

Anything less than full coverage fenders is pretty useless. Might as well not have fenders at all.

This is absolutely false. I used to have no fenders. Whenever the road was wet, I would get home with a muddy trail up my back. I put on a quickrelease seatpost mounted fender, and a comparable front fender. The trail on the back is reduced by about 98%, but I still do run through a little spray that is kicked up into the wind by my front tire, so it's not as effective as full fenders, but the difference is still like night and day.

I have similar fenders to ones that Raiyn posted. Like recursive, that little wet line up my spine is all but gone. The front one is not as effective as the rear, but it's still 10x better than nothing! The difference was very clear when I went riding with a friend a couple days ago who didn't have anything fender-wise. He was soaked all up his back and his face and legs were smeared in mud. I was fine (except my shoes which got some front spray).

I would just like to add.......
When you stop at night, be careful where you step in the dark. Shoes, cleats, pedals and carpeting are not the greatest place for this stuff either. If you are road riding try to stand on pavement, not the grass.

:(

The other really good reason for fenders is to keep water and grit, and perhaps animal dung out of your drivetrain. The full coverage fenders will probably do a better job at this.

Yeah, these ones aren't terribly great at protecting my BIKE from mud and grit, just me. These are by no means meant to take the place of full fenders, but they're better than nothing. I have like no clearance for full fenders with my knobbies on my bike but maybe with my commuter tires, they might just fit now. Keeping animal feces out of my drivetrain is a worthy goal and might justify the purchase of full fenders if they'll fit.