bikemig 

The title says it all. Should I use fenders for long distance events? I'm kind of neutral on them. I like them on my commuters and I use them early in the spring when things are wet but I tend to avoid them on my road bikes.

I'm doing some long distance events and need to decide whether to use fenders are not. Do you love them, hate them, or don't really care one way or the other?

Also are there any decent clip on fenders? I figure if I buy some clip on fenders, I won't really have to decide whether to use fenders until the day of the event,

Carbonfiberboy 

I use SKS clip-ons for local long rides. I've modified them by riveting on sections from old fenders to extend both fenders down to useful lengths. I also modified the extensions' shape with a heat g*n, flattening and straightening them. For grand randonees where it might rain, I would fit permanent full coverage fenders, which I use here all winter.

RR3

I voted full fenders but in reality they are rarely on the bike. Only if there is going to be a lot of rain and cold rain. If there are showers forecast in the summer, I don't put them on.

thebulls

Fenders make miserable days in the saddle a little less miserable. I can't imagine riding a 1200 like PBP without fenders. Not least of the problems without fenders: Water bottles covered with cow-crap and e-coli, mmmm mmmm good. Serious problem for many PBP riders in 2007, many ending up with diarrheah.

I used to cherry-pick whether to put the fenders on or not. But when you're training for something like PBP, then it's useful to train with the stuff you'll take on the ride. E.g. if you'll ride with fenders then you should train with fenders. So then you get out of the habit of taking fenders on and off and just think of them as part of the bike.

CliffordK

i generally don't ride with fenders on my bike, although as I'm planning on separating commuting from road riding, I'm considering fenders for the commuting, but still probably wouldn't carry them for a long distance road event.

Around here, we tend to have wet winters and dry summers, so if one is riding mid-summer, then one can expect sunshine and thus no need for fenders.

I have carried a rack on my ride most of the time. I don't have one on my new build, but will eventually get one mounted. One of the things I've discovered is that either covering the rack, or at least the center strip of the rack makes a significant difference for rear road spray.

seajaye

i have fenders on all my bikes and haven't looked back. canti brakes or long-reach caliper brakes/centerpulls are easy: throw them on and forget about them.

my current rando rig is a steel 700c, short-reach caliper brake road bike. it has fender mounts but i can't fit normal fenders.

SKS Raceblade Long Fenders are on it currently and they're great. i always keep them on but they're easily removable (leaving the QR mounting tangs) if you so desire (for a 100% dry event or something).

rhm

I like fenders. I try to be rational about this, but I think I take it beyond rational. Whenever I build up a bike without fenders, I get this irresistible temptation to put fenders on it.

Bandera

Just got in from an hour or so out on roads still soaking from a most welcome overnight rain on my Rando-ish winter/wet bike w/ full PB Cascadia mudguards fitted. I was comfortable, dry and undefiled by the constant mix of water, pesticide and diesel flung up from the road surface.

With Sheldon's fender nuts it takes 10 minutes to go from winter/wet to summer/dry and no fiddling about. I would set-up the bike for wet and the carrying capacity for my longest mileage 1st and adjust for conditions/distance as required.

edit: Working with another rider, much less in a paceline, having full fenders keeps the spray from rooster-tailing the drafting rider.
Polite, safer and much more comfortable than being soaked with toxic road spooge following an un-fendered wheel.



-Bandera

Chris Pringle

Even down here in dry and sunny Mexico, it has been a little wetter than usual this winter. When I had my custom-built rando/touring bike a few years ago, the plan was to have fenders all the time. The bike even looks incomplete without them. But the main thing is that fenders keep me dry, keep a lot of crud off the bike and keep the drivetrain running smoothly much longer. So, win-win-win in my book.

DXchulo

I say forget it. If you're riding for a long time in the rain (a) you're going to get wet anyway and (b) you're going to have to wash your bike after the ride, fenders or not.

I have fenders on my commuter bike and they make more sense there. If you get stuck in a little bit of rain, have to ride through a puddle, etc. they can actually keep you dry for a while, but anything over an hour and you're going to get wet.

rhm

I agree with that. In serious rain, you're getting thoroughly soaked and fenders aren't going to prevent that.

Then again, you could be out for a 10+ hour ride, during which it rains for only a few minutes, but the roads are wet all day. In such a circumstance, fenders will make a big difference.

If you ride on a leather saddle (Brooks &c) you must protect it from water splashing up from the road. It doesn't take much to soak the leather, and if you ride any distance on a soaked leather saddle, it will stretch like crazy. Fenders offer sufficient protection in a moderate rain, but not in a real drenching rain.

Wanderer

Anything that helps keep all that smagma off my water bottles, gets my vote..... And a cleaner me, bike, and drivetrain is a bonus.

ThermionicScott 

I fender.

I learned that lesson during my very first 200k, when we basically rode into a torrential downpour for the last 25-50 miles. The other lesson I learned that season was that frost-heaved roads can really beat you up, even on 28mm tires that are reasonably inflated.

So since then, I've found that fatter tires and fenders will give you less excuse to get out there and ride if the conditions look iffy.

unterhausen

I've done both. It's more important in colder weather. The times I've been happiest about riding with fenders have been when the roads are wet, but it's not raining

gerv 

Yes.. even a chance encounter with a puddle will be enough to cover clothes and bike with muck.

Rowan

This sums it up nicely. I had fenders on my original touring/rando bike, and even now my current main touring bike and our tandem have fenders. But as has been pointed out in previous posts, if the rain is heavy, the fenders are not going to keep you dry... and certainly, they don't do much to reduce the water flung forward by the front tyre. Several of my bike that I might use for randonnees also don't have much room to fit fenders, and I think I would probably just risk riding without them anyway.

Brooks saddles are moot in wet weather, obviously. But I've ridden 100 km or so with a shower cap over mine. Plus, I run Topeak racks with the solid top deck, or a rear Topeak modular bag, or a Carradice that helps protect the saddle from wheel water.

To be honest, I invest as much in waterproof booties these days as I do in fenders. I learned this in the early stages of the Murray and Bacch 1000 some years ago when a torrential downpour that soaked my shoes was followed by close-to-freezing temperatures that night (ie, the shoes did not dry out until well into the next morning when the sun came out). The fenders did little to protect my shoes. It was not a pleasant experience. Ironically, I had arranged to pick up a pair of BBB waterproof booties from an LBS, but the order wasn't there as promised when I passed through on the way to the event start. And stuck out in the middle of nowhere when the rain struck, I didn't have access to any plastic bags as substitutes.

rhm

Well, yeah. But that depends somewhat on the choice of fender. The French-style fenders that reach farther forward, far enough that they require a pair of stays in front, which makes them study enough to hold a headlight up there, direct the spray downward enough that it's not such a problem unless there's a headwind. English style mudguards don't do this as well (but look better, in my opinion).

A good mudflap is essential on any front fender.

unterhausen

kinda wish I had a bike with fenders ready to ride tomorrow

rando_couche

I live in Oregon. It rains. My bike has (permanent, full-coverage) fenders.

SP
OC, OR

bikemig 

I'm curious, what size tires are you running for your long rides? I've run 28c tires for a long time but lately I've started using a 32c. It handles bad roads a bit better.

ThermionicScott 

I'm using the 37-590 Panaracer Col de la Vie's on my "rando bike". That conversion let me run fat tires and fenders on a regular Bianchi road bike frame. Much nicer on bad roads!

I feel like there's a little speed penalty to these tires, though, but it's hard to quantify -- if I hadn't been overcome by cheapskatism at the time I would have gone all in and used 650B wheels and Hetres.

gomango

When we rode from the Twin Cities to Thunder Bay last summer, we decided it would be courteous to run full fenders.

Helps to keep the spray off the guy behind you.

[IMG]Untitled by gomango1849, on Flickr[/IMG]

rando_couche

Yep. A few years ago on a particularly rainy 200 (it literally rained ALL DAY. Without stopping.) I was "asked" in no uncertain terms to stay at the back of the group because while I had full coverage fenders, I didn't have a rear mudflap. Point taken.

SP
OC, OR
RUSA 3481

fietsbob

Not Everything on the road is Water .

ronfinch

I have been too cold + wet a couple of times on my bike in the past, the boost in morale when getting back dry and warm (particularly when I was tired, or close to my limits in other ways) makes using the likes of mudguards now an absolute no-brainer. Too wet + too cold can be game over.