In Oregon it seems prudent to use fenders. My touring bike and my around town bike have them year around. My commuter bike, a road bike, is a little more of a challenge, but wears fenders from fall to spring. I use snap ties on the road bike because there is no room for clips. My "good" road bike is almost impossible to get fenders on even if I wanted to.

SKS fenders are almost indestructible. I have shipped our touring bikes many times in bike boxes that allowed the fenders to bear all the bike's weight if they were stowed incorrectly in planes, trains, and buses. They came out in really good shape.

While traveling at 15-17 mph my commuter bike's back wheel picked up some debris and jammed my rear wheel, folding my rear fender accordion fashion. It also broke the snap ties I had securing the fender to the rear brake bridge. The SKS fender just popped back into a fair semblance of its former shape when I partially removed the back wheel. My wife had a couple of spare snap ties in her seat bag that got us home. SKS front fenders have a "break away" mount which prevents front wheel lock up if something is picked up and jams the wheel.



What I did not realize until I got home was that the tire had a pretty good gash in it. I was lucky because we hit around 25 mph on a downhill section shortly after the incident.



I don't try for a perfect fender line. I usually try to get maximum clearance without looking too wierd. I also bounce back and forth between 28 mm and 32 mm tires on my touring bike, and I don't want to be adjusting the fenders every time I change tire size. My around town and "go-to" bike is a cyclocross bike which I also change tire size on frequently.


Around town and light touring ride.