Originally Posted by
illusiumd
Thanks so much for all the replies.
Looks like consensus is fenders are good for keeping the rider comfortable but not totally necessary for keeping parts in good order. I always take a full change of clothes to work in paniers - and the back rack keeps water from hitting me - and I hate hate hate fenders that you have to constantly mess with.
That being said I rode an hour to work today - post-rain along the lakefront and got SO much crud all over my bike - so would like to know what's the most maintenance free full fender I can get?! I'm riding a Soma ES with 28 Conti 4Seasons - with 32 studs in the winter.
Looks like these
SKS Longboards would do the trick? Is there any reason to spend over a hundred for
Portlands?
The P45 SKS Longboards are 45 mm wide, and should have plenty of clearance over your 28 or 32 mm tires. Your ES
should have wide-enough fork crown and seat stays to fit them. The SKS fenders (plastic with a metal foil embedded) are flexible enough to vibrate when you go over bumps, which is a minor annoyance.
The Portland FMF's are aluminum, so they'll be less flexible and could possibly rub less often.
FYI, if you go with the FMF's you should get the CITY width (up to 35 mm tire) instead of the ROAD width (for skinny 23 mm tires).
Planet Bike Cascadia fenders are similar to both, and are steel.
Velo Orange makes aluminum fenders that are trying to look like Honjo's (which are gorgeous but expensive, and a pain to install), but at reasonable prices.
I prefer the easy install of SKS fenders (2 bikes have them), but I prefer the looks of VO "hammered" (1 bike has them).
I have a set of Honjos that I got a clearance deal on, but I'm not going to bother installing them until I break the VO fenders.