You know, I love SKS Longboards but I think some of these DIY solutions might have an important advantage over the Longboards. The mud flap on the Longboards (at least the really long ones you're talking about) is kind of rigid and ends up pointing forward. I had never really considered the implications of that until last Friday when this happened to me:



The mud flap acted like a scoop and picked up this stick as I rolled over it. I'm not sure if the breakaway stay mount did it's job or if the stay bolts were just loose enough to give. Or maybe the fender just flexed a bit. In any event, the fender was pretty tight to the tire before and I ended up with enough room that this just slowed me down and made an awful noise.

Anyway, it occurred to me that a loose flap hanging near the ground is actually a good bit better than a scoop.