fenders dont do the trick?
 

Grr. My fenders keep the road muck from getting on my back, chest, face... just fine. But when i'm going sorta fast the water comes out the sides of the fenders and gets blown by the wind onto my shoes and the lower-leg part of my pants.

Anybody else have that problem?

Road or mountain bike? My mountain bike has that problem, but I typically don't care, I have booties and rain pants that I don't mind getting dirty. I also have wide 2.1" tires on my mountain bike so its hard to get good fenders for MTBs, at least in terms of keeping ones shoes or pants clean. Best bet is to find a full wheel fender that is as close to the tire as possible. This is easier on a road bike than a mountain bike. I think Planet Bike makes some good full fenders for road bikes, I've seen some before on the net but not in person.

Jay

You need a mudflap at the base of the front fender. See http://phred.org/~alex/bikes/fendermudflap.html for a good design.

I second the mudflap. Most of the spray on your lower legs comes from the front wheel.

I happened to put one on my bike last night, and it kept my shoes and pants dry tonight -- it's rained in the Boston area today. I just cut out a rectangular part of a 1-liter bottle, then poked some holes in it and the fender, and used zip ties to hold it together.

I agree, the mudflap is the answer. I have 2 similar MTB's for commuting, one with Rhode Gear fenders (no mudflap) and get wet feet and legs, the other with Planet Bike Freddy Fenders (with mudflap) and feet stay nice and dry.

SKS fenders used to come with a mudflap. They are still the best fenders around, but dont have the flap any more.
With chromoplastic material, you can drill and rivet on some plastic from a detergent bottle.
Make sure your fenders are close to the tyre. I leave about 5-10mm of space.

"what kind of bike?"

well, right now, what i actually have is a road bike with mountain bike fenders.


"With chromoplastic material, you can drill and rivet on some plastic from a detergent bottle."

that's pretty much what i've done already. the length of the front fender is not the problem, it's the fact that wind is blowing water off the sides. yes, i'm sure that's it. because i looked while riding. :eek:

i suspect i either have to deal with it, or use narrow, close-to-the-tire fenders instead of wider, far-from-the tire fenders as i am now.

Yeah -- you definitely need fenders that run close to the tire. You won't see anything come out of the sides. Once you have it set up right, you'll wonder how you lived without them for so long.


A note - I have the Freddy Fenders which have a built-in mud flap, as mentioned above. But even that mud flap didn't go low enough to protect my feet, so I extended it a few inches.