I have them on for the fall and winter. They come off sometime later in the spring and stay off during the summer.

That probably explains how I feel about them. They're not perfect at keeping the bike clean but your bike is definitely cleaner with them than without. So during times of the year where it's frequently wet, I have them on, otherwise not. It's really not the cleanliness that concerns me. I just don't want to shorten the life of the components by having them constantly get sprayed with salt and/or grit.

I'll occasionally run into some toe overlap problems with them. The also aren't so great when taking the bike on the train. The racks on the train work in such a way that the bike is standing on it's rear wheel while the front wheel is held about 4 or 5 feet off the ground. It's actually resting partially on the rear fender which deforms it.

Every once in awhile the fenders get knocked out of alignment by something or another and rub the tires. So for me the few wet summer rides I have aren't worth the hassle of leaving them on.

Full fenders keep the dirt off me. They don't keep it off the bike; the only way to keep a bike clean, that I've found, is to hang it up in the garage and never ride it. But I've gotten to the point that all my bikes have fenders.

If you have 'full fenders' that don't keep the dirt off you, they're not full enough. A lot of 'modern' fenders are pretty skimpy, lengthwise, in comparison to the old ones.

For example, look how long the front fender is my old Norman (below). These are the original factory-installed fenders from 1950; the front one also had the leather flap, now long gone. Not that I commute on this bike, though. I have to commute on a folding bike.

After today's commute in the sludge I'm getting a front fender

Adam

Besides being functional they look really cool. How long can one stand riding around like a Fred with no fenders anyhow?

A rear fender is a must but I haven't felt the need for a front fender but with knobby tires and sludge I do now

Adam

I voted that they suck, but I am prone to anti-fender hyperbole.

Specific comments: They reduce spray from the bike wheels. Obviously, they do not reduce spray from other vehicles that may or may not pass you by. Thus, depending how many speeding tractor-trailers pass you with a few feet to spare, for example, a third party may have a hard time telling whether you used fenders or not.

I'm not going to suggest that installing something to interrupt the water-jets on your face and back from the tires is a bad idea. The bigger issue is whether FULL fenders are a substantial improvement over clip-ons. For a number of reasons that may not apply to you, I have decided that they aren't.

I think I am WAY in the minority here. but I thought I would want/need fenders soon after I started commuting but I just haven't. Even riding in slop I just don't get a lot of road crap flying up onto me. My bike does get sloppy but mostly in areas the fenders wouldn't protect anyway, so I just never got them. Granted I'm in Austin where it doesn't rain a ton and it never snows or anything like that so the slop here is pretty minor compared to a lot of other places. just my 2 cents...

yup

OP, if you're not opposed to having the bike look a little Fredalicious, you don't need a new fork.

Wrap about 1.5 inches up from the fork ends in old tube, then put PLASTIC p-clips on (the kind you get at the hardware store to guide cables).

Presto! CF-compatible (low-compression), reliable, weatherproof (ghetto looking) fender attachments! Bolts & nuts probably required.

My challenge is that my Cyclocross bike has canti bosses and no attachment points, including under the crown.

I've also decided that this will become a commuter/Rando/touring bike with racks, fenders and a road triple. Putting racks on a CF fork is a no-no.

Michael

So we've established that if you don't ride in the snow or any real rainfall, you don't need fenders. (Also, "slop" quite specifically describes half-melted snow, so if it doesn't snow, you don't just have minor slop, you have no slop at all. You can have muck, you can have runoff, but not slop.) Dry road grit isn't likely to stick to your tires enough to get propelled into your face, but get it wet and you have a completely different situation.

I ride full fenders on both bikes. I hadn't had fenders on any bike since the dinky little kids bike I learned on until last summer. Never again. I couldn't believe the difference in how clean and dry I was after I put them on. And in the snow, they're a godsend. There are some conditions where fenders aren't necessary, but if you have water or slush spraying you, you don't live in one. They won't keep your bike 100% clean, and I find that particularly with snow on a warm day, there's still lots of muck that gets on my pants. But the my upper body stays clean, and the bike is also much, much cleaner than it would otherwise be.

Oh, there's no place to mount it on the CROWN?
Ah.
Well, I've got nothing then.

very effective.
add some mud flaps that are wider too... helps keep the feet dry and the muck off the bike.

no bolt hole through the crown?

p clips might be your only option.

Having a poll on the effectiveness of fenders is sort of like having a poll on the necessity of lights. If you don't get much rain, fenders probably aren't worth the hassle. If you don't ride in the dark, you don't get much value from lights.

It's worth remembering that not all commute and commuters are the same. I would be a huge fan of fenders if riding without them meant having tire spray hitting me in the face and mouth. I've never had that happen though like some people have. Don't know if that has to do with my bikes, my tires, my ride position or just luck. Feet are another matter. If it's been raining all day with a temp in the 30's or 40's, I'd prefer to keep my feet as dry as possible and that means a fender with a good long flap.

Summer rain is different. It's warmer for one thing and it tends to come in short intense spurts rather than all day soakings. So in a summer rain my feet are going to get as wet from above as they are from the tires. In the winter it's road slop that's going to get me the most wet, so again fenders are valuable.

yes to fenders! getting a 2nd set at lunchtime for my next bike

front mudflaps the size of a gideons bible.

So, are they effective at keeping rain off the bike?
Regardless of how much rain you get... are the effective at their job?

The OP didn't start a poll stating "Are fenders effective when I ride in the sun 90% of the time..."

He simply stated 'Are fenders effective?"
One must assume that he is asking about their effectiveness at doing their job... which is keeping water off the bike.

Let me restate. What are the the 3 most recommended accessories in the commuting forum? I'd say that they are lights, racks, and fenders. So in my mind asking how effective fenders are in the commuting forum is much like asking how necessary lights are. I don't think the results are going to surprise anyone. I'm not saying it's not a worthwhile question, only that the answers are pretty predictable.

There are many who consider fenders a "must have" and because I like be contrary, I like to point at that not everybody needs them. And, again, because I like to be contrary, I'll say that I have fenders on my bike neither to keep rain nor water off of it. I find them pretty ineffective at that. I have them to minimize the amount of wet grit and salt that ends up in the drivetrain. During certain times of the year I have also like to minimize the amount of water hitting my feet. I think that they're pretty effective at keeping spray off your back, but I change clothes when I get to work, so that's not a huge concern of mine.

Love those GT triple triangle frames!

Fenders work for the upward spray, then you add mudflaps for the sludge that jumps to the feet and crank.

Fenders also make your bike look better...mudflaps are not very sexy, but are worth it.

Agree.

I think fenders look good on some bikes. I think other bikes may look better with the right fenders. There are number of bikes IMO that don't look that great with the fenders that are readily available. And I think that there are those bikes where most any fender will detract from their appearance.

I remember one day before I got fenders, I rode to work when the roads were wet (no rain, just wet from the night before). I got to work and rode the elevator as usual to the locker room. Our CEO got on the elevator at the same time, looked at me, and gave me a big smile. I didn't realize what was up until I got in the locker room and discovered my face was speckled with mud. Yeah, that left a good impression.

As for how fenders look... if you get some classy fenders that match the color and curves of the bike, they can look very nice. Ugly fenders, OTOH, just make the whole bike look ugly.

ah.

and yes. as they don't cover you nor most of the bike, you will get wet from rain.
rain that is sitting on the road, in puddles, full of salt and grime and oil and grease and the parts of small dead animals - yes, they are pretty effective at keeping that stuff off you and the bike.

but rain falling from the sky, no. you need one of these:



but even fenders, chain case, and an umbrella may prove ineffective!