thenomad

I finally bought fenders for the first time. Never thought I'd have them or want them as a road bike rider. I had to take advantage of a $20 deal at Jensenusa for an opened box of Planet bike Hardcore 700c fenders. They are yellow and will be the first fenders I've ever used.

I've been commuting 4 days a week until it rained recently where I only got 2-3 days a week in. Now I'm hoping it rains so I can go out and test them!

Guess I'm slowly becoming a typical commuter:
Started with just my road bike, then tried a MTB with slicks, then onto a cross bike where I'll stay. Have a rear rack now, then added a trunk bag with foldout panniers. I added a construction vest over my backpack. I have been adding and upgrading lights and blinkies and now I just got my first battery pack headlight. Fenders will be added now, along with some reflective tape. Will I now have urges to get a true touring bike frame? Front panniers? A handlebar basket?

Where does it end? When I grow a beard? start talking about carfree?...

UrbanWarfare

You should definitely grow a beard. I commute every day and I grew a beard, discovering that it had many uses. It's cool in the summer, and warm in the winter. Very handy when you have a very tasty breakfast, a little bit left over in the mustache is a good flavor saver for that halfway point on the way to work when you need a pick me up. When it rains the moisture will cling to your beard, and you can suck it so you don't have to go for the water bottle so often. Plus it will act like a set of fenders for your cheeks! It will be your second set of fenders! Depending on your job you could dye your beard to match your fenders, but only the cool kids do that. Oh yeah, as for car free, if you want to collect on the tax credit for that, otherwise the IRS won't believe you.

Congrats on the new fenders. Been using mine out here in LA and they've saved me from the telltale commuter strip up the front and down the back. Don't worry, that rain will come and you will love having those new bits on your bike.

B. Carfree

You want rain? Our rainy season started two weeks ago. A dry spell is expected sometime in June.

If you go with the beard, I suggest only keeping it for the winter. I found my sinuses were much happier with a clean shave come March.

Timber_8

I keep a beard year round. They are great in the winter & summer

dcrowell

Dynohub? Coffee holder on the bike?

I commute on an LHT. I'm waiting for snow so I can break out the studded tires.

TurbineBlade

Ha, wait until it rains -- you're satisfaction with having new fenders is quickly replaced by desire to make proper mudflaps, since you'll notice that no stock fenders have adequate length to keep everything off of you .

Mr IGH

LOL, I am waiting to install my studded tires too. I love fenders, even when it's dry:

JeffSG

It never ends and is fun to switch and upgrade components, etc. occasionally. I recently purchased a "rain" bike that came with fenders and have tried it out a couple of times. The fenders make a big difference. In heavy rain you will still want to have an overshoe on.

Have fun and ride safe,

Jeff

Grim

Funny, I put fenders on my main commuter and the three times I go caught in the Rain this year (that wasn't predicted) was when I was riding the light weigh bike with no fenders. LOL

I did the Tour De Cure a couple years ago and did the (hilly) metric on my Touring bike/Cummute. Got heckled by the "teams" the first 20 miles for my fenders, MTX bag with its silver rain fly (whats in the cooler dude?! Coors? whats for lunch? etc). They all ran their pace lines pushing each other hard wearing themselves down. I kept my 15mph pace I decided on when I started. 22 miles in the rain started. Drafing sucks when you face is sucking tire wash LOL By mile 45 I passed almost all those hecklers. Mostly because I could see where I was going with fenders and rain cover on my helmet. My final pace on the computer was 15.1

thenomad

"rain bike" = yes, did I mention I'm awaiting a call back on a CL miyata?

not that it rains much but n+1

CliftonGK1

All my bikes have fenders, year round. My brevet bike sports a pair of Velo-Orange polished stainless 47mm fenders for that super classy old-school look. They're too much of a pain to mount for me to take them on/off based on seasons. Plus, I use the crown mount to wind up the excess cabling from my generator light.

Wanderer

Pop rivet a 8" length of rubber roofing material the bottom of that mudflap, and save yourself some grief....

irclean

That's a great "Tortoise and Hare" story! I love my fenders, too, and I have two sets of PB Cascadias. I plan to eventually install a third set on my MTB and make it a trifecta.

Ira B

I always hated fenders until I ran over a huge slug and got a face full of it's guts. Now I love fenders.

fietsbob

you should live on the NW Coast, then, a temperate rain forest, rather than the desert of So Cal.

unterhausen

I was riding recently just after a heavy rain, and I was thinking about how happy I was that I had fenders. I would have been getting very wet even though it wasn't raining. I would like to get/make some longer flaps though, you have to go to Hojos/Berthoud to get fenders that are long enough.

Sixty Fiver

PB Cascadias (mtb)...



Kept the frame and me really clean here... can you see any mud on the frame, pump, or bottle ?



People ask me how my winter bike stays so clean and shiny (this will be winter #3 for this bike)... it is all about having great fenders and I am looking for a full chain case.

wolfchild

All of my 3 bikes have fenders and I keep them on all year round. Fenders has always been my very first upgrade whenever I got a new bike.

TurbineBlade

Planet cascadia fenders, extended further with additional mudflaps . The stock ones are nice, but still not really sufficient.

CptjohnC

I'm presently shopping for fenders for my Dew Drop. Anyone have any great tips? I can see that PB is the main player in the moderate price market. Anyone tried the Pyramid brand ones? About 1/3 less than the PB on Amazon... Or should I just spend the money, and get the PB ones? I have 28x1 5/8x1 3/8 according to my sidewalls (700c x 37, if I believe Bikepedia).

I don't plan to ride in rain a lot, but between the unexpected showers, the two day puddles, and the sprinklers around the Washington Monument every morning, there are enough occasions where I risk stripes as to make me want them.

unterhausen

it really seems to me that the stainless Berthouds are worth the minor extra cash. You'll be living with them for a long time, get good ones.

SlimAgainSoon

I got my fenders from Velo Orange. They are great — and long enough that I haven't put on a mudflap.

billdsd

...one of us...
...one of us...
...one of us...
...one of us...

I used to commute on a racing bike. I hated riding in the rain. Now I commute on a touring bike with fenders and I don't mind the rain at all -- not that we get a lot of it here but it's still annoying without fenders.

Shaved off my beard a couple months ago. I was going for ZZ-Top but it looked more like crazy gold prospector, or homeless guy.

I ride with two Magicshine's, two PB Superflashes and a Radbot, as well as some reflective tape here and there. I like to make sure that nobody ever says they didn't see me. All lights go on a least an hour before dark and are on up to at least an hour after sunrise on the rare occasion that I'm riding that early. Also, in overcast, fog or rain I've got the tail lights on. I've usually got one of the Magicshine's on even in the middle of a sunny day. It cuts way down on left/right cross scares.

CliftonGK1

+1 for the Velo-Orange stainless fenders. They're a good rival for Honjo and Berthoud (at about half the cost, and all the hardware is included.)

thenomad

So my bike doesn't have that little bridge section in the rear chainstays that the front of the rear fender clips onto. How do I securely mount the fender into that location?