spudston

Now that it's 1/2 through the California rainy season I've installed fenders. Better late than never, I guess. I bought the Planet Bike Hardcore Hybrid/Touring fenders. I like the fenders pretty well, but they didn't come with the release tabs that are supposed to help if something gets jammed up your front fender, thereby saving a face plant, hopefully. The PB web site shows them: https://ecom1.planetbike.com/7046.html My question is, has anyone bought the PB fenders lately, and did they or did they not come with the tabs? I've already emailed PB about this. However, I'd like to know sooner if I should have gotten the tabs, before I go back to the shop where I bought them. Thanks.

daveizdum

It depends which model you get. My friend has Planet Bike Full ATB fenders, which do not have release tabs: https://ecom1.planetbike.com/7005.html The link you gave is to the Hardcore ATB fender which, as you say, should come with the release tab. Are you sure you were given the fender you thought you were getting? Planet Bike makes quite a few models: https://ecom1.planetbike.com/fenders.html

cachehiker

No biggie for hybrid touring riding under most conditions.

My SKS fenders had them and they got tossed in favor of the "fixed" mount.

BTW, my Planet Bike fenders were far easier to install.

rex_kramer

I have this HC set on my bike as well, and I cannot see how they would "quick release."

spudston

Yeah, the cardboard packaging says they are the Hardcore fenders that fit hybrid/touring bikes. It doesn't say anything about the tabs, though. Didn't mention them in the instructions either, which are the same as the instructions from the PB web site.

spudston

Did they come with the black plastic tabs that fit on the fork eyelets?

Leisesturm

More to the point: I am just not envisioning the 'face plant' scenario. What could possibly get sucked up between tire and fender that would have the ability to lock the front wheel so totally that the rider goes over the front?

H

megalowmatt

I bought the PB HC fenders last year and they did not come with release tabs.

Somebody recently had an issue with their foot becoming entangled in the fender and flipping over but I have not had any issues with mine. Not even close.

Grim

The fender.

Mr IGH

Both sticks and ice wedged in front fenders have locked up BF'ers front wheels, as documented on this forum. I just looked at Planet Bike's website, looks like all their front fenders have breakaway tabs now, that's new as of the last few months.

USAF1C1X1

Those fenders are trash. I never got them to fit my 7.3FX properly. I ended up tossing them in the garbage.

interested

I can ensure you that such accidents have occurred and often with serious damage to the rider, including broken necks or backs, and severe head injuries. It is a common that the victims report that they had no warning about the accident before it happened and that they had no chance to react before they hit the road. So fenders from e.g. SKS are designed glide off when constricted with both release tabs at the fork mount and at the fork crown.

I see no reason not to get proper safety fenders. And I really don't understand fender manufacturers that doesn't only produce such fenders. I wouldn't like making a product that caused a permanent paralysis at a costumer when a simple, cheap plastic device and some engineering could have prevented it.

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Regards

Doohickie

I use a hybrid for commuting. I have the SKS with the release tab. I did once kick the fender and folded it under itself (the tail of the fender got folded in and sucked up between the rest of the fender and the tire). The release tabs worked as advertised and I was able to unfold the fender and click the tabs back in with no tools. True, not needed under "most" conditions, but that one time you need them, you'll be glad you had them.

Doohickie

Who said anything about scratches?

mikeinroch

I know a guy who had a fender rattle / wiggle into a knobby tire when hitting a pothole and get hooked on the tire knobs, folding up the fender and locking the wheel. Lucky for him it was the rear wheel.

Booger1

I haven't had safety tabs on my fenders for 30 years,I'm still here.....

interested

Well, those who got paralyzed from the neck down the last 30 years from front fender accidents probably doesn't frequent this board, so there is bias in the sampling. Anecdotal stories just isn't good evidence; some people smoke 3 packs a day and live to be 85 years old, that doesn't mean that smoking isn't dangerous. Some functional alcoholics drive drunk to work every day for years without incidents, that doesn't mean that drunk driving is safe.

I am not saying everybody who doesn't have safety fenders eventually will die in horrible accidents. The chance of serious injury is small (but it does exist), but the main point is, that one can prevent a class of really dangerous accidents by choosing fenders with safety tabs. It is a safety feature that cost almost nothing to make.

Total front wheel blockage without any warning is probably one of the nastiest and dangerous solo accidents one can imagine, and since this is now a well understood and documented type of accident that often cause serious injuries it is just plain stupid that some fender makers still makes fenders that can cause such accidents.

Do they do it because of greed, because they don't care about your safety, or because of ignorance and incompetence? I don't know.

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Regards

Booger1

You better wear leathers too when you ride.You could fall and get scratched,it'll turn into a staph infection and you'll die.....

Andy_K 

Sweet! Now I just need to wait for those stays to make their way onto the small parts list.

neil

When I got something caught in my PB fenders (cascadia), it just ripped the fender off of the stay, and caused me to lose the eye bolt. I'm not convinced there's a safety risk, though it was more annoying - having to source a replacement piece - than when I had a similar incident with my SKS fenders.

Grim

I have the 26 inch version on a M400 Cannondale made commuter. Other then a tight fit on the fork crown where I had to dimple it a little with the aid of a heat gun I have had no issues. Worked as advertised. Put thousands of miles on the bike including a few in mud.

interested

If you fall and and get a scratch there is only a small chance of getting an infection and even if you get one, you are very very likely to survive it without any trouble.
If you fall because your front wheel blocks totally and without warning you will do an endo and a very likely to get serious damage. As I said, people have been paralyzed, have broken their necks, fractured their bones requiring complex surgery etc. because of blocked front fenders. So they are totally different situations and risks. And btw. the most likely place to get a nasty staph infection is in a hospital, especially after surgery.

But please explain me why one shouldn't prevent serious accidents by designing safe products? You seem to be against that or what? I don't understand it. As I said, it really doesn't cost anything to prevent such accidents.

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Regards

neil

Although in this instance, I'd agree that it's best to take advantage of a minor design change that could save you a lot of trouble, I get where Booger1 is coming from.

What you're doing is "worst case scenario" thinking, instead of realistic risk assessment. Has there been a death or serious injury resulting from a blocked fender - probably. But what what's the frequency? If this is a one in ten million type of accident, then it's not something your should be spending time worrying about. In this case the "fix" is so minor as to be negligible, but there's so many times when we hear people use the worst case scenario as a reason for much bigger changes (such as not biking at all) that it's hard to take that kind of thinking seriously.

Mr IGH

Yea, put me down for the less safe fenders, I need to prove you guys are all ghey. "Hold my beer, watch this....."

interested

I think realistic worst case scenarios are part of any risk assessment. Regarding the frequency, which is of course vital too when assessing risks, then I have no hard numbers. But l some fast googling gives some interesting data:

In this thread I see 6 incidents where something was caught in the fenders and in 5 instances causing an accident. The 6th didn't endo or similar because of safety tabs.
https://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-639453.html

In this longer thread there are several reported incidents, including 2 dead, 1 broken eye socket, 1 smashed skull, broken collar bone and several ribs, at least 5 incidents where safety tabs prevented that the front fender jammed and caused an accident. https://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=26761

I have read of many many other serious accidents caused by jammed front fenders and can easily find more similar accidents by googling. Sure this is not a scientific sampling and it doesn't really gives any firm idea about frequency. Still, it does show that jammed front fenders do actually cause accidents including deaths, and that several people report that their safety tabs actually work when put to the test.

My point is that many of these injuries can be really serious by the very nature of how an accident with a jammed front fender unfolds, by hurling the rider head first over the bicycle. And that these accidents do actually occur, and that they are preventable, and that the problem is well known, and the solution is almost cost free.

It is one thing not to upgrade ones old fenders, but it is another thing not to choose the safest fender when buying new ones, or to continue making unsafe fenders. Damn, I would feel bad about making a product that could cause unnecessary death or injury.

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Regards