so i'm about to finally pull the trigger on some fenders for my hybrid for the upcoming winter commuting season and i'm looking at two sets of fenders, some serfas that come with short little 1" long mud flaps on the end of the fenders, and some planet bike cascadia fenders that come with much longer full-size mud flaps. the price difference is about 12 bucks .

in the past, i had short mountain bike style mud guards on my old winter bike (they didn't work all that well, unsurprisingly), so this will be my first foray into full coverage fenders with mud flaps, and i don't know if the there's a big difference between a full size mud flap or just a short little nubby one, so i turn to the expertise of the forum to help inform my decision if i should spend the extra 12 dollars or not.

thoughts?

Long flaps help a lot. I have wider cascadia's for the winter and they work great. I have set of skinny PB freddy fenders as well and I replaced the flaps on them with cascadia mudflaps ordered from planet bike, work way better. Really reduces the amount of spray hitting your drivetrain and feet compared to shorties or none.

So there, I recommend the cascadia's, they also are a little more robust than the standard freddy's. Worth the extra $12

Do you like road spray directly aimed at your shoes? If not then go for the longer mudflaps.

From my experience, I found that long mudflaps will protect you better especially when the streets are very wet (heavy rain). But it also depends on how long your commute is. If you ride only for 30 minutes and you have somewhat good footwear it probably doesn't matter that much. Also I feel that in the winter mudflaps have a smaller benefit because you deal more with snow and less with rain.

First thing I do is remove the stock mudflaps and replace with longer ones.

Front: as low as you can get.........Rear:The farther back you want people behind to ride,the higher the flap.

is there a disadvantage to having longer mud flaps when dealing with snow?

Not that I know but I have limited experience.

Here's something to bear in mind about the Planet Bike Cascadia fenders: They shorten the fender before adding the mudflaps. This defeats the purpose of a long mudflap.

I have SKS P-series fenders and PB Cascadias. The SKS fenders without mudflaps are exactly the same length as the Cascadias with mudflaps. The ideal would be an SKS fender with a Cascadia mudflap.

Last year I purchased the Euro-spec SKS P-series fenders, which come with a mudflap. The North American versions do not. The Euro-spec SKS fender is the same length as the North American one, but then they add the mudflap to it. It's much closer to the ideal.

SKS Longboards?

Get aluminum fenders. They offer more coverage, and due to their edges being rolled up, the water doesn't leak from the sides of the fender. They also flex a lot less due to their stiffer stays and weigh less too.

I just put a set on my commuter. We then had the driest spell in over a year. But it rained yesterday, and they did a better job of the previous fenders (Bluemel Lightweights, which have a longer reach than anything but the longboards.) They look better than I thought they would (I had white Bluemels and had to go with cream sks).

Still need to cut the stays to the final lenghth....

Wow, there has been a lot of interest in fenders lately. Get the Hardcores and order the Cascadia mudflaps from PB for $5 a pair.

I purchased a set of Planet Bike Full ATB fenders for my hybrid commuter. Then I added Cascadia mudflaps. The result is mud flaps that go lower than what you get with Cascadia fenders. I also added additional fender stays on my rear fender to stiffen it up. After riding it a while, I decided to keep the mud flap on the front fender, but take the rear flap off. The fender did well enough on the back, and I like the overall look of the bike better with only the front mudflap.

I made one following the plans here, and it is doing a great job of keeping leaf litter off of my feet and drive train. It's attached to the stock metal fender on my Trek Allant.

How are these mud flaps attached? Nut and bolt?

Yes, keep the screw head inside and the nut on the outside. Less rubbing on tires that way.

Same here...they work great.

This. I was amazed at the difference when I went to aluminum fenders, dry feet!

They also pick up a lot more stuff from the road and get caught on things(like other bikes in the bike rack). which can be problematic if something which would normally flop out through a rubber flap hits a hard aluminum flap and then gets sucked up into your wheel.

I am currently very happy with SKS Longboard mudguards. Feet and drivetrain stay rather clean. Easy and clean mounting procedure. Fairly silent most of the time. Very lightweight. The look is a matter of taste, of course, but I happen to like it. Looks classy to my eyes.

In the late seventies and early eighties I used to have aluminium mudguards on my randonneur-type bike, and those easily developed cracks to the point of destruction from the constant vibration of riding. Took a year or so, if I remember right.

I think if I would want something that doesn't wobble a bit (like all plastic mudguards I have ever tried), I would go for stainless steel, despite weight and price.

C.

Drill out the rivets to remove the old, loop a zip tie through the two holes for the new. Two minute job.

The Planet Bike mudflaps look really good - I'd love a set, but no-one sells them in the UK and buying from the US would mean a ridiculous cost for postage

The Planet Bike mudflaps look really good - I'd love a set, but no-one sells them in the UK and buying from the US would mean a ridiculous cost for postage

I had wondered about this actually, why would they shorten the mudflaps? Seems a really odd thing to do, given that ground clearance shouldn't be a problem in any case...

I have the PB Cascadias on my LHT. To lengthen the Mud flaps I attached the Electra Chrome flaps with some nuts & bolts extending the coverage by about an inch and a half.

Talk about mud flaps, my girl's got 'em!

I make my own mudflap out of an old plastic bottle to attach below the factory one. free, durable and if it does break or fall off, I simply cut a new one out and attach it. I make them so they are only a few inches off the ground and nice and wide. keeps my feet and BB clean and dry.