Whats This On The Back Wheel?
 

I have just been reading the Bike Commuting Advice pages from British Cycling and on one page about workplaces there is a picture of a bike with a strange contraption on the wheels.

I cant copy the image alone but here is the link to the page.

Can anyone tell me what that strap contraption is on the back wheel?

It looks like it would rub on the wheel to me.

Thanks



http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/tra...--Workplaces-1

Fenders (you might call them mudguards? in the Motherland) made from plastic and designed for racing bikes with almost no clearance. If you look closely you can see it extends over most of the rear wheel. I forget who the maker is but they are designed to brake away if they get caught in the spokes somehow.

Is that a fender?

Actually its hard to see but there is a mudguard on the wheel but only a thin one.

Yes! It is a crud roadracer MkII. I have them on my CAAD8 and on my wife's Madone 4.7. They are awesome!!!

Yep, skinny low-clearance racing fender. I think the only thinner ones I've seen are the Berthoud CF fenders.

I have a set for my bike too. They're OK, - kind of a pain to get mounted right, - on my bike at least.

There are a couple of pieces of felt mounted where the strut meets the fender near the braking surface of the rim. The felt will occasionally rub against the rim and that is intentional. It's supposed to center the fender. If you ride when it's wet (sort of the idea behind a fender) and you get some vegetation or something stuck on the inside of the fender it will rub. Happens fairly often.

There's a front fender too if you look closely.

They are almost invisible from a distance. During the beginning of a group ride another guy tucked in behind me and kind of freaked out. The fender was moving a little from side to side. He thought it was my wheel at first. ;)

I think SKS has come out with an extended version of their race blades that I may try someday.

I have them off for the summer but this is what my bike looks like with them on:

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...l/5c9f040b.jpg

I'm looking to get fenders for my road bike, which has eyelets front and back. Would these be suitable?

These don't require eyelets.

As for suitability, it depends. They're designed specifically for low-clearance applications on bikes that weren't really designed to take fenders. If your bike was designed for fenders and has eyelets, I'd go with standard fenders. I run SKS P35s on two of my bikes.

I run Cruds on my Litespeed through the winter. They barely fit through the rear brake with 25mm tires, and in front I have to switch to a 23 since it rubs on the 25. Standard fenders would never work on this bike, so the Cruds are a good compromise.

On the downside, they are not a rigid fender, nor is the mounting. As a result, as tjspeil mentioned, they sway back and forth and shift off-center. Additionally, the front tip of the front fender doesn't provide enough coverage for speeds over about 14-15 MPH. Faster than that and spray flying off the front blows back on to the bike. It's better than nothing, but don't confuse it with a full-coverage, rigid fender.

I had some Crud fenders for a while but sold them. They work OK with skinny tires (23 mm or less) but are a pain with anything larger. Since my commuter bikes all have 25-28 mm tires, I couldn't get the Crud fenders to fit without rubbing my tires. The bike I was using them on (Merckx Corsa) also had very tight clearances under the brake calipers, which didn't help matters. I also didn't like the method of attachment at the brake bridge/calipers -- zip ties, which I could never get centered properly on my frame.

hmmm interesting discussion. I was wondering what I would do with my new/used Botecchia if I started commuting and what I would do with my old commuter which has fenders. would I mount fenders on the new bike, use the old bike in bad weather, not ride in bad weather and get rid of the old bike, etc. these look sweet but since I have a foul weather commuter and since I don't take the new bike out for joy rides in bad weather, I think I will pass on getting these

I am very intrigued by the new SKS Raceblade Longs, which supposedly fix some of the drawbacks of regular Raceblades (which I also own).

I think you should get a set and let us know how they work. ;)

There's some Raceblades on my shelf too. I think I like them more than the Cruds but the coverage isn't great. I did fabricate my own mud flap for the front one which helped.