am8117

I wonder if anyone has any first-hand experience with different shape of the front fender, especially on gravel or mud. There's been this "everything" article and sure it tries to explain all possibilities for coverage with different frames including those with limited or no mounting points:
https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buy...ike-mudguards/

But I came across a situation when my CX bike did not have enough clearance in the fork for mud when I tried to use a full-size front fender. As a matter of simple hack, I have sawn off the frontal part so there's now no coverage over the top of the front wheel.

I can tell difference with rear fenders as for their length or if the front fender does not reach low enough - in that they shed more debris on my back or into the crankset respectively. I can totally feel small pebbles being ejected into my face with no front fender at all, but I have not noticed anything when the frontal overlap of the front mudguard is missing.

Also when thinking of the kinetics of this, when travelling at any speed, whatever is thrown in front of the fork crown will be brought down by gravity fairly quickly, not to mention the speed of it should be equal to the tangential velocity of the tire surface which by definition should be equal of the travelling speed. Whatever heavy enough to be worried about will not be significantly slowed down due to air drag to allow catching up with it before it falls to the ground due to its weight.

The reference picture shows that even at least one manufacturer of clip-on fenders bothered to make the effort to include the frontal piece of the front one while it skimped on the crankset/drivetrain protection, as if it was important. What am I missing?

Dino_Sore

I'm not really sure what your question is, but I'll offer a few thoughts on gravel fenders. I have the SKS Speedrockers (in your illustration). My rear fender, however, goes much lower on the seat tube than in the illustration. Mine attaches about where the lower water bottle fastener is. You probably can't go much lower with a removable strap/band because of the front derailleur. Some people don't like this rear fender because it doesn't go down low enough in the rear and will spray folks behind you. With regard to the front, I can see the argument that covering the top of the tire isn't so critical. In this case, SKS chose to use a 2-piece front fender to give coverage to that area. It works well, but because of the 2-piece design it is a little more time consuming to take on and off. The rear is pretty quick to put on or off.

Considering we're talking gravel bikes, all I want in a fender is to keep from getting too muddy or wet. Some people seem to want to stay "commuter dry," which I think is unrealistic. I think the Speedrockers are a good compromise for gravel bikes: wide enough for most tires and relatively easy to put on or take off.

chaadster

You may not be missing anything except the “perfect storm” of tread design, amount of rain, and traveling speed where water is carried up the wheel, separates from the tire at the top of the wheel, and blows up into your face.

wolfchild

I use Planet Bike full fenders on all my bikes.