KC8QVO

Looking at the lineup for the Berthoud fenders they have a 650x50, 700x40, and 700x60. What size should I go with? Will the 650x50 work or will I not have much clearance between the tire and fender? Current tires are 37x622, but I am going to be replacing those with wider tires here (looking at 42's but may try to go wider).

fietsbob

add 10-20 in width particularly if you will have the clearance low.

I try things on in person in the shop, but this site is full of online shoppers


good luck ..

KC8QVO

I would like to go to a shop to make sure all this stuff fits too, but no one carries good fenders. The only ones I have seen in the stores are the Bontrager NCS plastic fenders. Well, either no one carries them or I haven't walked in to a store that does.

fietsbob

Berthoud is a French High End constructeur, though the parts that the company has made, is exported for the connoisseur of that strata.

a US seller of their stuff is here https://www.wallbike.com/brand/berthoud ..
https://www.wallbike.com/berthoud/fen...-steel-fenders


Small local bike shops will not tend to have a lot of distributor accounts , and so will tend to get accessories at the ones they have

and the shipping is for a variety of lower tier stuff that most customers are satisfied with ..


you may have to buy the parts and bring them in with you if the installation is not a piece of cake. and you want help .

'Good' is all relative , most people are fine with the easier to obtain ones ..

my fleet is predominantly SKS mudguards, which are plastic.. . some 3 decades of use .

donalson

on my 700c disc trucker with 42c tires I went with velo orange zepplin 52mm fenders, when I replaced my tires I had to cut all the "hairs" off (new tire molding plug things) so it didn't make a ton of noise hitting the fenders... but they seem to fit well.

KC8QVO

Thanks for the info donalson. Do you ever get mud wrapped in the fender?

I called the local shop today to see about ordering tires and got to talking about fenders. They can get in Velo Orange products but not Berthoud, and they were more than willing to get in some parts for me to try. I wanted to try the 622x47 tires (conti tour RIDE's) but they said their vendor doesn't stock them. So the 42's is what I am going to go with, then we'll see what they come up with on the Velo Orange fenders. I'd prefer the wider tire if I can fit them, but I may be better off with the 42's in the end.

rifraf

I've got the 700x60 Berthouds and love them.
Noisy at times when gravel is picked up by the tires.
Be aware the little fitting that goes in the fork crown is designed for a road bike, I think, with a one inch steerer.
Certainly not designed for my Ogres 1 1/8th head tube.
A bolt through the fork crown goes through said fitting to hold the fender in place.
I've yet to acquire the perfect washer/nylon bush to suit my Surly Ogre.

Just had a squiz and its referred to as a silent block screw (the item I'm waffling about)
Buy Gilles Berthoud Gilles Berthoud Front Fender Silent Bloc Screw from SJS Cycles, fast delivery for the UK - £1.89

I utilised a couple of these:
SKS Stainless Steel rear mudguard bridge - £1.49
to make fitment of my fenders.
I suggest if you follow in my tire prints, you get a size smaller than SJS's recommended (to me) largest size of 65mm.
I think the 55mm will be a better fit and will be ordering some soonish.
Thats if I dont get some "L" brackets made up to use which I think would be superior as far as vibration damping goes (not that it appears to be an issue)

After problems with an online company in the UK who wrongly delivered the wrong size, I ended up ordering direct from Gilles Berthoud who delivered the correct size in a fraction of the time, extremely well packaged.
Their website was a little neanderthal to use though.

rifraf

These links may or may not be helpful:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fro...ht/Gd48ndOS9t4

LHT 2010 Photos by e_merlin | Photobucket

LHT Photos by e_merlin | Photobucket

I'd encourage you to "consider" a front rack with fender support.
I'm about to get my Velo Orange Pass Hunter Rack modified to fit my Ogre.

donalson

haven't had them on any sort of muddy trails yet... but having had that happen on bikes even without fenders I will say it will happen no matter how much room you have if you ride in the right consistency of mud doh.

unterhausen

when I had to make this decision, I went with the 700x60. They might look a little funny with 700x37. I wasn't really intending on going that low, more like 45 minimum. Have to say I love Berthoud fenders

seeker333

+1

Never had my DT off road to get it muddy, but with the VO Zeps I think you could handle some mud with tires that actually measure up to 42mm wide/tall. The 45s I tried actually measured ~42 on 24mm outside width/19mm inside width rims.

My Zeps seemed to be sized larger in diameter than needed for a 622mm BSD rim+big tire. They were a bit narrower than 52mm too IIRC. I widened them slightly by turning them upside down on carpet and rolling/sliding a softball along the inside length with low force. This process tends to make metal fenders a smaller effective diameter too, so I ended up making the Zeps fit my needs perfectly.

Here's my 56cm DT with painted VO Zep fenders sized to fit ~42mm tires with still some gap. Note tires in the pics are actually ~33/34mm wide/tall so fender gap appears a bit excessive:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/394783...7636059566915/

mulveyr 

I have 42mm tires on my 650B with the 50mm Bertoud fenders, and they work great. The fender profile is quite flat compared to most metal fenders, so there's plenty of coverage.

KC8QVO

Here are a couple pictures of the bike now - velo orange zeplin's instead of the Berthoud's. They fit fine and have plenty of room.

donalson

lookin good man... I really appreciate that VO put the strut rods low enough to not have to worry about the disc calipers

here is mine, VO zeppelins with 38c tires... running "small" 42c tires now and fit is still fine



and if you are looking for an inexpensive front lowrider rack option the blackburn FL-1 (mine is the nashbar knock off) works fine... just needed to mount the cross bar on the front tabs to fit over the tire... need to replace the crappy nashbar mounting hardware... but I can't complain considering I got it for $8



only negative I can say about them is that I caught my big toe on the attachment point while starting from a stop (toe overlap in SPD sandals)... hurt... but outside of start/stop I haven't found overlap to be an issue... she's a 62cm 700c FWIW... @ $55 or whatever it is I'd buy them again in a heartbeat

I think i'm going to pick up some mudflaps from :: BUDDY FLAPS :: * for em though

seeker333

My struts are even lower (less of an obstruction with the front disc brake caliper) because I rotated the fender further back/downward ~4cm using a SKS "L" front mount, to provide more fender where really needed. I think the top of fender extends a bit too far forward if the Zep is mounted with the hole centered under the fork steerer (using provided fork crown eyebolt). Also, by moving the fender down, I think I have obviated the need for a front mudflap.

I have that Nashbar rack too, also got it super cheap, but never tried it. It looks like it should work for most bikes/loads.

VO fenders include eyelet bolts to attach struts to fenders, which extend 14mm beyond the fender and exacerbate a toe overlap situation (especially the double eyelet bolts now used on Zeps). I've also caught the front of my shoe on those things. I've seen better strut mounts on $100 fendered bikes in Walmart in this regard. They position the strut right next to the fender and hardly extend more then a millimeter beyond the diameter of the strut rod.

A strut-to-fender mount something like those pictured below might work as good as the VO/Honjo eyelet bolt, but extend only 6-7mm from fender: