Dangerous mudguards

[MikeF]

Never had issues with non 'snap-off' mudguards ........

One issue is all that's needed!!

[negusgoodwin]

I used to cycle 10 miles each way to and from work everyday all year round all weathers, I tried hard to get old fashioned style metal mudguards with fixed stays but no one seemed to stock them. The do called "safety stays were always popping out and even got caught in the spokes, what's the point of them when the frame stays and forks will stop anything dead that might get caught in the wheel, at least fixed wire guard stays will bend before the and absorb some of the energy before frame/forks stop it dead. The so called safety stays are dangerous.

[531colin]

I used to cycle 10 miles each way to and from work everyday all year round all weathers, I tried hard to get old fashioned style metal mudguards with fixed stays but no one seemed to stock them. The do called "safety stays were always popping out and even got caught in the spokes, what's the point of them when the frame stays and forks will stop anything dead that might get caught in the wheel, at least fixed wire guard stays will bend before the and absorb some of the energy before frame/forks stop it dead. The so called safety stays are dangerous.

Warning …..
first post for this poster

[pjclinch]

A while ago now the Moulton mailing list had a pic of a bike that was being ridden in a fatal rider-only, no obvious cause crash, and folk were trying to work out what happened.

My first thought was the picture (IIRC taken by police) was they'd photographed it with the front forks twisted around 180 degrees because of the angle of the front wheel... bit I was wrong. The mudguard had got detached and got trapped by the stays, locking the wheel so hard the fork legs were bent back significantly (this would be where the rider had gone over the bars, tragically breaking their neck fatally).

It did bring home to me why the likes of SKS have detachable stays. I have those on my tourer and Moulton (general purpose hack) and they're not in the habit of popping out when they shouldn't.

Pete.

[jimster99]

I've never had a wheel jam with mudguards thankfully but I can easily see how if you were a bit unlucky and the guard ingests the wrong size object that front wheel could lock up suddenly and over the handlebars you would go!

Single point of failure never a good thing...

[Bmblbzzz]

I had a very similar incident to the OP, also at about 5 mph and on a canal towpath, but not involving any pedestrians. And no, I didn't end up in the water, because for me luckily it was the rear wheel which suddenly locked up when a stick got caught under the mudguard and jammed against the stays. A little bit of the plastic guard broke off but because I was travelling so slowly, that was all that happened. I now have secu-clips on front and rear stays of both bikes.

[foxyrider]

I've never had a wheel jam with mudguards thankfully but I can easily see how if you were a bit unlucky and the guard ingests the wrong size object that front wheel could lock up suddenly and over the handlebars you would go!

Single point of failure never a good thing...

I have had it happen, unknown object flipped up, front guard ended up folded in half and jammed under the fork crown. Luckily that bike had huge clearances so it didn't lock solid straight away so i came to a juddering halt in the middle of a main road. That was before mudguard release systems were available, you can bet your bottom dollar that i was an early adopter when they came on the scene.

I have had them pop out but there has usually been a cause, worn clips usually as i tend to leave the fixed end fitted when i take the guards oiff for the summer. Or its been some unseen twig or such. Anyhow, the worst that happens IME is that the stay flaps about a bit , never had one get caught in the spokes but that's just my experience of 30 years use.

[slowster]

Last year when setting off from a dropped kerb and making a sharp 90 degree left turn onto the road at very low speed, I hit the front mudguard with the tip of my right shoe. Because I continued to turn the handlebars left to make the turn, the right hand stay was pulled out of the SKS Secuclip by the pressure of my shoe against the side of the mudguard. I stopped almost immediately at that point, and the vibrating movement of the loose stay as the mudguard sprang back into position caused the stay to go between two spokes. No harm was done, but it brought home to me how even just a few millimetres of toe overlap can cause problems when making sharp turns at such a low speed.

I think if a stay is not a firm secure fit in an SKS Secuclip, that can be improved by removing the stay from the Secuclip and pulling the two sides apart (not at the ends, but close to where the stay is inserted into the Secuclip), which should make the stay a tighter fit in the Secuclip.

[ANTONISH]

Last year when setting off from a dropped kerb and making a sharp 90 degree left turn onto the road at very low speed, I hit the front mudguard with the tip of my right shoe. Because I continued to turn the handlebars left to make the turn, the right hand stay was pulled out of the SKS Secuclip by the pressure of my shoe against the side of the mudguard. I stopped almost immediately at that point, and the vibrating movement of the loose stay as the mudguard sprang back into position caused the stay to go between two spokes. No harm was done, but it brought home to me how even just a few millimetres of toe overlap can cause problems when making sharp turns at such a low speed.

I think if a stay is not a firm secure fit in an SKS Secuclip, that can be improved by removing the stay from the Secuclip and pulling the two sides apart (not at the ends, but close to where the stay is inserted into the Secuclip), which should make the stay a tighter fit in the Secuclip.

Twice I've had a Secuclip detach - which is what it's supposed to do - it's only happened at slow speed
I used to find the stays rattled in the Secuclip and I solved that by sliding some short lengths of neoprene sleeving over the stays so that the sleeving entered the Secuclip housing and stopped the rattle.
I remember over sixty years ago getting a twig lammed in my new Bluemels front mudguard - the mudguard shattered ( celluloid) - probably safer than the present tough material but more expensive than Secuclips.
These days when touring I use "race blades" - I've not had any problems with those.

[Pinhead]

I only use these there are NO issues

[oaklec]

Does your drink bottle get caked in muck?

[cycle tramp]

Does your drink bottle get caked in muck?

Oh you just had to there, didn't you?

[axel_knutt]

Does your drink bottle get caked in muck?

Farmyard muck? Yes, even with full length mudguards, until I put a mud flap on.

[pjclinch]

I only use these there are NO issues

My experience of crud catchers and high floating mudguards is an issue of the much less effective as mudguards than something closer in.

On my MTB having the rear guard underneath a rack gives it plenty of mud clearance, keeps it in place, and helps it stop me getting covered in mud. Plus the rack makes carrying stuff a lot easier.

Pete.

[MikeF]

I only use these there are NO issues

My experience of crud catchers and high floating mudguards is an issue of the much less effective as mudguards than something closer in.

On my MTB having the rear guard underneath a rack gives it plenty of mud clearance, keeps it in place, and helps it stop me getting covered in mud. Plus the rack makes carrying stuff a lot easier.

Pete.

+1