PeterBL wrote:Andrew, are you satisfied with the mudguards? The Berthoud's look nice but I have also read reports about difficult fitting, not very flexible for later adjustment once fitted and them being in need of more struts/stays. What is your take?
I didn't find them any more difficult to fit than SKS, apart from finding a bigger washer for the bottom of the steerer.
The fork crown fitting uses an eyebolt threaded onto the brake bolt, or any other bolt between the front and back fork crown holes (the one that holds the front light on in my case), and the washer supplied to stop the mudguard being pulled into the steerer as you tighten the bolt is sized for a 1" steerer. Obviously this would differ on a different bike.
I found it a lot easier to get the stay to pass below the front disc caliper than it would be with 2 stays like on SKS, which generally need spacing out and/or bending to get round the caliper.
One thing to note when fitting is that you shouldn't have the mudguard under stress at the fork crown or seatstay bridge, otherwise it will crack in due course. It's the seatstay bridge where this is most likely to be a problem, so fit this first, and enlarge the hole at the chainstay bridge if required, rather than persuading a slightly misplaced hole to fit.
The stays are trimmed at the dropout end, so it's usually more difficult to leave spare for later adjustment than it would be at the mudguard end. Any spare has got to keep clear of the QR, or the space below that it drops into as you remove the wheel. I've not got any useful amount of spare, so bigger tyres would have to come out of existing clearance. Replacement stays are available from Berthoud if necessary.
Actually trimming the stays is easy - just cut with your normal cable cutter. SKS stays are generally too tough for this, hence hacksaws, dremels or bolt cutters being used.
The mudguards themselves are quite a lot stiffer than plastic ones, so the single pair of stays seems to be OK to me.