Mid fork holes for mudguards?

[mr-b]

Hi

I've just acquired a secondhand Boardman HYB8.9 and it has no mudguard eyelets at the bottom of the fork, but it does have bolt holes half way up the inside of the forks so I assume they are for mudguards.

I'm sure there's an incredibly simple answer but I just can't find anywhere who sells mudguards to fit these. I've got SKS Chromoplastics already but I can't find anything on the SKS site that looks like they'd fit these locations. The only ones that do have some form of clamp arrangement which I'd rather not use if possible as I've got carbon forks which might get damaged through clamping too tightly. For the same reason I don't want to use the old workaround of a P-clamp.
I even emailed SKS but they've not replied after a week. None of the online shops I've seen seem to sell guards that fit like this.

Or are the holes for something else entirely?

[pwa]

I'd try regular SKS stainless stays, with a washer between the stays and the fork blade to avoid scratching the finish. Then I would look at the arrangement and try to satisfy myself that the clearances between wheel spokes and the stays and bolt are okay. Having a higher mounting point for the stays is said by some to make the guards less of a hazard if an object gets stuck behind the guards. If you can fit the plastic emergency release thing in there, do.

[borisface]

Eyelets for bikes with disc brakes tend to be placed mid-fork as the stays would be fouled by the brake calipers if in the normal place. Isn't it just a question of cutting down the stays to fit?

[Geoffroid]

I recently fitted some of these to my gravel bike and am very happy with them as they are easy to fit, have a neat system for adjusting the length of the stays, and do not rattle at all:
https://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/bont ... c8be84f255

One criticism is no quick release attachment where the stays attach to the fork.

[tim-b]

The instructions for SKS 'guards are here https://www.sks-germany.com/en/productc ... mudguards/
My 'guards are Wiggle Lifeline and have a plain loop in a single stay that bolts inside the fork leg. That stay bridge is adjustable and there isn't a second stay.
I'm not an engineer, but maybe this reduces the need for the safety release? Image here (mine bolt inside) https://www.wigglestatic.com/product-me ... h=2000&a=7

[mr-b]

Tx for the replies. Yes I have the regular SKS stays but as can be seen in the 2nd and 3rd photos, they (and the mudguard end plastic shroud with end cap) are all designed to be angled towards the hub eyelets, and not some point halfway up the wheel's radius to another point. Apologies for my lack of geometry terminology!

The 1st pic shows that one of the stays is just not long enough.
But even if they were long enough, bending them is difficult as the SKS stainless stays are very stiff (normally a good thing).
(BTW the correct link for the SKS instructions is at https://www.sks-germany.com/en/service/downloads/ but Chromoplastics info cannot be found anywhere on that site.)

However I've just found this stay kit, it looks to be perfect, though it's intended for where the fork hole is on the inside rather than the trailing edge, but I'm sure it can be made to fit. [E2A - oops I meant the other way round]
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/mudguards/s ... our-forks/

[mattsccm]

The stay brackets are designed like that as most guards run from lower down. Just tweak them.
Just a thought. Have you got the stays upside down? Invert them. That might make them fit. Accept that you will almost certainly have to trim them afterwards. Thats the design.

[mr-b]

The stays are the same length ('because they are intended to be fitted following the radius) and can't be "tweaked" longer!

On my other disc bike with normal fork eyelets I was able to use a spacer to move the stays away from the brake assembly.

[Barrowman]

I think last poster means shortening the Stays as required to miss the frame.
Mudguards on 30's /40's/ some 50's bikes used to attach to a tab about 6 inches up the fork and seatstays.
They gravitated to the fork ends with the advent of cast fork ends with the threaded mudguard mount built in.

[mr-b]

The stay brackets in pic #2 are attached to the mudguard and I don't see how they can be bent or tweaked to change the angle, well I've no idea how it would be done without ripping it off the guard.

Pic #1 was taken at an angle so the stays appear to be different lengths, but they are not.

[slowster]

The SKS stay kit for Suntour forks looks like it would be a good choice, but I would check that it is suitable for 700C sized wheels/tyres. If not then an alternative option would be longer stays - https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/mudguards/s ... mm-chromo/. It would be necessary to bend those yourself, but I have found that reasonably easy to do (use a vice and/or pliers and/or molgrips etc., and wrap the stay in a bit of rag to reduce the jaws scratching the metal).

[mr-b]

Yup good point - I only recalled Suntour from ancient rear mechs, so that question jumped out when I saw it was an MTB fork. Eeek!
As you say the long stays look a viable alternative, and I'd try not to scratch them to hell!

[wirral_cyclist]

Picture 1 shows untrimmed stays indeed! and also the twisted 'approach' of one of the stays, two solutions:-

1. Bend the bracket on the guard up (as viewed) to centre the stay and allow the pretty caps to fit, or
2. just bend stays down from fork (as viewed), and tweak again so final approach of stay is central to bracket.

Trim the stay ends, add caps, note that untrimmed (and uncapped) stays can hurt, and sometimes make red stuff leak...

You shouldn't really worry about bracket stays failing as they all do eventually, I very rarely get more than 25,000 miles out of a set. Fortunately as guards have 2 brackets I keep the unbroken bracket for re-use to replace the failure of the replacement set, but as the saying goes YMMV (surface dependent?).

[pwa]

The stay brackets are designed like that as most guards run from lower down. Just tweak them.
Just a thought. Have you got the stays upside down? Invert them. That might make them fit. Accept that you will almost certainly have to trim them afterwards. Thats the design.

Exactly. I think they will fit with a bit of manipulation, and cutting of course. And the stays are upside down by the look of it, with the shorter half where the longer half should be.

[keyboardmonkey]

I had a similar problem (here with the lower stay and the angle of entry in to the hole at the mudguard) - I clamped the stays with my Knipex pliers wrench (no serrations to mark the metal) and bent to suit. I should imagine you could tape the stays at the point you wish to bend them if you are using more conventional pliers or mole grips: