Ben Reeve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, UK
The Rivendell video is awesome. Great to see the little things the pro do, like brushing on the grease rather than using your finger!!!
Fitting SKS Mudguards to CAADX 105 Disc (Picture heavy)
- Thread starter Tenacious Sloth
- Start date
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ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I did get round to fitting a rack to my CAADX but never got round to fitting the mudguards. I completely forgot about this thread and did a Google search for advice just now and where did I end up ... 
I must do it soon so I can use the CAADX in the coming winter rather than trashing my best bike again.
I must do it soon so I can use the CAADX in the coming winter rather than trashing my best bike again.
minininjarob
Active Member
Nice neat fitting in the OP.
I’ve fitted a lot of mudguards and having kept hundreds of bolts and little metal fixings over the years helps to get a real nice install - sometimes you just need a longer bolt or a short strip of alu to make it work!
I like the tap washers idea, looks neat and won’t rust too. Which reminds me - it’s always a good idea to have a stock of stainless bolts to use instead of standard ones so your install stays rust free! Or if you are a bike tart like me you use coloured alloy ones.
I’ve fitted a lot of mudguards and having kept hundreds of bolts and little metal fixings over the years helps to get a real nice install - sometimes you just need a longer bolt or a short strip of alu to make it work!
I like the tap washers idea, looks neat and won’t rust too. Which reminds me - it’s always a good idea to have a stock of stainless bolts to use instead of standard ones so your install stays rust free! Or if you are a bike tart like me you use coloured alloy ones.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I started fitting the front mudguard today and hit a problem ... I attached the first Secu Clip ok but the bolt for the second Secu Clip would not tighten. Either the thread on the insert inside the fork has a stripped thread or the insert itself is loose, I couldn't tell which. (I reckon the insert is loose because the thread on the bolt didn't seem to be damaged by my attempts to tighten it.)I did get round to fitting a rack to my CAADX but never got round to fitting the mudguards. I completely forgot about this thread and did a Google search for advice just now and where did I end up ...
I must do it soon so I can use the CAADX in the coming winter rather than trashing my best bike again.
I'll put the bike on a stand and remove the front wheel to give me a better look, see what the problem is, and let me work out what to do about it!
Gez73
Veteran
I had one of the front secu clips attached with a cable tie when I lost the bolt. Lasted ages too. The clips hold the stays in quite tightly unless there is something caught between the mudguard and the wheel. No idea how to rectify a stripped bolt hole if that is the issue. Let us know how you get on. Gerry
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I was thinking along those lines today! I can get the bolt in, but not tight enough. I think I might put some superglue/Loctite/epoxy/etc on the thread to try and hold it in place and then add a cable tie for 'insurance'.
Touring style seatstay mounted disk brakes are far easier to integrate with rack and 'guards than MTB style seatstay mounted brakes .
I usually have to trim off excess mudguard stay at the front. Always round off the metsl even if you use plastic end caps.
I have some old fitting hardware that is much better quality than the recent metal. You can snap the metal fixtures by slightly over tightening.
I usually have to trim off excess mudguard stay at the front. Always round off the metsl even if you use plastic end caps.
I have some old fitting hardware that is much better quality than the recent metal. You can snap the metal fixtures by slightly over tightening.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I finished fitting the Longboards to my CAADX today.This is what I did and why, with a few photographs of my handiwork.
The front mudguard.
The problem that I had with a slipping bolt on one of the front Secu-clips turned out to be that the bolt was a bit short so it was pulling the thread out of the mounting insert. I managed to get a longer bolt to tighten enough to what was left of the thread.
I had to shorten the stays for the front mudguard. I had decided to go for quite a lot of clearance because I hate mud and debris getting stuck under mudguards and rubbing on the tyres. There is more likelihood of muddy water spraying round the edges of a mudguard further from the wheel, but I think I have got it about right. If I have to I will take the guards off to shorten the stays more, but I won't know until I have done a few rides in mucky conditions. Hopefully, that will not be necessary!
I devised a way of working out how much to cut off the stays. SKS provide little black plastic covers for the end of the stays. They look neat and will reduce the likelihood of you stabbing your arm or leg on the end of a stay! I checked and could see that a stay could not be pushed the full length of the plastic cover so I reasoned that if I pushed the guard hard against the fully inflated tyre and cut the stays level with the tops of the covers, then the mudguard would automatically be held off the tyre somewhat once the stays were inserted in the covers. That turned out to be true, but I wanted a bit more clearance so I didn't push the covers on quite as far as I could have done. That lifted the guard another few mm. If you adopt this approach, have a good think about my explanation to make sure that you understand it BEFORE you cut the stays down! Better to leave them a bit long and have to cut them twice than to cut too much off to start with!
The CAADX is a very beefy bike with a fork to match. The SKS-supplied bolt wasn't long enough so I needed a longer one to attach the mounting tab on top of the front mudguard to the fork. I bought a good selection of M5 bolts, washers and Nyloc nuts to complete this job and any others that I am likely to tackle in the coming years.
The fork had a recess at the back into which the mounting tab could fit but I found that it pushed the mudguard closer to the tyre than I wanted so I used several washers as spacers to push the tab out above that recess and I could then create the clearance that I was looking for.
The rear mudguard
The rear Longboard was harder to mount.
There was immediately the problem of what to do about the rear disk brake being in the way of the mudguard stay on that side of the bike. I overcame that by buying a rack which had built-in spacers, thus offering mounting positions which were wide enough for the stay to miss the disk. Happily, it also took up the extra length of the stays so I didn't have to trim them for the rear mudguard.
The frontmost part of the rear guard was easy to attach using an M5 bolt and washer.
As mentioned by @Tenacious Sloth and others earlier in the thread, the CAADX top rear mount does not work well with the supplied conventional bracket, one of those funny-shaped pieces of metal that clips onto the top of a mudguard and has a tab sticking up from it. I liked the idea of drilling through the guard for a mounting bolt and using a rubber spacer between the top of the mudguard and the bottom of the metal bridge between the 2 seatstays. I decided to repurpose the original piece of metal to offer a bit more support to the top of the mudguard where I bolted it on. I flattened the metal and drilled a hole through for the bolt. I feel as though it will reduce the chance of the mudguard cracking where the bolt goes through. I may be wrong, in which case the effort was wasted, but I can't see it actually causing any problems. I used a rubber insert from the business end of a broken track pump to act as my spacer/mudguard suspension.
Underside of rear mudguard:
Top view, showing rubber spacer/suspension:
And here is the finished bike, after a good wash ...
Now I am ready for some mucky winter riding, and for some light touring in the New Year!
PS I was expecting the finished bike to weigh about 14 kg/31 pounds but it is nearer to 12 kg/27 pounds, which isn't too bad really for something as rugged as this.
The front mudguard.
The problem that I had with a slipping bolt on one of the front Secu-clips turned out to be that the bolt was a bit short so it was pulling the thread out of the mounting insert. I managed to get a longer bolt to tighten enough to what was left of the thread.
I had to shorten the stays for the front mudguard. I had decided to go for quite a lot of clearance because I hate mud and debris getting stuck under mudguards and rubbing on the tyres. There is more likelihood of muddy water spraying round the edges of a mudguard further from the wheel, but I think I have got it about right. If I have to I will take the guards off to shorten the stays more, but I won't know until I have done a few rides in mucky conditions. Hopefully, that will not be necessary!
I devised a way of working out how much to cut off the stays. SKS provide little black plastic covers for the end of the stays. They look neat and will reduce the likelihood of you stabbing your arm or leg on the end of a stay! I checked and could see that a stay could not be pushed the full length of the plastic cover so I reasoned that if I pushed the guard hard against the fully inflated tyre and cut the stays level with the tops of the covers, then the mudguard would automatically be held off the tyre somewhat once the stays were inserted in the covers. That turned out to be true, but I wanted a bit more clearance so I didn't push the covers on quite as far as I could have done. That lifted the guard another few mm. If you adopt this approach, have a good think about my explanation to make sure that you understand it BEFORE you cut the stays down! Better to leave them a bit long and have to cut them twice than to cut too much off to start with!
The CAADX is a very beefy bike with a fork to match. The SKS-supplied bolt wasn't long enough so I needed a longer one to attach the mounting tab on top of the front mudguard to the fork. I bought a good selection of M5 bolts, washers and Nyloc nuts to complete this job and any others that I am likely to tackle in the coming years.
The fork had a recess at the back into which the mounting tab could fit but I found that it pushed the mudguard closer to the tyre than I wanted so I used several washers as spacers to push the tab out above that recess and I could then create the clearance that I was looking for.
The rear mudguard
The rear Longboard was harder to mount.
There was immediately the problem of what to do about the rear disk brake being in the way of the mudguard stay on that side of the bike. I overcame that by buying a rack which had built-in spacers, thus offering mounting positions which were wide enough for the stay to miss the disk. Happily, it also took up the extra length of the stays so I didn't have to trim them for the rear mudguard.
The frontmost part of the rear guard was easy to attach using an M5 bolt and washer.
As mentioned by @Tenacious Sloth and others earlier in the thread, the CAADX top rear mount does not work well with the supplied conventional bracket, one of those funny-shaped pieces of metal that clips onto the top of a mudguard and has a tab sticking up from it. I liked the idea of drilling through the guard for a mounting bolt and using a rubber spacer between the top of the mudguard and the bottom of the metal bridge between the 2 seatstays. I decided to repurpose the original piece of metal to offer a bit more support to the top of the mudguard where I bolted it on. I flattened the metal and drilled a hole through for the bolt. I feel as though it will reduce the chance of the mudguard cracking where the bolt goes through. I may be wrong, in which case the effort was wasted, but I can't see it actually causing any problems. I used a rubber insert from the business end of a broken track pump to act as my spacer/mudguard suspension.
Underside of rear mudguard:
Top view, showing rubber spacer/suspension:
And here is the finished bike, after a good wash ...
Now I am ready for some mucky winter riding, and for some light touring in the New Year!
PS I was expecting the finished bike to weigh about 14 kg/31 pounds but it is nearer to 12 kg/27 pounds, which isn't too bad really for something as rugged as this.
DCBassman
Guru
- Location
- The lumpy far South West
Seriously purposeful!
OP
OP
Tenacious Sloth
Guru
- Location
- Huntingdon, UK
Never before in the field of human endevour, has more effort gone into analysing a simple engineering task as we have detailed in this thread.
I feel that between us, we’ve put more effort into fitting mudguards to a CAADX than was ever expended by NASA when designing the space shuttle.
Having said that, a rattle-free set of mudguards is one of life’s simple pleasures.
Good job everyone.
I feel that between us, we’ve put more effort into fitting mudguards to a CAADX than was ever expended by NASA when designing the space shuttle.
Having said that, a rattle-free set of mudguards is one of life’s simple pleasures.
Good job everyone.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Ha ha - I was thinking that myself!
Oh, and I forgot to mention that my rear hub was a bit tight and was rumbling. I managed to slacken it off a bit and get the wheel rolling better. I think it should see me through the winter as it is but I may take it to bits and do the job properly before next spring.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that my rear hub was a bit tight and was rumbling. I managed to slacken it off a bit and get the wheel rolling better. I think it should see me through the winter as it is but I may take it to bits and do the job properly before next spring.
Levo-Lon
Guru
I fitted sks to the Boardman " easy on the boardman " fitting wise.
the annoying thing with guards is shoe contact turninig.
It's a spd problem as flats are more sociable with guards.
i can see now why we have posts about mishaps with these when the shoe catches the guard and then jams in the front wheel, very close to having one the other day!!
the annoying thing with guards is shoe contact turninig.
It's a spd problem as flats are more sociable with guards.
i can see now why we have posts about mishaps with these when the shoe catches the guard and then jams in the front wheel, very close to having one the other day!!
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Oh yes, I must watch out for that problem. I haven't checked yet. In fact, I will do it now. Hang on ...
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Hmm - the bike has a fairly large (58 cm) frame which means that the front wheel is further from the bottom bracket than it would be on a smaller bike. I just checked for shoe overlap and I can JUST get it to happen with my feet in the worst possible position and angled slightly toes-down. If I have my heels slightly down there is no contact with the mudguard at all.
Even when there is contact, it is minimal and the mudguard just brushes past the end of the shoe. I suppose if I did that thousands of times I would eventually wear the mudguard and/or shoe at the point of contact, but such contact is something that is likely to happen extremely rarely.
So ... Todmorden - we do not have a problem!
Even when there is contact, it is minimal and the mudguard just brushes past the end of the shoe. I suppose if I did that thousands of times I would eventually wear the mudguard and/or shoe at the point of contact, but such contact is something that is likely to happen extremely rarely.
So ... Todmorden - we do not have a problem!
Levo-Lon
Guru
Hmm - the bike has a fairly large (58 cm) frame which means that the front wheel is further from the bottom bracket than it would be on a smaller bike. I just checked for shoe overlap and I can JUST get it to happen with my feet in the worst possible position and angled slightly toes-down. If I have my heels slightly down there is no contact with the mudguard at all.
Even when there is contact, it is minimal and the mudguard just brushes past the end of the shoe. I suppose if I did that thousands of times I would eventually wear the mudguard and/or shoe at the point of contact, but such contact is something that is likely to happen extremely rarely.
So ... Todmorden - we do not have a problem!
I have a small Boardman so i think it well maybe a size of frame thingy
