How Adjustable are Crud Road Guards ?

[HLaB]

I've got sick of my full SKS guards cracking over winter, so I thinking to changing to Crud Roads, my road bike frame has ample clearance for guards is it likely that the crud stays would extend to my brake mounts? or are they cut to a precise length ?

 

[ColinJ]

If cracking is your worry, then the Cruds might not be your best bet - they are a bit fragile. I broke a front one when I picked my bag up and caught the back of the guard. I broke a rear one when I upended the bike to ease it through a narrow gate on its back wheel.

The fragility is a design feature. As I have pointed out before, it isn't difficult to make unbreakable plastic. You just don't want to risk unbreakable plastic getting tangled up in your wheels ...

 

[youngoldbloke]

^this - I have broken Cruds putting the bike in the back of the car, and another terminal breakage when the rear tyre picked up a piece of twig. You can bodge them back together up to a point, but if your bike has clearance 'traditional' full guards are best - I have SKS Chromo plastics on the Ribble winter bike, no problems (as yet).

 

[HLaB]

I could be wrong but I think I'm leaving them on too long; I've snapped 2 pairs of SKS blumels and a pair of Chromoplastics, but it may just be down to my riding style; everything else component wise lasts a relatively long time but the mud guards don't; SKS Race Blades Long could be another solution

 

[Richard Broomhead]

I've got a set of Crud mkII's on my road bike. Clearances are pretty tight (old Dynatech 700 running 23mm Michelin Lithion 2 tyres on Open 4CD rims), and last year I was very aware of the guards rubbing slightly - as soon as the tyres got wet and picked up any grit you could hear it, which, if nothing else wasn't very helpful psychologically. I've recently re-fitted them for this winter, and must have been much more careful, as so far they seem to be rub free. The stays will hold the guards off the wheels pretty effectively if you pull the guard into a more extreme position than is required, tighten the screws, then allow the guard to settle into back. The length of the trailing end of both front and rear guards is good, and the chainset area is protected by an extended moulding. Only the beginning of their 2nd winter, but so far, I've been very happy.

Richard