Jenkins
Legendary Member
- Location
- Felixstowe
The Raceblade Pro XL will easily cover 32mm tyres - I used them on my Giant Rapid fitted with a mixture of Vittoria & Continental tyres which measured wider than that when fitted
Sporty, non bulky mudguards for flat bar hybrid/road bike?
- Thread starter Sloth
- Start date
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The Raceblade Pro XL will easily cover 32mm tyres - I used them on my Giant Rapid fitted with a mixture of Vittoria & Continental tyres which measured wider than that when fitted
I think an echo is required... buy some proper mudguards or get wet it's your choice 
SKS do a matt black set (sadly silver stays) but they are functional and look good (you don't have to agree).
SKS do a matt black set (sadly silver stays) but they are functional and look good (you don't have to agree).
After much research and deliberation I'm fully sold on SKS longboards - well made, sturdy, good value, look great IMO and give excellent coverage. Certainly anything shorter on the front and you will get wet feet.
The only downside is if you like particularly rough terrain the front flap can catch on stuff / pick up debris but other than one emergency detachment (as is designed to happen to limit damage) I've had no significant issues.
On the gravelly Genesis:
.. and the unashamedly utilitarian / abolutely not up your street / yet to be finished Fuji:
The only downside is if you like particularly rough terrain the front flap can catch on stuff / pick up debris but other than one emergency detachment (as is designed to happen to limit damage) I've had no significant issues.
On the gravelly Genesis:
.. and the unashamedly utilitarian / abolutely not up your street / yet to be finished Fuji:
I really like the cover afforded by the Longboards but mine broke last week - snapped at the lower stay rivet bracket on the front mudguard. A bit of online discussion (there's a very recent thread about plastic mudguards in the neighbouring parish of Cycling UK Forums) reveals that this is not an uncommon occurence. The repeated knocking of the front mudflap stresses/fatigues the guard. I noticed the tell-tale lines appearing just below the bottom rivet but pretty much ignored it. Luckily, in my case, the guard wasn't critically damaged - just shortened, so I spent some time yesterday (Friday) making and fitting a new low hanging, wide mud flap out of some 2mm nitrile rubber sheet. I have had my Longboards just short of six years. Otherwise, I've had ESGE/SKS Chromoplastics on various bikes since about 1982; they've always been excellent and none have broken whilst I've had them.
Kingfisher101
Veteran
After much research and deliberation I'm fully sold on SKS longboards - well made, sturdy, good value, look great IMO and give excellent coverage. Certainly anything shorter on the front and you will get wet feet.
The only downside is if you like particularly rough terrain the front flap can catch on stuff / pick up debris but other than one emergency detachment (as is designed to happen to limit damage) I've had no significant issues.
On the gravelly Genesis:
View attachment 662130
.. and the unashamedly utilitarian / abolutely not up your street / yet to be finished Fuji:
View attachment 662131
Are you sure the front is fitted properly? It looks very near the ground to me. I think it should either be rotated forward or trimmed down. I'm not surprised its catching you.
Where was the lower stay attached? I've also read of this happening, however according to one review I found this known-issue was addressed by moving the stay bracket lower to reduce the amount of mass it had to support at the bottom / rear of the front guard, and also reduce the leverage it was able to exert on the bracket.
Those on my CdF are *EDIT* 2.5 years old *EDIT*, have the lower bracket mount and appear to have fared well over about 4k miles / a bit of a beating; not sure when the design changed happened though as the review I read it mentioned in might be older than your guards.
Their warranty is apparently 5yrs - worth persuing with a bit of a sob story perhaps..?
That's literally the whole point
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It looks to be a few inches higher than yours, I reckon - looking at the photo (bike is not level - I don't have many "illustrative" photos), there seems to be about three inches or so between the stay mount and the mudflap whereas your stay mount appears to be directly above the mudflap. I also noticed that the mudflap is folded backwards against the ground in the photo
.Attachments
It looks to be a few inches higher than yours, I reckon - looking at the photo (bike is not level - I don't have many "illustrative" photos), there seems to be about three inches or so between the stay mount and the mudflap whereas your stay mount appears to be directly above the mudflap. I also noticed that the mudflap is folded backwards against the ground in the photo
Thanks - that certainly looks in keeping with the older variants I've seen. It seems that there are at least two different stock images of these guards being used by online retailers.
From SJS we have guards with the earlier stay positioning (and fixings):
..while wiggle are using a more up-to-date image:
This is one of the reasons it took me so long to source mine; as the well-priced retailer I'd found was still using the old image and I was concerned that they were cheaper because they were old stock.. which thankfully turned out not to be the case
I also found the Bike Rumour review I was alluding to; which mentions this difference and was apparently published in 2018 so the timeframe fits.
You might be less inclined, but personally I'd be dropping SKS an email noting the design change, the fact they're just out of warranty, expressing your sadness that the guards hadn't lasted as long as you'd hoped and tacitly begging for some warranty replacement
Kingfisher101
Veteran
Where was the lower stay attached? I've also read of this happening, however according to one review I found this known-issue was addressed by moving the stay bracket lower to reduce the amount of mass it had to support at the bottom / rear of the front guard, and also reduce the leverage it was able to exert on the bracket.
Those on my CdF are *EDIT* 2.5 years old *EDIT*, have the lower bracket mount and appear to have fared well over about 4k miles / a bit of a beating; not sure when the design changed happened though as the review I read it mentioned in might be older than your guards.
Their warranty is apparently 5yrs - worth persuing with a bit of a sob story perhaps..?
That's literally the whole point
O.K, but it looks really wrong. Why not just have it on the ground and be done with it? Its only a mm off anyway? Just admit you've fitted these wrong.
They really are supposed to be like that - not fitted wrong at all. Short (regular?) front guards without a long mudflap going down to near the ground look wrong to me.O.K, but it looks really wrong. Why not just have it on the ground and be done with it? Its only a mm off anyway? Just admit you've fitted these wrong.
O.K, but it looks really wrong. Why not just have it on the ground and be done with it? Its only a mm off anyway? Just admit you've fitted these wrong.
Considering the front guard's mounting bracket is fixed in place and attached to the front face of the fork crown, how do you suggest I move them any futher forward to fit them "right"?
Kingfisher101
Veteran
Considering the front guard's mounting bracket is fixed in place and attached to the front face of the fork crown, how do you suggest I move them any futher forward to fit them "right"?
Move the attachments perhaps?
Specifically...?
The ones that are permanently riveted through the guard or the one that's already mounted as far forward as it'll go on the fork crown?
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The attachment point for the stays is fixed and riveted to the guard. The fork crown mounting bracket is fixed and riveted to the guard. Most full mudguards are constructed with fixed points for stays and fork brackets. They are not designed to be moved and moving them would require cutting/drilling out rivets, patching the old holes and making new holes for new rivets (or other methods of fixing brackets to guards). They are constructed so that they are in the correct position as intended by the manufacturer. Typically, the only way this position is changeable is by mounting the fork bracket fore or aft of the fork.
Moreover, they do not require moving because they are already "right".
Moreover, they do not require moving because they are already "right".
OP
OP
Sloth
Über Member
Anyone know if the SKS Race Blade Pro XL are still available in the carbon effect finish?
I can only find silver, matt black or gloss black?
Gloss is ok but having seen images of the carbon effect is much rather have that.
https://cdn.road.cc/sites/default/files/sks-raceblade-pro-mudguards-profile.jpg
I can only find silver, matt black or gloss black?
Gloss is ok but having seen images of the carbon effect is much rather have that.
https://cdn.road.cc/sites/default/files/sks-raceblade-pro-mudguards-profile.jpg
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