Urban Velo

Fenders are vital accessories for continuing the ride through inclement weather. It doesn’t take a die-hard, everyday commuter to appreciate them. Anyone who has ventured to a friend’s house or otherwise gone for a ride with even a hint of wetness on the roads, a puddle here and there, understands. While the stripe up your back may have been a badge of honor as a kid, I’d bet that these days its just not the same feeling. Planet Bike makes a wide variety of fenders to fit every flavor of bicycle to prevent such personal wetness - today we focus on the clip-on variety, the Speedez Road Fenders, rated for tires up to 700×28mm wide.

For better or for worse, many of todays bicycles feature designs that prohibit full fender use. Inadequate clearance, lack of fender eyelets, disc brakes and bike to bike variations can make installing fenders a headache of dremel tools and zip ties. Traditional fenders are also an almost-permanent fixture on a bicycle, not easily removed in good weather or switched to another bike. Clip-on fenders present a solution to some of these issues, while bringing up a few of their own.

They’re easy enough to install, eye them up and strap them down. Adjust the 10mm nuts holding the fender struts for optimal fit over the tire and you’re set. Rubber feet and mounting straps keep things from sliding around though if you’re one to care about your paint finish you may want to place some electrical tape where the fenders meet the frame, as road grit can work its way under the attachment points and wear away the glossy sheen. After a few months time in the elements and a couple of installations/removals I’ve noticed that the mounting strips have developed some small tears that will inevitably render them useless. Zip-ties hold the fenders on just fine, and as the seasons go by will likely be what ends up the attachment of choice

Clip-on fenders tend to vibrate more than their securly fashioned siblings, and in my experience can’t be placed as near to the tire allowing some spray to escape the sides in favor of the fender potentially buzzing the tire over a pothole. No worries though, one thing that must be accepted with these shorter coverage fenders is that they simply don’t keep the water off as well as full coverage versions. That much should be obvious, but I’ve seen some criticisms of them not keeping your feet and bicycle as clean nor as dry as long arching versions. Personally, I find the shorter front fender preferable in some cases, as I absolutely despise toe-overlap and the shorter coverage yields enough clearance that I can’t get my foot caught during any slow speed maneuvering. This is especially applicable on the track bikes that I’ve mostly used these fenders on.

Over the course of running these fenders on a few different bikes I’ve made a few modifications under given circumstances. Certain forks for example allow the front edge of the fender to contact the fork crown, causing a rattle enough to drive most people insane. A crudely fashioned bumper made from a section of old intertube silenced the ride for me. Out back, I found the fender to be much more stable, and thus able to hug the tire closer, once I drilled a hole in the front edge and ran a zip- or wire-tie through it and around the rear brake bridge. This put some tension on the fender struts keeping things nice and steady, though this may be hard to pull off with certain frame designs or on bikes running a rear caliper brake.

Overall, clip-on fenders offer a solution to many riders who want easily installed/removed fenders and/or those out there riding bikes lacking the mounts for the full-coverage variety. Just have to accept the quirks in a system that straps rather than bolts on, and the inherent overspray the the shorter coverage allows. Available for about $40 from your local bike shop, Planet Bike Speedez fenders are available in other tire widths and diameters, all with the same basic hardware design to fit most bike flavors out there.