Portland Design Works Excalibur
While nothing keeps water off of your bike and body better than full wrap fenders, there is a time and place for clip-on or seatpost mounted versions. Whether for aesthetic concerns, compatibility issues, total lack of mounts or just plain simplicity seatpost mounted fenders have been popular for years as a convenient way to keep the reverse skunk stripe of riding on wet roadways to a minimum. Portland Design Works introduced its second generation seatpost fender the Excalibur this past season, and I’ve been using it throughout the winter, spring and early summer to keep road spray to a dull roar.
The Excalibur fender is made from aluminum alloy, extending a full 20” back from the seatpost with a 70 mm wide profile. The clamp is doubly hinged to fit any size round post and includes both a QR lever for quick deployment or a 5 mm allen bolt for theft resistance. It overall looks fast for a fender, with a sleek form that is as easy on the eyes as a clip on fender gets.
In use you can’t expect a seatpost mounted fender to block the same amount of water and road grit as a full coverage, closer fitting fender, but the Excalibur does block a significant amount of grime from reaching your bottom. It doesn’t block all of the overspray and does nothing to keep your feet dry, but does a pretty good job of preventing a butt-stripe when blasting through a puddle on the way to the office. It’s pretty nice being able to quickly move the fender between bikes no matter the seatpost size, but on smaller diameter posts the QR lever bolt is long enough to snag my shorts. Easily cured with a hacksaw trim, such is the cost of compatibility.
PDW designed the Excalibur with road and city bikes in mind, so try to avoid the mountain bike trails with this one. I did not heed their warned and broke my previous generation Machete fender hopping curbs and while the Excalibur solves the pinned weak point of the earlier design I’ve learned my lesson. While there is a certain allure to the seamless form of the Excalibur I ultimately wish that the angle of the fender was adjustable—I’m a tall guy, and on my bikes the fender is positioned far enough away from the tire to experience overspray. Given how far away the tip of the fender is from my rear tire I have found that I ding it when mounting and not thinking about it, not a pleasant sensation of jamming my ankle on the metal end of the fender. That said, the Excalibur is rarely not mounted to one bike or another—I use this fender a few times per week without fail.
The Excalibur weighs 260 g and is available in either black or silver polished for $48.
NiteRider