Science
Everything you need to know about gravel bike mudguards: how to stay clean and dry through winter
Keeping mud and grit under your tyres makes winter gravel riding heaps better
Published: January 23, 2023 at 6:00 pm
For the yet-to-be-converted, mudguards – or fenders – can be a real game-changer for winter gravel riding, or any wet-weather conditions for that matter.
But aren’t dirt, gravel and grit all part of off-road riding? And what are the mudguard/fender options out there for gravel bikes?
Here, we look into why you should consider fitting mudguards to your gravel bike, as well as the different options for all types of bike (and budget) and the practical considerations you need to take into account before plunging into foul-weather bliss.
Why should you fit mudguards to a gravel bike?
The pros…
We’ve touched on the plus-sides already: just like road bike mudguards, gravel ‘guards essentially limit the amount of water, mud and debris that flicks up off your gravel tyres and onto you or your bike.
How effective that protection is will depend on how much coverage your mudguards offer.
Options range from minimal strap-on mudguards that offer light relief for your face or backside, to full-length mudguards that give much more protection, helping to keep you dry from head-to-toe, while also maintaining your bike frame and components in better condition.
Keeping water and muck off your body will help you feel comfortable on the bike. If it’s cold and you’re wet, you’re more likely to catch a chill, and no one enjoys sitting on a soggy chamois.
Riding off-road is also inherently tougher on bike components, including your drivetrain, where grit, stones and sand can quickly combine to become a component-eating paste. So besides keeping you warm and dry, fitting mudguards can help prolong the lifespan of your bike parts. This surely makes them one of the best gravel bike accessories going.
The cons…
Well, as with anything, there can be downsides to fitting mudguards on your gravel bike.
Firstly, there’s the matter of clearance. Adding an extra layer of metal or plastic around your tyres needs space, especially where potential trail debris is factored into the equation, and not all off-road bikes have the clearance to add mudguards, particularly if you still want to run a chunky tyre.
You may find that you need to run a smaller-volume tyre in order to run mudguards on your gravel bike, or even opt for a smaller wheel size by switching from 700c wheels for 650b to give extra space, if your bike offers compatibility.
Adding mudguards to your bike will also add weight, though exactly how much depends on what type you opt for. Unless you’re racking up serious climbing, the extra protection on offer will likely offset any weight gain.
Finally, fitting mudguards can sometimes be a bit trickier than you’d expect. It’s worth taking your time to get the fit just right, or asking a local mechanic to help out.
Front mudguard, rear mudguard or both?
While road riders will typically mount a set of mudguards at both the front and rear of the bike, gravel riders or mountain bikers may opt to run a ‘guard at only one end.
Why? Well, the front and rear mudguards serve slightly different purposes, and how much you value front or rear protection will depend on your personal preferences.
While the front mudguard acts mostly to stop mud flicking up off your front tyre into your face, the rear mudguard functions mostly to stop spray hitting your rear end.
Full-length mudguards with flaps also help to keep this filth off your feet and bike, which can be largely attributed to the front mudguard.
Most riders tend to opt for both front and rear mudguards for greater protection, though there’s no reason why you couldn’t run just one or the other.
Three types of gravel mudguard
Generally speaking, there are three types of gravel mudguard: short-coverage clip-on mudguards (available for either the front or, more commonly, the rear), full-coverage clip-on mudguards and full-coverage mudguards that require eyelets.
Choosing the most suitable option will depend on exactly what you want from your mudguard(s) and what you can fit to your bike.
Short-coverage clip-on mudguards
Let’s start off with the most minimal mudguards on the market.
Short-coverage, clip-on mudguards are pretty much as you’d expect; they offer relatively limited coverage, compared to full-length guards, but can be fitted to any bike, because you can strap, clip or cable-tie them onto your frame without the need for mudguard eyelets.
You might not get the same full-body protection as a longer set of mudguards, but if you value rear-end protection above all else, and you want tool-free fitment, you’ll be covered here.
Generally, the minimalist design means frame and mud clearance is less of an issue, too.
The Mudhugger Gravel Hugger is one such example of a short-coverage clip-on mudguard.
The Gravel Hugger is a gravel-specific set of the brand’s popular mountain bike mudguards, mounting onto the fork and seatstays using cable ties or rubber O-rings.
Latest deals on the Mudhugger Rear Gravel Hugger
As for a rear-only option, we highly rate the Ass Savers Win Wing.
This super-minimalist – and lightweight – mudguard offers rear-tyre protection via a wishbone stay and silicone straps.
Latest deals on the Ass Savers Win Wing
Full-coverage clip-on mudguards
If you’re looking for more extensive coverage, but your bike is not kitted out with mudguard eyelets, consider a set of clip-on mudguards.
These typically attach directly to the frame using silicone straps, but look more like a traditional set of mudguards.
An example is the SKS Speedrocker, designed for gravel riding and cyclocross with a wider mudguard to accommodate both 700c and 650b wheels with tyres up to 42mm wide. These attach to the fork and seatstays in two places using rubberised hook and loop fastenings.
Although less secure than mudguards fitted using frame eyelets, some riders prefer clip-on mudguards because they are easier to take on and off.
Latest deals on the SKS Speedrocker mudguards
Full-coverage fixed mudguards
To maximise protection from dirt and puddles, opt for full-coverage mudguards. You’ll need to make sure you have suitable mudguard eyelets on your frame and fork for these.
Often, these can be a little trickier to fit (they aren’t an option you’ll want to fit and remove on a regular basis), but once secured, give the best protection and are the sturdiest option.
One example is the Kinesis Fend-Off Wide, a gravel-friendly (and, as a result, wider) version of the brand’s standard Fend-Off mudguards.
The anodised aluminium guards are secured using metal stays that run to the frame’s eyelets near the axles, as well as to the top of the fork, and seatstay bridge and rear of the seat tube.
The guards also use polypropylene flaps, which attach to the rear of the front and rear guards, reducing the mud spray that ends up on you (mainly your feet), your bike, and your ride pals.
Latest deals on the Kinesis Fend-Off Wide mudguards
What to look for in gravel bike mudguards
Not all mudguards will work for all bikes, but it doesn’t have to be a nightmare to figure out what will work best for you.
Does your gravel bike have mudguard eyelets?
Check whether your bike has eyelets for mounting fixed mudguards around the axles, fork crown, seatstay bridge and base of the seat tube. If your bike has these, then you have full choice across the different types of mudguards.
If your gravel bike doesn’t have mudguard eyelets, then you’ll need to opt for clip-on mudguards.
How much protection do you need?
Whether you opt for short-coverage mudguards for low weight and ease-of-use, or long-coverage mudguards for maximum protection, is largely down to personal preference, where you’re riding and who you’re riding with.
Short-coverage clip-on mudguards will be adequate for keeping the worst of the muck off of you. However, if you plan on riding regularly with friends or in groups, then longer-coverage guards – especially those with flaps – will be better (read: more courteous) for keeping anyone riding behind you dry. Many club riders will tell you that longer-coverage mudguards are the sociable choice.
The worse the conditions you ride in, the more you’re likely to benefit from long-coverage mudguards.
Having said that, even clip-on long-coverage mudguards aren’t as easy to fit as many short-coverage options. Also, because they tend to fit closer to the tyre than short-coverage guards, you may need to be more cautious of trail debris.
This leads us neatly to our next important consideration…
Frame, tyre and mud clearance
Just like when you’re buying a gravel bike, considering clearance is key.
You’ll need to make sure you have adequate frame clearance to fit your mudguards, as well as ensuring you have enough space between the tyre and mudguard.
Check the maximum tyre clearances recommended by the mudguard brand as well as any clearance and tyre-width recommendations that accompany your bike.
This is especially critical when it comes to riding off-road because your tyres often pick up mud, stones and other trail debris that needs to pass under the mudguards.
If it’s muddy and there’s insufficient clearance, you’re likely to get a build-up of mud at best – or risk damaging your frame at worst.
Similarly, trail debris such as twigs can cause havoc if trapped with insufficient space between the tyre and mudguard.
Bag clearance
While we’re on the topic of clearance, you also need to think about bag clearance if you’re loading up your bike for a bikepacking trip or going touring.
The good news is that seatpost-mounted bikepacking bags essentially act as short-coverage rear mudguards, so might save you fixing one up if you’re planning a longer trip (although, for this reason, make sure your bag is made from a muck-proof material).
If you are running mudguards, check you have a good gap between any bags and your guards to prevent any damage.
Even the weight of a bag on a mudguard can cause it to become mis-shaped, which can get pretty noisy.
Frame protection
If you’re using any type of clip-on mudguard, it’s wise to think about using frame protection where it attaches to your bike.
It might seem like overkill, but it only takes a tiny bit of grit to work its way under the zip tie, rubber strap or Velcro attachment to wreak havoc with your paintjob.
Before fitting your mudguards, adding frame protection patches such as those offered by Pro or Restrap, or alternatively opting for areas of Helitape, will help keep your bike in good condition.
Are there mudguards designed for your bike?
A few of the more mainstream brands offer mudguards designed specifically to fit certain models.
For example, Canyon sells mudguards to complement its Grail gravel bikes, while Scott also offers mudguards made specifically for its bike models.
It’s worth checking to see if there are any mudguards available for your specific gravel bike before browsing alternatives.
The important matter of flaps
Last but not least, have you considered adding flaps to your long-coverage mudguards?
Some are supplied with them, others may require flaps to be bought separately – or you can make your own mud flap.
Essentially, the longer the flap is, and the closer it sits to the ground, the more coverage you, and the person riding behind you, will benefit from.
Plastic, rubber or even leather; there are flaps to suit all budgets and styles.
Authors
Katherine Moore is Bristol-based gravel and bikepacking expert who judges her rides by stoke level, rather than speed. When she’s not scouting out the best long-distance and local off-road routes in the UK, Katherine works as a freelance writer, bike tester, presenter and guide. Katherine is the former editor of advntr.cc and has also worked as a presenter on the Global Cycling Network. As well as being a regular contributor to BikeRadar.com and the BikeRadar Podcast, Katherine has also written for Cycling Weekly, Bikepacking.com and hosts the Unpaved Podcast. If you’re out on the trail you’ll likely see her from a mile off, thanks to her rather bright colour palette!
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Science
Asteroid Apophis will visit Earth in 2029, and this European satellite will be along for the ride
The European Space Agency is fast-tracking a new mission called Ramses, which will fly to near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis and join the space rock in 2029 when it comes very close to our planet — closer even than the region where geosynchronous satellites sit.
Ramses is short for Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety and, as its name suggests, is the next phase in humanity’s efforts to learn more about near-Earth asteroids (NEOs) and how we might deflect them should one ever be discovered on a collision course with planet Earth.
In order to launch in time to rendezvous with Apophis in February 2029, scientists at the European Space Agency have been given permission to start planning Ramses even before the multinational space agency officially adopts the mission. The sanctioning and appropriation of funding for the Ramses mission will hopefully take place at ESA’s Ministerial Council meeting (involving representatives from each of ESA’s member states) in November of 2025. To arrive at Apophis in February 2029, launch would have to take place in April 2028, the agency says.
This is a big deal because large asteroids don’t come this close to Earth very often. It is thus scientifically precious that, on April 13, 2029, Apophis will pass within 19,794 miles (31,860 kilometers) of Earth. For comparison, geosynchronous orbit is 22,236 miles (35,786 km) above Earth’s surface. Such close fly-bys by asteroids hundreds of meters across (Apophis is about 1,230 feet, or 375 meters, across) only occur on average once every 5,000 to 10,000 years. Miss this one, and we’ve got a long time to wait for the next.
When Apophis was discovered in 2004, it was for a short time the most dangerous asteroid known, being classified as having the potential to impact with Earth possibly in 2029, 2036, or 2068. Should an asteroid of its size strike Earth, it could gouge out a crater several kilometers across and devastate a country with shock waves, flash heating and earth tremors. If it crashed down in the ocean, it could send a towering tsunami to devastate coastlines in multiple countries.
Over time, as our knowledge of Apophis’ orbit became more refined, however, the risk of impact greatly went down. Radar observations of the asteroid in March of 2021 reduced the uncertainty in Apophis’ orbit from hundreds of kilometers to just a few kilometers, finally removing any lingering worries about an impact — at least for the next 100 years. (Beyond 100 years, asteroid orbits can become too unpredictable to plot with any accuracy, but there’s currently no suggestion that an impact will occur after 100 years.) So, Earth is expected to be perfectly safe in 2029 when Apophis comes through. Still, scientists want to see how Apophis responds by coming so close to Earth and entering our planet’s gravitational field.
“There is still so much we have yet to learn about asteroids but, until now, we have had to travel deep into the solar system to study them and perform experiments ourselves to interact with their surface,” said Patrick Michel, who is the Director of Research at CNRS at Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur in Nice, France, in a statement. “Nature is bringing one to us and conducting the experiment itself. All we need to do is watch as Apophis is stretched and squeezed by strong tidal forces that may trigger landslides and other disturbances and reveal new material from beneath the surface.”
By arriving at Apophis before the asteroid’s close encounter with Earth, and sticking with it throughout the flyby and beyond, Ramses will be in prime position to conduct before-and-after surveys to see how Apophis reacts to Earth. By looking for disturbances Earth’s gravitational tidal forces trigger on the asteroid’s surface, Ramses will be able to learn about Apophis’ internal structure, density, porosity and composition, all of which are characteristics that we would need to first understand before considering how best to deflect a similar asteroid were one ever found to be on a collision course with our world.
Besides assisting in protecting Earth, learning about Apophis will give scientists further insights into how similar asteroids formed in the early solar system, and, in the process, how planets (including Earth) formed out of the same material.
One way we already know Earth will affect Apophis is by changing its orbit. Currently, Apophis is categorized as an Aten-type asteroid, which is what we call the class of near-Earth objects that have a shorter orbit around the sun than Earth does. Apophis currently gets as far as 0.92 astronomical units (137.6 million km, or 85.5 million miles) from the sun. However, our planet will give Apophis a gravitational nudge that will enlarge its orbit to 1.1 astronomical units (164.6 million km, or 102 million miles), such that its orbital period becomes longer than Earth’s.
It will then be classed as an Apollo-type asteroid.
Ramses won’t be alone in tracking Apophis. NASA has repurposed their OSIRIS-REx mission, which returned a sample from another near-Earth asteroid, 101955 Bennu, in 2023. However, the spacecraft, renamed OSIRIS-APEX (Apophis Explorer), won’t arrive at the asteroid until April 23, 2029, ten days after the close encounter with Earth. OSIRIS-APEX will initially perform a flyby of Apophis at a distance of about 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from the object, then return in June that year to settle into orbit around Apophis for an 18-month mission.
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Furthermore, the European Space Agency still plans on launching its Hera spacecraft in October 2024 to follow-up on the DART mission to the double asteroid Didymos and Dimorphos. DART impacted the latter in a test of kinetic impactor capabilities for potentially changing a hazardous asteroid’s orbit around our planet. Hera will survey the binary asteroid system and observe the crater made by DART’s sacrifice to gain a better understanding of Dimorphos’ structure and composition post-impact, so that we can place the results in context.
The more near-Earth asteroids like Dimorphos and Apophis that we study, the greater that context becomes. Perhaps, one day, the understanding that we have gained from these missions will indeed save our planet.
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