Crashed because something got stuck in mudguard

Not worried about my front mudguard (yet), but lately I have visions of my front light O-ring popping off and the light tumbling down on its battery cable to cause carnage...

I got a twig in my front Crud RoadRacer 2, it just folded up on itself and the twig got spat out. I was able to straighten it out, reattach the stays, and continue on my way. It's still on there.

I've had a freak accident where (at low speed) I managed to kick the front guard, causing it to pop out of the quick release and putting the stay through the wheel!

Had the same with a low-rider rack on a mountainbike. The bike stopped dead when the rack came loose and caught in the nobbles on the tyre. I was cleated in, so I rotated around the front wheel until my head hit the road. Cracked my front teeth and got a very sore head. That's the last time I rode without a helmet- January 1989...

Reminds me of an accident I had 25 years ago or so (not with mud guards).

On the way out of a village approx 20mph and suddenly went over the handlebars.
It turns out I went over a screwdriver and flipped it into the spokes and locked the front wheel up. Luckily someone in the house next to the road seen me and took me to a local doctors. Nothing broken just some grazes on my head and slight concussion.

If you fit the guards yourself try to make the rearwards tip of the guard closer to the tyre than the rest of it, that way stuff can't get ingested by the tyre/wheel.

There is a company that sells a little clip thing to go on the end of the guard to knock stuff off the tyre as well.

Nasty.
I had just fitted SKS raceblades and have just removed the front set as the fit was a bit flaky.
I hope you get well soon.

I'd a similar accident some years ago - something jammed the wheel and before I'd time to react, even instinctively, the bike rotated around the wheel, my head taking the impact before I could stretch my arms out. Time seemed to pause for a second as the impact happened, just so I could appreciate the moment.

A few moment later I was sitting in the middle of the road, seeing stars and letting things come back into focus. Helmet in two parts and neck muscles painfully-wrenched but no serious damage. Could have been much worse.

No breakaway clips.

Get well soon Dutchie, and fit the secu clips. I have them fitted front and rear, also many modern mudguards have impact release systems built into the stay clips, I've bought three sets of these now -

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.ETC-Full-Mudguards-with-Stays_45969.htm

they pop out quite easily - I got rear ended by a taxi a couple of weeks ago, they did their job and were otherwise unscathed - just popped them back in!

This happens more often than we care to think about. Frost and damp can be fatal making tyres sticky and debris easily picked up and jamming the wheel. Front wheel jams are more serious. In the old days when we all had good clearances and Blumels mudguards that snapped on impact it was usually ok, but not always. Today however the mudguards use different plastics and do not snap on impact, hence the need for safety fixings at the mudguard eyes. Again front more important than back. The Giant Defy mudguards fit brilliantly on my close clearance Defy bike but have the big failing of no safety fixings. Touring in France this year and forced to cycle on newly laid chippings for several kilometers was a nightmare with chippings pinging away all the time inside the mudguards. I have searched in vain online for safety fixings to use with the single stay support for the front Defy mudguard.

Meanwhile my sympathies go to Dutchie and best wishes for a full recovery.

I had a problem with SKS Raceblades. the ziptie from the front mudguard that goes around the brake mount just snapped, dropping the mudguard onto the wheel and locking it up, catapulting me over the handlebars!

only my second outing on them, so just assumed it was the 1 in a million dodgy ziptie

Get well soon!

At least I can use this as another reason to dislike mudguards!

That's rough, hope you mend soon. I've got to say though that I think this would be such a freak occurrence that I wouldn't start doing anything differently because of it. Avoiding front mudguards altogether sounds like a massive over reaction!

Wow, that's unlucky there Dutchie. Get well.

Was once in a shop where the retailer ranted on about never using front guards (despite having the full SKS range on a wall display behind him) - he was terrified of a dropped arm warmer or pump getting stuck.

It's one of those things that needs context though - I reckon our small club has racked up maybe 20,000 miles over the last two winters-worth of crap all over the rural roads, and the one crash we had (last week) was a guy with new Ultegra brakes grabbing a handful at low speed, locking the front and going OTB.

Sounds nasty, hope you're recovering well.

I've recently just put on my first set of "proper" mudguards (not a Full Windsor fold up type). They are the SKS Bluemels and they do have a safety release clip on the front mounting to try and prevent exactly this problem. It was not something I had considered before but makes perfect sense - did yours have this and not work properly, or do yours not have a release?

Not with mudguards, but my mate decided he would come cycling with me, having not been on a bike for 20 years. We were travelling around Rutland water trails. I knew it wasn't going well within 2 miles, he was seriously struggling, realising he was very unfit. Then all of a sudden he went over the handle bars having some how managed to flick up a twig into his front wheel spokes....

Fortunately it was only his pride that was dented. Needless to say Rutland water loop ended there. He hasn't been on a bike since, such a shame as he was once able to do 10 mile TT in 24 mins.

Nasty, hope you recover quickly. Did you have safety release clips on the front stays like this?

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/mobile/sks-secu-clips-for-front-mudguard-stay...

They are designed to help prevent this happening and from personal experience I can say that they work. The stay basically pops out of the clip and although the mudguard can still get crumpled you are less likely to go over the bars suddenly.

This article explains why you should have them and what happens if it goes wrong

http://www.ctc.org.uk/article/technical-guide/mudguard-safety

I'd still be wary of trying to run full guards with a very tight clearance on short drop brakes though.

Likewise - rear (Raceblade) only. Very sorry to read and hope you make a quick recovery. It confirmed my view that I will accept wet feet and legs rather than the varied problems with a front mudguard.

Jesus that sounds nasty. I don't run a front mudguard only rear but the unused fronts i have come with a quick release for this very reason. Hope you get back out!