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Mudguard fitting advice

by tonyleatham
Sat, Nov 19, 2016 09:34
9

I've just ordered a Raleigh Pro 1x to use as a winter bike.

I want to fit mudguards and am trying to decide if I can get away with SKS Chromoplastic.

This picture http://www.raleigh.co.uk/ProductType/ProductRange/Product/ProductDetail.... appears to show mid-fork fixings for the stays, but as it has disc brakes there doesn't appear to be anywhere to fix the top of the mudguard to.

However, the picture also shows a screw head at the top of the forks but I'm not sure what it's for. Can anyone suggest the purpose of that screw? Could I use it (with a suitable fashioned right-angle bracket) to hold the top of the mudguard?

I've tried to contact both Raleigh (who only want you to talk to the dealer) and Wiggle (where I bought it from but who don't seem to know) without success

Thanks

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9 comments

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Jack Osbourne snr | 8 years ago
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Glad you were able to make it work.

To be fair to SKS, bike mounting points have been the issue in that they are the ones that have been changing. SKS have just been lazy in updating instructions to cover the myriad of modern possibilities.

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tonyleatham | 8 years ago
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Thanks for all the advice and help, guys.

To my surprise, the bike arrive at 20:40pm last night so I've had chance to look it over and fit the mudguards.

@Redvee, I had already got some brackets very similar to the ones you recommended from Screwfix.

In the end, the only possible way of mounting it all was to drill the top bracket off the front mudguard, and use a longer screw with about 10mm of spacers (handily provided by SKS). This has resulted in a neat, maintainable solution with minimal effort.

This was my fist experience of fitting SKS mudguards. My overall impression is that they were designed by a numpty who's never actually tried to fit them to a bike. As I was working, I could see so many ways they could make the whole thing a lot easier. That said, they're on the bike and seem sturdy enough.

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Redvee | 8 years ago
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Another possible solution is to use a 90 degree bracket from B&Q etc, usually 2" long each side of the bend. Cut it down so the length pointing down towards tyre is only 1" long and use that to mount the mudguard in normal way and with the slot in the mudguard bracket you have some adjustment. Might not look that good but only you'll know it's there and will be hidden between the guard and fork.

 

//www.sugatsune.net/products/images/C-Bracket-SU-B-P60.jpg)

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kil0ran | 8 years ago
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Looks similar to mine

https://goo.gl/photos/wVAECxCjMt6hfCRd7

Purpose of the screw is to fix mudguards and probably little else. Raleigh might have custom guards to fit it - I know Merida did for my bike.

Also thinking of using mine to fit a fork crown bracket so I can mount my dyno light in the correct place.

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tonyleatham | 8 years ago
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Thanks for the replies. 

The only reason I was thinking of using a bracket is to reduce the gap between the mudguard and the tyre.

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Jack Osbourne snr replied to tonyleatham | 8 years ago
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tonyleatham wrote:

Thanks for the replies. 

The only reason I was thinking of using a bracket is to reduce the gap between the mudguard and the tyre.

You could do that... However, it will more than likely be an absolute biatch to tighten up and keep tight.

If there's a big gap, use washers to pack it and a longer screw if required.

One final thought on that screw... Give it a spray with silicon grease to deter the worst of road sludge from eating it. You could even use a smear of silicon sealant to actually seal it away (this will peel off when you need to adjust that screw.)

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tonyleatham replied to Jack Osbourne snr | 8 years ago
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Jack Osbourne snr wrote:
tonyleatham wrote:

Thanks for the replies. 

The only reason I was thinking of using a bracket is to reduce the gap between the mudguard and the tyre.

You could do that... However, it will more than likely be an absolute biatch to tighten up and keep tight. If there's a big gap, use washers to pack it and a longer screw if required. One final thought on that screw... Give it a spray with silicon grease to deter the worst of road sludge from eating it. You could even use a smear of silicon sealant to actually seal it away (this will peel off when you need to adjust that screw.)

Thanks. I got an engineering degree thirty years ago (and have spent the intervening time honing my skills) so I've a pretty good idea how to make this work (and an extensive toolkit to help). The only reason I posted was in case I'd missed something totally obvious about the purpose of the screw.

The spacer idea is one I've contemplated but it would require me to drill the mudguards. Which is OK, but being a tight arsed Yorkshireman, I prefer not to hack things I've just bought so that I have the option to send them back if there's an unforeseen problem. 

I'll make the final decision about what I'm going to do when it all arrives in a couple of days or so.

Thanks for the advice.

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orderodonata | 8 years ago
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Personally, I'd probably just drill a hole in the mudguard and not bother making up a bracket.

I've used old cleat screws for mudguard fittings a lot, they are wide headed and pretty corrosion resistant so ideally suited for this.

 

SJS Cycles have all sorts of odds and ends that are very handy when trying to sort out custom mudguard brackets etc.

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Jack Osbourne snr replied to orderodonata | 8 years ago
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orderodonata wrote:

Personally, I'd probably just drill a hole in the mudguard and not bother making up a bracket.

I've used old cleat screws for mudguard fittings a lot, they are wide headed and pretty corrosion resistant so ideally suited for this.

This... Although the screw supplied is probably good enough!

I can't think of any reason for the screw on the underside of the fork crown other than to carry a mudguard.

You'll need to drill out the rivets holding the fixed bracket on the chromoplastics. That will give you a choice of two holes to bolt through.

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