On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 3:12 PM, JoelMatthews <joelmatth...@mac.com> wrote: > > On Dec 10, 5:01 pm, Rene Sterental <orthie...@gmail.com> wrote: >> I am debating whether to install fenders on my new Bombadil, which I still >> haven't had time to finish assembling, but should be done by Saturday at the >> latest, as all I have left is to install the shifters and fine tune the >> brakes. I have switched the knobby tires to Specialized El Capitan Control >> 2Bliss, 2.2 front and 2.0 rear, which now give good clearance. This is >> essentially a 56mm wide front knobby tire and a 51mm wide rear tire. >> >> I'd like to install fenders, which at this point would have to be Giles >> Berthoud stainless steel fenders in 700x60, but am wondering if there would >> be negative risks if I went mountain biking with the fenders. Someone told >> me that a rock or something else could get stuck between tire and fender >> with catastrophic consequences. >> >> I'm also planning to use Marathon Extreme tires when I'm riding it in the >> road primarily and only need easy dirt trail capability, and just discovered >> there is a Marathon Supreme version in 2.0 as well. Will the 1.6 Marathon >> Extremes (42mm wide) look odd or behave oddly with 60mm fenders? >> >> Let me know what you think about mountain biking and going off-road with >> fenders. >> >> René > > A lot of things would have to happen for a rock or other debris to > cause the scenario you described. If those things did come together > and you have a bike with steel fenders, you could wind up crashing - > maybe even going over the handlebars. SKS breakaway fenders do not > look nearly as good as Berthoud but would be more safe. > > Tires are personal choice. I would not want to use Extremes on a bike > that is mostly on paved roads. I think the big Supremes or the more > supple Big Apples would better suit you.
Installing plastic fenders with break-away tabs seems in theory the right choice for offroading + fenders, but really it's worse when you think it through and compare a stick getting caught in a stay. On a plastic/break-away fender a stick can easily dislodge the break-away stay, which is annoying at best, and dangerous at worse if the stay in turn catches on something else. In addtion, the rear stays don't have a break-away feature, so a stick lodging in the fender can easily crumple/tear/mangle a plastic fender and take you down. Compare this to a alloy or steel fender that has stronger and more rigid stays. Any stick that is small enough to lodge/get caught in between the stays is much more likely break before the stay or fender deforms or fails. As for rocks getting caught/lodged in the fender, you just need to set it up correctly (regardless of fender type): make sure the gap at the entrance (bottom) of the fender is slightly smaller than the gap at the exit (top) of the fender. -- John Speare Spokane, WA USA http://cyclingspokane.blogspot.com/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
