The Beacon Message Board

See attached photo before I ask my question.



As you can see this is a normal stainless steel rear brake bridge bracket for mounting SGS mudguards. It is simply attached via the single bolt that also attaches the rear brake calliper to the frame. You then offer the mudguard into position, first bolting the mudguard down at the front at the rear of the bottom bracket, then attaching it at the rear by the four stainless steel mudguard stays.

Once its all set up and with all the clearances necessary, you then crimp the four lugs on the above bracket. However, no matter how hard I crimp these lugs over a period of time the mudguard will then start to move and fret backwards and forwards inside the mounting bracket. In doing so, this then wears down the plastic of the mudguard which makes the bracket even looser!

So eventually the mudguard will crack/break, this usually occurs midpoint between the brake calliper mounting and the first of the mudguard stays.

Now my question is, does anyone else suffer the same problem/issue? Or is there another way to attach the mudguard without utilizing this bracket?

On my Rourkie bike the rear brake bridge is drilled and tapped, so the mudguard is bolted direct to the frame, and I have never had any issues. Sadly I cannot do this with my Ridley frame.

In the past I have tried applying a small layer of Aradite over the four crimps on the inside of the mudguard just to offer a bit more support to stop it from fretting, but I think that this must attack the plastic in some way.

Any suggestions?

Drill 4 small holes in the guard so that you can loop a zip tie through the guard and over the brake bridge each side of the brake bolt. I have used this method for 20 years without problems,failures or rattles.

Rod Goodfellow wrote:Drill 4 small holes in the guard so that you can loop a zip tie through the guard and over the brake bridge each side of the brake bolt. I have used this method for 20 years without problems,failures or rattles.

Yes good idea and now you come to mention it l've seen that done before

Both my addax frames have the drilled bridge and the SKS mudguards are still the original after 16 years and one respray.

Dave Cox wrote:Both my addax frames have the drilled bridge and the SKS mudguards are still the original after 16 years and one respray.

Thanks for rubbing it in a bit more Dave!

The bracket (similar to yours) on my road bike's tortec mudguards constantly came loose and rattled. Echelon fixed it with packing and glue!

And while we're on SKS mudguard longevity, the rear on my tourer has recently broken after just 6500 km / 2 years. Rubbish.

2 years....I wish mine would last that long!

I only get about twelve months (although to be fair that does equate to around 21,000 kms) before they either snap or break completely. And to make matters worse you have to buy a set, so if any one needs a brand new front one, I have a number of them in my loft.

In the beginning when they first started to fatigue I thought that it was down to poor installation and maybe putting the mudguard under to much stress causing them to fail. But I have spent a good while on many occasions fitting and refitting the rear one ensuring that there is no unnecessary stress at the mid point.

Alan, didn't you ask this same question a while back?

I personally never use those stainless steel crimp-it-yourself brackets, for precisely the reasons you describe. I almost always drill and cable tie. I've never understood why manufacturers persist with crimp-it-yourself brackets, when they are so obviously useless. The riveted-in-place front bracket is always a much heavier gauge. If the manufacturer believes that the gauge of metal needed on the front is at least four times the gauge used for the crimp-it-yourself brackets, surely it follows that they themselves know very well that the rear brackets won't last five minutes? OK, the need for adjustment means that they can't do the same on the back as they do on the front, but how does it follow that it's therefore okay to provide you with something useless? Particularly when there are perfectly good alternatives.

For example, when I built my touring bike last year, I fitted 45mm SKS guards. Interestingly, the guards that I bought came with a plastic rear bracket (see picture). It seemed very robust and was very easy to fit, so for once I didn't drill and cable tie, but used the bracket provided. The bike has not done a huge mileage (Strava says almost 1900km so far), so I cannot say anything definitive about longevity yet, but there is currently no sign of fatigue or of the guard becoming loose in the bracket. I can't imagine that a bracket like that is significantly more expensive to make than the crimp-it-yourself type, and I can't think of any technical reason why you can do it for a 45mm guard, but not a 30mm guard. So why aren't they universal?

George wrote:Alan, didn't you ask this same question a while back?

You know what George.......now you come to mention it, I did didn't ?!! I blame old age..

So perhaps that's where I have seen it done before.......doh So I'm wondering now why didnt I drill the mudguard at the time instead of continuing with that useless bracket?

You also make a valid point about the thickness of the brackets front and rear, a point that I have never thought of before. And like you also say, I wonder why that plastic bracket does not come with the 35mm guards?

I fitted a set of SKS guards to the Genesis in line with the instructions. They lasted four months of reasonably gentle commute and were full of stress cracks after this time. That's less than a thousand miles and only one off road run. Not great.

I had the same issue and ended up bolting a plastic plumbing pipe bracket to the mudguard and cable ties to the pannier rack. No issues after a few years in all weather

I'm about to fit a new rear narrow SKS Chromoplastic mudguard to replace one that succumbed to a metal bracket, and they now come with a plastic bracket like the one on George's wider touring version. Hopefully this will stop the wear repeating.