I’ve recently leapt on the gravel bandwagon and got myself a Pinnacle Arkose X. I’m enjoying commuting on it (road) and extending my commutes to include some off-road in the evening. Also using it a lot at weekends for doing stuff I’d normally do on an MTB.
It’s got 47mm tyres and no mudguards. Wet commutes and muddy rides mean I get splattered in mud and water regularly.
Does anyone know of any mudguards that can survive really rough off road riding but aren’t MTB ones (which look a bit sub standard on a road style bike). I’ve used SKS before but think they’d fall to bits used on the rough stuff? Ta

SKS Speedrocker...? Not sure they'd cover that size of tyre though, so maybe Bluemels...?

We've got Bluemels 53mm on a similar spec bike, they go over Byways (just) and don't look too silly over 38x700 GravelKings either. So far they haven't snapped or gummed up, but it's not been ridden in really deep mud (where the bike would likely be outgunned, and I'd imagine most mudguards of full coverage type would jam)

EDIT: Link = https://www.sks-germany.com/en/products ... black-set/

SKS has a five year warranty, never seen or heard anyone use it mind but may be worth an investigation?

ChrisF wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 3:29 pm...really rough off road riding...

Not really sure what counts as really rough riding, but I never had any problems with the 700x60mm SKS whatevers (over gravelkings and horizons) or PDW full-metal fenders.





Did have to be careful in some places though, all too easy to catch a large twig and break everything. If it's muddy unclogging them can be a pain too.

The PDW ones now come in 65mm variety. They seem to have tripled in price though.

Got Matt black bluemels on my sonder. Gets used off road and haven’t damaged them yet.

Also got SKS's on my gravel bike. Just make sure the gap between the bottom of the front mudguard and the tyre is less than the gap between the mudguard and the tyre at the fork crown. This means that any stones that get caught in the tyre and go up under the mudguard will go through the gap between the crown and the tyre. I once had a very nasty crash due to a stone jamming under the fork crown (cracked skull, mashed face, bent forks...)

I run the front stays to the low rider boss on the stragglers forks. This means the stay is much shorter and stiffer which reduces clatter.

Thanks for the advice. I’ve used bluemels before, I wasn’t sure if they were up to the job. It looks like they are worth a try. PDW ones are a bit too spendy.

atk wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 4:41 pm Not really sure what counts as really rough riding,

Pretty much what’s on your picture, lots of loose rocky stuff (I live in the Peak).

Couple of my mates have these massive ass savers and are pretty pleased with them: https://www.merlincycles.com/ass-savers ... 13189.html

SKS Bluemels are almost indestructible. They can be bashed and bent and they ping back into shape. I’ve used them on various bikes over the years and had no problems.
I like the idea of the metal PDW guards but would worry that they would be more prone to permanent damage than the SKS plastic if given a good thrashing. This is however based purely on speculation

Another vote for SKS, I have Blumels 53mm on my Sonder Camino with 700x40 WTB Nanos and they've been fine on some pretty rough trails in Scotland and the Lakes. I originally envisioned taking them off for offroading and just using them for road/light offroad but in practice I've just left them on.

Hi, I bought some SKS Blumells, 700c x 53 for my Arkose which has 700x45 wtb tyres on it. The stays werent long enough to fit them to the mounts on the frame.

I bought some aluminium Velo Orange 63mm mudgaurds instread. They have been offroaded a bit but not what I would call proper rough off road. They're a pain to fit but are solid once on. (needed some dremmel action round the front mech too)