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Comment by Toutouxc | Hacker News Reader

Only commuter and bikepacking bikes have mudguards, almost nobody puts one on a mountain bike or a proper road bike, regardless of whether they’re electrified. This looks like it’s more for these “sporty” categories of bikes.

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Why would you not want a mudguard? I personally prefer having one to getting a stripe of mud up my back. Is there a better way to avoid that?

My experience is that if there’s water and mud on the ground, a fender doesn’t help much. Especially on a higher travel mountain bike (I ride 150mm of travel front and back) where you can’t get it close enough to the tire. After a while it turns into a gunked up rattling sagging mess. I’ve tried a few and ultimately stopped trying, even on an XC bike. I don’t meet people using them either.

> Only commuter and bikepacking bikes have mudguards, almost nobody puts one on a mountain bike or a proper road bike

I suspect this depends on the weather in your area - road cycling clubs near me often require mudguards for "winter club rides".

That’s interesting. Our winters are often wet and annoying. You don’t see many roadies out there before at least February. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a proper road bike with mudguards in the wild.

I suspect people who are enthusiastic enough cyclists that they're doing 20mph+ club rides even in the winter have separate summer and winter bikes.

And yes, once your winter 'proper road bike' has mud guards, tyres with treads, and an all-weather-riding design people might start calling it an 'adventure bike' or 'gravel bike' instead.

You must be from somewhere where winter means rain vs. large amounts of snow. I can see if you're doing a road ride with a group (where they often run tight) they'd ask for fenders. Here a road bike would be useless once winter hits.

100% this.

If you see someone with mudguards on a road bike it's a sign they're a proper cyclist.

I don't think you're allowed to entry audax events without guards and you definitely won't be allowed on a club run without them. Getting a face full of oily road water for the guy in front is not exactly fun. Even small clip on "racing blades" will get you a sniffy look.

That's not at all true. Lots of people ride downhill and enduro with a set of small guards.

If you google images of something like Redbull Hardline pretty much all the bikes you see will have at least one front guard.

That's because no one wants a face full of mud at the wrong moment.

bikepacking bikes rarely have mud guards; maybe something small on the front. dropbar touring bikes often have full fenders though.

That's a big blanket statement

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