Mudguards

I had a machine shop make me a little plug for the bottom of my steerer with a threaded hole and then cut it to size myself. Can't remember if it was particularly cheaper but I bought the materials from eBay (nylon rod) so it wasn't much more.

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I think it would work, I have those brakes and those guards on different bikes, the guards were squeezed a bit too make them 650b from 26" but they're about 52mm on the outer edges. The brakes appear to have about 65mm clearance at the level of the guard, plenty of room for the 45mm chromo-plastics I have on that one. I'd have taken a photo but couldn't get anything useful in my dark shed.

It would probably depend on the details of your setup, my guess would be no. I ordered 50mm GBs, they should arrive tomorrow or day after. I have one of the tektro calipers so can check.

If you intend on staying dry, then fit the mudguards.

Thanks to you and @kvragu, for your replies! After going to the shed to look at the bike, I think I might stick to the 40mm width. It’s going to be my winter roadie, and I can’t see myself going bigger than a 32 for that purpose (the guards are rated for 32 max).

If I want to stick anything larger on it, it’ll probably be for terrain where tight clearance guards wouldn’t make sense!

What’s the go-to black, metal mudguard to cover 700x41c tyres these days?
Seems that Simworks, VO and PDW are out of stock with the usual suspects at the moment(unless I’m missing something obvious)

Similar question, am buying an Allday to build up as a 'do everything but big hills' bike and want to fit 32s and guards. I am thinking of swapping out the PDW 45s currently on my geared bike (they might be 37s, haven't measured but they have 32s sitting under them) with the raceblades on my commuter and am trying to figure out what brakes would work best with this setup - would mini Vs like the Tektro RX1 be better, or the R559s?

I’d just put some mafac cantis on or if your feeling flush some neo retros.

Fitting my GBs in the coming days, but need to add a spacer to the chain stay bridge to move the guard closer to the wheel. Standoff spacers seem to come in M3 and M4 sizes only. Any source for ABS or stainless pipe with a 5mm internal diameter that I could cut to size? Looking to make a spacer like attached, other ideas welcome!

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Cheers! Am entirely unfamiliar with cantis (and have generally read about them being inferior to Vs/callipers), any reason why mafac in particular? I see some Aceras on sale for pretty cheap or some BR-CX50s for a bit more..

You could do worse than just ordering a selection of these

https://www.accu.co.uk/cylindrical-spacers/463543-HPS-10-5-BR-NI

That’s what I used to fit some PDWs

Nice one, this is probably a very sensible option! Accu’s >£4 delivery puts me off, I feel I’d need to be buying a lot of bolts to make it worthwhile, and I know I’d realise I was missing something shortly after ordering. Cheers!

Yeah it feels like a kit SJS should offer really. You could replace all your bolts with torx for that extra tester-ness

People don’t like canti because they don’t know how to set them up. After all v-brakes are cantilevers with a fixed MA.

I like wide profile cantilever brakes because I can always seem to get more power from them over the low profile versions. Tektro do a cr720 that I’ve always find good. The downside is the fixing bolts rust quickly but they could be replaced.

Alu tent frame poles, caliper brake mounting nuts, crankset nuts, hollow qr axle, the world is full of little metal/plastic tubes that’ll work!

PDW 55mm in stock at condor

https://www.condorcycles.com/products/portland-design-works-full-metal-fenders-700x55mm?_fid=df9632556&_pos=7&_ss=c&variant=37652886847638

Bloody hell... Fitting my rear GB guard this cold morning, and run into an issue. I spent a good while researching these guards, made sure they'd be compatible and bought a few additional spacers and fixings to make the process super smooth. I'd even say I was confident.

Long story short, there's not enough room at the brake bridge, even with the roomy brakes I have fitted. The tyre rubs at the point highlighted in pic 1. If I squeeze the brake (which gives a bit more internal height on the calliper the tyre doesn't rub, but the brakes obviously do.

Even with a little more internal height in the calliper, the L bracket I have to mount the guard to the brake bridge wouldn't pull the guard up high enough without some filing.

Options that I can see:
-Find a rear brake with more height clearance
-Dimple the guard under the brake and use a bracket like below for more clearance
-Use slimmer brake shoes and pads to close up the calliper for more clearance
-Admit my research wasn't great, get rid of the guards (unreturnable now they're out the packaging) and go for another option (suggestions welcome)

This build has been frustratingly slow, so happy to put it to the side for a few days to consider options. Have I missed anything? Surely brake bridge clearance problems are fairly common, so I have my fingers crossed for a genius solution. Thanks all!

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You’re not going to like this suggestion. You can reduce tyre size.

Using an L bracket and drilling the mudguard might work. But the issue as far as I can see if probably tyre size.

Yes, unfortunately I don't want to size down the tyres! These are 28mm, on the small size for what I wanted to run on this bike. An option I'm considering is to split the rear guard, and mount them similarly to below. I'm confident I could do a good job (much better than pictured), but it seems silly to pay so much for GB guards to then chop them up. Clearance would be much better, aesthetics maybe not

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Centrepull brakes have more clearance. Paul racers have pretty much the most clearance.

Edit: look how close the bottom of the caliper is to the fixing bolt.

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Are you having the frame painted? I'd sooner have the brake bridge moved rather than resorting to making your mudguard look like pan lids.
Have you tested fitment for the front guard?

May sound silly, but your rear wheel is pushed fully back in the drops, it should sit closer to frame, which will also change how it sits under mudguards. Give it a try.

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@Foreigner65 I love you, I love you, I love you. I did do this at one point in the assembly, but didn't see that it had made much of a difference, perhaps I'd not adjusted the stays or tightened the calliper properly. Thanks so much for suggesting I try again, you saved me a lot of stress and a potentially butchered Berthoud.

@TheBonk I'm painting the frame up after winter I think, just want to get riding so I can be sure it fits before investing in the paint. It's phosphate treated so should be fine until then. Can't unsee pan lids now, very happy to have been saved from that embarrassment

Ah glad it worked. May also seemed silly but when you push mudguard stays in, you create a little bit of extra space at the 'top'. Old type guards have two sets of 'stays' AND movable holder at brake bridge to accommodate for precise fittings.

Hopefully a simple question that's no doubt been asked on this thread a hundred times in various unsearchable ways: when running 35mm slicks that come up true to size, am I better off with Velo Orange 45mm stainless guards or the Gilles Berthoud 50mm equivalent? GB is the preference simply because price and coverage, but would that 5mm extra look daft? Frame clearance is a non-issue so either would work just fine in that sense