This isn’t a process you can do in a hurry. It’s not mechanically difficult, but it’s faffy and involves lots of easily-fumbled small parts. I lost one of the drilled bolts while fitting this set, but fortunately had a spare. It’d be nice if SKS threw in a couple of extras, just in case. There are three widths available, and these 37mm wide mudguards are able to accommodate up to a 30mm tire. They looked in proportion when using a 28mm tire and there was a good amount of space to the side of the tire.

The SKS Raceblade Pro XL Stealth Series guards tip the scales at 380 grams, when weighed with the rubber attachment straps. They are compatible with 700c wheels and tire widths of up to 32mm. The front fender provides a coverage of 565mm and the rear 730mm.

BLUEMELS STYLE 28″ 56 SET

As the guards will be going on a bike that is also ridden ‘ sans fender’, the ease of fitting and removal is important, as is the speed and simplicity. We like a guard set to be easy to keep together off the bike. Too many parts to get lost or slide under the fridge are never a good thing. How we test The Bontrager NCS fenders / mudguards come in a range of sizes: from 18-25mm for old school road bikes and all the way up to 35-45mm for trendy new gravel bikes. The set we had on test was right in the middle, designed for 28-35mm 700c tires - which is typical for winter bikes these days. On some disc-brake bikes, it may be necessary to use the supplied spacers and longer bolt to clear the caliper. Fitting the rear mudguard is straightforward too, with options to attach the front to the seat tube or chainstay bridge using reinforcing steel plates. A sliding bridge is fixed to the seatstay bridge, and its tabs bent around the mudguard once in position. They come complete with the usual SKS fittings to attach the rear mudguard at the chainstay bridge, and with a sliding steel bridge to fit to the seatstay bridge.

As long as you don’t try and cram too fat a tire under them they’re rub-free. They may not be quite as rigid as all-aluminium mudguards, but they’re certainly not problematically floppy. A mudguard of this length will also keep those behind you dry as it extends low enough at the rear to stop the spray from your rear tyre going up onto the following rider. The coverage offered by the rear guard will also offer a lot of protection to your drivetrain from the mud and salt on the road, in turn offering easier cleaning and less wear. But that said, you perfectly well attach your own mudflaps to the Bluemels Basic and extend their spray protection that way. It’s simple (and cheap) enough to fashion a set from a few sheets of rubber - and there are even brands which offer funky designs, such as Raw Mudflap. The silver plastic mudguards have two full-length parallel clear slots within them, which can help to show how dirty the underside is, and they also have good-sized flaps at the rear of each one.The SKS Bluemels mudguard set is great for commuters and road cyclists needing protection from dirt and spray. With key parts made from stainless steel the SKS Bluemels are very durable for daily use. I know these conditions would put a lot of people off riding when you could jump on the turbo trainer, but if like me you’re an all-season commuter, then this is what you need. I’m mostly using the 35mm Longboards with 28c Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tires mounted to Mason x Hunt 4Season Disc wheels with a 17mm inner width. Those tires measure about 29mm wide, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable riding anything much bigger than that without going for a wider fender profile. Riding impressions