Mudguards (or fenders to our north American cousins) on gravel bikes can be somewhat of a polarising topic. Some riders hate them with a passion, some go for a compromise and fit plastic ‘clip-on’ types and some go the whole hog and fit ‘proper’ metal full coverage versions. With the onset of autumn in the northern hemisphere, keeping yourself dry and splatter-free suddenly seems much more important, so we’ve been trying out the Rolls Royce of mudguards – PDW Full Metal Fenders. Read on to find out what we thought of them.
Video courtesy of Graham Hatt
The old adage about a picture is worth a thousand words has probably been superseded by video in the last few years and in this case it’s never been more true. In 17 seconds, this video captures exactly why Portland Design Works Fenders are held in such high esteem. It was filmed on a typical UK autumn gravel ride where overnight rain had saturated the ground and then a heavy early afternoon shower soon created a lot of standing water. The PDW Full Metal Fenders did an incredible job of directing the water away from the rider and back onto the road. Sure, a small amount was still generated as spray, but for the rider (and for anyone riding nearby) having the PDW mudguards fitted created a much more pleasant riding experience.
Image courtesy of Graham Hatt
The city of Portland, Oregon (where PDW are based) receives on average 153 days of rain each year. While that isn’t record-breakingly wet, in a city famous for its cycling culture, PDW’s products are designed to allow cyclists to ride in all weather conditions and remain as comfortable as possible. PDW make a huge range of cycling-related products – everything from bells to lights to racks, but we’re focusing on their Full Metal Fenders in a 700x55mm width fitting. Ignoring the wallet-puckeringly expensive custom made carbon fibre or titanium mudguards that you can find in some of the deepest recesses of the internet, PDW’s Full Metal Fenders (FMFs) are arguably the finest you can buy off-the-shelf. They are a significant investment (the retail price is US$155/£125/€133), but they are the perfect example of ‘buy well, buy once’ product with every part replaceable and spares widely available. PDW are so confident of the quality of their FMFs that they come with a lifetime guarantee.
In order to get the most from a set of FMFs, your gravel bike needs to be fitted with mudguard mounting points on the frame and forks. Some really high end gravel race bikes don’t come with this, but plenty of manufacturers include mounting points and for real mudguard aficionados it’s one of the must-have features when buying a new bike/frameset. You can buy bolt-on mudguard clamps for frames/forks without built-in mounts, but it adds a layer of complexity and will require more wrangling to get the FMFs to fit properly. Even if your bike does come with the necessary eyelets, the first time you fit the FMFs you should allow a couple of hours to do the job properly. You could probably do it faster, but the benefit of taking your home and being meticulous with the fit is that you’ll get a rattle-free riding experience afterwards (and they will look ‘just right’ too). PDW have some incredibly comprehensive resources available to aid the fitting process and the good news is that once you have everything tailored to fit your bike, subsequent fittings (assuming you remove them for the drier months of the year) will be significantly quicker/easier.
As well as comprehensive on-line resources, the FMFs come with a beautifully crafted printed manual. Each stage of the fitting process is clearly laid out and well described. Definitely worth reading before you start fitting them to your pride and joy.
The thing that is immediately obvious with PDW FMFs is just how well they fit and how great they look. If you take your time with the fit process, the finished product almost blends into the bike and disappears from view. On the bike featured here I’m running 700x45mm tyres and the 700x55mm versions of the FMFs, which gives a clearance of around 10mm in total. FMFs come in a range of sizes from 700x37 up to 700x55. PDW also offer them in appropriate sizes for 20", 650B and 29”wheels. Included in the box is everything you will need to mount the mudguards onto your bike, including all the necessary bolts, washers, spacers etc. Also included is a set of front/rear specific polypropylene mudflaps. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I haven’t got them fitted in some of the images above – the reason being two-fold – firstly the bike in the photos is used 99% away-from-the-road and the supplied mudflaps are pretty long and would likely catch when riding over trail obstacles like fallen tree branches etc. The second reason is that I’m not a massive fan of how they look! They do make a significant difference to spray reduction though, so after a few initial test rides, I fitted a set of PDW’s rubber mudflaps instead which I had used in the past and really rated. They are a little shorter and more flexible than the included polypropylene set and so in my view are more suited to off-road riding.
It's the attention to detail that sets PDW mudguards apart from the (cheaper) competition. At every touch point between the mudguard blade and the stays, PDW provide an “anti-rattle” sticker made of thick ‘helitape’ material. All the bolts come with a thin smear of threadlock already applied. All the mounting hardware is stainless steel which resists rust and will stay looking like new significantly longer. All the stays come with ‘safety release’ tabs which are designed to disconnect in the event of some significant obstruction trying to wedge itself between your tyre and the mudguard. The graphics are laser printed not stick-on. It’s all the little things that add up.
Once fitted, what is the ride experience like? We’re fans of plastic clip on mudguards for their speed of fitting and flexibility, but once you’ve ridden with ‘proper’ mudguards, you won’t want to go back! The coverage that the FMFs offer is incredible and this applies not only to the user, but to your ride-buddies too. Clip on mudguards do a decent job of keeping your arse dry, but the amount of backwards and sideways spray that they create is certainly not group ride friendly! FMFs on the other hand keep you and you ride buddies as dry as possible. As well as keeping the rider dry/clean, it was noticeable how much cleaner my drivetrain was at the end of the ride – the FMFs deflect so much muck and spray back down to the ground that significantly less is flung onto your bike. This reduces the pain of post-ride bike washing and also hopefully helps prolong the lifespan of your drivetrain too.
Images courtesy of Abby Holder
If you’ve taken your time with the fit process you should also have a completely silent ride experience. The FMFs are properly sturdy and the combination of rigid aluminium blades, double stays at the rear and well-designed mounts mean there is zero unwanted movement. During the test period I deliberately took my FMF equipped gravel bike up and down some decidedly not-really-suitable-for-gravel-bike type trails to see how they fared. I expected some audible complaints, sideways movement or bolts shaking loose, but not a bit of it – the FMFs performed flawlessly. I have regularly checked the tightness of all the bolts, but after the initial bedding-in period they have remained impressively snug with no further adjustments needed.
The only downside with the FMFs is that toe-overlap with the front wheel has been noticeable. To be fair, this is 100% not the fault of the FMFs themselves – it’s down to the geometry of my bike, where the front centre is relatively short. While this gives the bike more responsive handling and makes tight, twisty trails a joy to the ride, you do have to always have in the back of your mind the risk of catching the front of your leading foot on the mudguard. Bikes with more progressive geometry (generally characterised by long top tubes combined with a short stem) will not have any issue.
With the unfortunate prospect of many months of cold, wet weather ahead of us, fitting a set of FMFs to your gravel bike is one of the finest upgrades you can make. Both you and your bike will remain significantly cleaner and drier in all but the most monsoon-like weather conditions. Of course, the FMFs won’t stop you getting coated in crud from your ride buddies who aren’t using them, but hopefully they will be inspired by your trendsetting and get themselves a set too…….
The retail price of a set of Portland Design Works Full Metal Fenders is US$155/£125/€133 and you can buy them from your local bike shop or direct from the manufacturer. You can find all the details on the PDW website.