Comments on: First Impression: SKS Commuter Full Fenders

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:39:36 +0000

Noah,

Glad to hear that you’ve been pleased with the Cascadias. Thanks for the info about the brake stay issue, helps out if I run into the same problem. I’ve got a few bike shops in my area so now I just got to find out who has them, preferable anyway over having to wait on them from being ordered!

By: Noah

Noah — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:00:39 +0000

Yeah, I got Cascadias put on my road bike a while ago. The rear brake stay is pretty close to the tire, so the included brake stay bracket was useless. It was forcing the fender to rub on the rear tire. I drilled four small holes in the fender and used zip ties to hold it to the brake stay. I’ve had cascadias on for several months now. They’re definitely the superior option.

By: Doug

Doug — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:03:12 +0000

Noah,

Not for this to sound bad but I’m glad I’m not the only one that has a rack that mounted at an angle to the back. I bought a ’08 Scott SUB 20 while I was stationed in South Korea for a year and had a rack from that area on there and it sat level but is heavy. When I got my bike back in my shipment I mounted my rack I had on another bike and it did the angle thing. I’ll have to get a picture of it with the current rack on it and post here. Haven’t put any panniers on there yet but hope it will look better when I do like you mentioned it does for your bike. Have you got the Planet Bike Cascadia fenders yet? I’m thinking of trying them for my bike and just wondering how they do.

By: Cafn8

Cafn8 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:44:24 +0000

I’ll admit that I’m not riding the miles that Noah rides, but I think most fender abuse happens at the beginning and end of a trip, or while parked. After about 6 months of use, about 3 or 4 times per week my Freddy Fenders are doing well. If you’re considering a set, I suggest the style with 2 pairs of struts per fender. Mine have only one, and don’t follow the line of the tire as well as I’d like, but that’s mostly cosmetic, and could probably even be fixed with a little more setup effort on my part.

By: Noah

Noah — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:13:50 +0000

Well, I haven’t used the Freddy Fenders yet, so I can’t recommend them. I can say I probably won’t buy another set of plastic fenders from SKS again, though. Even though these were aluminum-core, they still cracked.

I have patched them up just enough to get me to Winter commuting season. Then, I’ll switch over to my Mountain Bike. Next year, I’ll probably pick up a new set of fenders for the road bike. I still haven’t got my mind set on a specific model, though.

By: Daley

Daley — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:59:54 +0000

So…are you recommending the Freddy Fenders over the SKS?

By: Noah

Noah — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:15:36 +0000

Yes, certain kinds of high-durability polycarbonates make up “bulletproof glass”, aircraft windshields, “unbreakable” Nalgene bottles, and the “Will it blend” Blendtec Blender jars… among other things. Lexan is one trademark name used.

I’m pretty sure I’ll have better luck with a set of high-quality polycarbonate fenders.

By: Cafn8

Cafn8 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:06:16 +0000

As I understand it, the Planet Bike fenders are Polycarbonate, which is very tough stuff. During my optical lab days I once took a hammer and vice to a polycarbonate lens for some, uh, product testing. I was not able to crack it by hitting it or bending it.

Anyway, I’ve been riding with a set of Planet Bike “Freddy Fenders” since this spring and have caught the rear one on door frames, steps and various basement stuff and kicked the front one numerous times due to my size 13 toe overlap and have had no issues.

By: Noah

Noah — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:43:57 +0000

By the way, for all who commented… the rear fender broke in half last month and I patched it up with some epoxy. Today, it had broken in 2 more places, one all the way through (again) and another crack was about to meet a similar fate.

I abandoned the rear fender. I am on the lookout for something new. If I had cash in hand today I’d probably go for the Planet Bike Cascadia.

And if you’re keeping track, the rear fender lasted a little more than 6 months. I’d been splitting the miles between this bike and my hybrid (before my hybrid got stolen) but these fenders only had about 2,000 miles on them before breaking the first time last month.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:05:53 +0000

No rack on the Roubaix, nor anyplace to mount any. The Roubaix is my fun go fast bike.

The Trek had a rear rack. I don’t think I ever put panniers on it but I used it for plenty of hauling, including towing a kid trailer and a trailer bike. There was some winter commuting through snow and ice with this bike as well (which is why I know 32mm tires won’t fit).