Fender evolution: SKS Speedrocker review

If you’ve followed my ramblings for any significant length of time, you know that I’m a big advocate for fenders (mudguards) on bicycles – especially the full-coverage kind that mount to your bike via metal stays and bolts – as they are the single biggest improvement you can make to a bicycle to make it an all-weather vehicle. I actively sought out fender mounts while shopping for my bike Hyro almost ten years ago, and way before they were embraced by the local hipster cycling crowd, I was privately importing the things from overseas because there was a rat’s chance in hell of buying them locally in 2014.

That said, the landscape has changed, and nowadays there are fender sets that cater towards bikes that have a distinct lack of threaded holes for bolting stuff to (which is a trend I dislike, but I digress). Having run my 53 mm SKS Bluemels for a good long while, I decided to shake things up in a couple of ways – firstly, by mounting Panaracer’s 38 mm Gravel King SKs, and secondly, by pairing them with SKS’ Speedrocker fender set.

FEATURES

• Meant for disc-brake road, cyclocross, and gravel bikes with 700C wheels and tires
• Quick to install and remove via straps
• Maximum tire width supported: 700C x 42 mm
• Front fender length: 500 + 210 mm
• Rear fender length: 950 mm
• Compatible with the Speedrocker Extension add-on
• Weight: 408 g (claimed)
• Price: PhP3,300 from Bikeary Bicycle Lifestyle

IMPRESSIONS

Scissors not included.

Before we begin, I think SKS has done a bang-up job with the packaging of the Speedrockers. It’s just two big pieces of cardboard, creatively cut and folded up, with a single plastic bag for the fixing hardware, some office-grade staples, and two large zip ties to secure the actual fenders themselves. That’s it.

The Speedrockers pride themselves as a fender set you can simply strap onto your bike, without having to mess around with cutting metal stays or needing threaded bosses on your frame and fork to mount them with. SKS has had similar “quick-release” fender sets in the past, but these have been tweaked into their ultimate iteration on the concept, and I find it fascinating how they arrived at this design while benchmarking their traditional full-coverage fender models for performance.

Looking at the rear of the packaging gives a few hints. The Speedrocker fenders have their own stays built in. One set is integrated into the same impact-resistant plastic of the fenders. The other set are one-piece U-shaped aluminum stays that run through the fenders themselves. Both sets terminate into angle-adjustable plastic fittings with angled nail-like nubs, which you work the supplied rubber grommets over. These are what contact the frame and fork, held by two types of straps.

These plastic fittings are ingeniously designed. Not only do they mount the rubber grommets that contact frame and fork, they also route the straps.

Improving on their previous Raceblade clip-on fender design for road bikes, the Speedrocker front fender comes in two parts, one for both sides of the fork crown. With the front piece, they’ve accounted for the road muck that a cyclist’s face can pick up once riding past 20 km/h on a wet road. These two “halves” of the front fender are then lashed to the fork legs via a single common Velcro strap, which is plenty long and has a rubberized backing on one side to protect from scratches. SKS even throws in some clear frame protection stickers, should you wish even more scratch protection.

The Velcro straps are pretty long; I folded them over to manage the extra length without having to cut them.

The aluminum rear stay is then free to rotate within the fender, accommodating any mounting angle the rubber grommets will make with the lower fork leg, as they are strapped down with another pair of rubber-backed Velcro straps. A closer look at these stays reveals that they use a similar mechanism to those of SKS’ full-length fender sets, which should enable automatic release if a sufficiently large object gets wedged between fender and tire. Lastly, the stays can move in and out a certain amount by loosening a 2.5 mm hex bolt. SKS recommends snipping these if you’re running them on a bike with narrower tires.

Mounting the fenders with this embossed “TOP” label facing down will disable the automatic safety release.

The rear fender mounts up to the frame in a similar way, with four rubber grommets contacting the seat stays. One difference is that the straps back here no longer use Velcro. Instead, they’re made of a stretchy rubbery plastic with two rows of holes, slotting into tongues in the plastic fittings like how a belt buckle works.

Securing the rear fender to the seat tube is quite clever. There is a sliding projection which you can extend from the rear fender until it makes contact with the frame’s seat tube – it’s even scalloped for a better fit. You then thread the remaining rubber-backed Velcro strap through its two holes and strap it down against the seat tube. This is an elegant solution to a perennial problem I’ve had with Hyro’s full-length fender sets, as the TCX frame doesn’t have a chainstay bridge or some other way of bolting down the forward edge of the rear fender. In practice, my solution was to simply never remove the rear fender; by contrast, this arrangement makes rear fender removal dead easy.

All of Hyro’s full-coverage fenders have had to use this arrangement of zip ties to secure the front edge of the rear fender. It works, but is basically a permanent fixture, and the zip ties eat through unprotected paint after a while.

The Speedrocker rear fender simplifies securing of its forward edge massively.

SKS recommends a 15 mm gap between fender and tire tread for best results, and they “enforce” this by having a flat square area on the inside of the fender to serve as a crude go/no-go feeler gauge. I’ve gotten the Speedrockers to fit about as close to the tire tread as my old sets of Longboards and Bluemels, which should avoid them acting like air brakes or drag parachutes while riding at high speed.

While the 950 mm Speedrocker rear fender isn’t quite as long as my Bluemels’ 1285, the Speedrocker Extension exists for folks who want better, more paceline-friendly coverage out back. This add-on hooks into the rear fender’s aluminum stay, bringing 170 mm of length for a not-too-shabby 36 g weight penalty.

The result is a pair of quick-release fenders that look pretty good and promise most of the coverage of a full-length set. Measuring 46 mm wide on my vernier calipers, they certainly seem to fit pretty well over the 38 mm Gravel King SKs, with little extraneous material. What’s even more impressive is how easily and quickly I got these to fit on Hyro’s frame. With the cutting of fender stays and threading of eye bolts eliminated, installing the Speedrockers is vastly simplified, taking me only 75 minutes and a single 2.5 mm hex key to complete. Subsequent dismounting and remounting will be even faster and tool-free.

IN USE

As far as fenders went, I already had a perfectly good set of SKS Bluemels. So why did I get the Speedrockers?

Hyro’s Bluemels front fender is shown here dismounted and lying on its side on the lower left.

Loading bikes into my cars using the Minoura Vergo-TF2 rack, I had to remove any front fenders to avoid them fouling and crumpling on the load floor. This meant having to bring a 4 mm hex key, or a cordless drill with 4 mm hex bit, to remove the bolts holding it fast to the fork, plus spacers to clear the disc brake caliper and rubber washers to dampen fender-cracking vibration. This got old pretty quickly. The Speedrockers make this process tool-free, while having a smaller footprint in the process, as there are no conventional metal fender stays to contend with. This all contributes to at least a 230 g weight saving over the 53 mm Bluemels set.

Second, they are much easier to fit onto multiple similar bikes without modification, especially if you don’t cut any of the straps or stays. Installing a full-length fender set to a bike usually means that that set is made to fit that one particular bike, unless you buy yourself another set of fender stays and repeat the measuring and cutting process. In a sense, the Speedrocker set is quite a bit more future-proof.

Lastly, as much as I loved my full-length fender sets, I think I pigeonholed Hyro and myself into pure road cyclist mode by running them. Since the TCX frame lacked a chainstay bridge, or any provision around the seat tube for easy mounting and dismounting of a full-length rear fender, I ended up running full-length fenders permanently because I practically had to. On a bike whose primary virtue was versatility, this was a glaring weakness.

The SKS Speedrocker fender set solves all of these aforementioned problems – quite well, I might add. Riding around with them mounted, they are surprisingly solid and rattle-free, which is no small feat for what would have been mocked as merely a “temporary” fender set in years past. There isn’t even any tire rub to report, save for tight steering situations at very low speeds, where toe overlap sees one of your shoes catch on the back edge of the front fender…which will then induce rub on the front tire tread. That will happen on even the Bluemels fenders too, though, so it’s a total non-issue.

VERDICT

Given the unexpectedly bold branding, SKS are obviously quite proud of this set.

I was expecting the Speedrockers to be a disappointing, heavily compromised step backward from the Bluemels. That simply isn’t the case. Sure, the set gives up some ultimate protection against road muck, especially in terms of length and lower headset bearing coverage, but it’s still miles better than an Ass Saver while being about as easy to mount and dismount.

The Speedrockers also free you from requiring fender bosses on your frame, while delivering practically all the benefit of a full-length fender set. With more and more bike makers stubbornly refusing to make a few threaded holes on their frames for whatever ridiculous reason is in vogue at the moment, these are one of the much better options to add all-weather capability to your ride. Those of us who desire more coverage up front can modify them to fit a mudflap, while friends of the paceline can avail of the Speedrocker Extension for added length at the rear.

The best thing I can say is the Speedrocker set brings back the versatile character of the TCX chassis that I championed to begin with, and frees it up for more adventurous off-pavement riding scenarios such as gravel and dirt routes. Recommended.

Living with Livi: SKS Bluemels Reflective 45 mm fenders

I’m a big proponent of running full-length fenders on bikes if they can accept them, and my wife’s Liv Alight frame and fork comes with threaded fender bosses for this purpose. With Bikeary Bicycle Lifestyle not having any stocks of fenders for months now, I went the private import route again. This time, I got the reflective version of SKS’ venerable Bluemels.

While slightly narrower at 45 mm, this particular set of Bluemels is largely the same as the 53 mm pair on my TCX, with a few changes. The most notable ones are the shiny finish and reflective piping running along these fenders’ length, which is a nice touch. It’s similar to the reflective sidewalls on my folding bike’s Schwalbe Marathon Racer tires.

Shiny.

The rear fender also gets this retro-styled red reflector. I’m not a fan of reflectors in general, but this one is just neat, and blends in perfectly with the set.

The only place the Alight frame needed zip ties for fender mounting was on the seat stay bridge. The holes are perpendicular to each other, so a bolt can’t get through. Ah well.

The chainstay-mounted kickstand/fender mounting plate makes this an easy, rigid connection.

Installing and adjusting the Bluemels on the Alight frame is made so much easier with the Feedback Sports workstand and my Park Tool DH-1 dummy hub. Initial install of the stays, and screwing down the rear fender to the chainstay-mounted fender/kickstand plate, is made simpler when you don’t have to contend with the bulk of a rear wheel or spokes getting in the way.

Once the rear fender and stays are in place, the rear wheel can be brought back in for fine-tuning the fit. As usual, you want the fender as close as possible to the wheel and tire without rubbing, so that it can maximize containment of any water the tires pick up. After dialing in the fit, there’s barely any cutting needed on these stays.

I wish the front fender could go a little lower. The fender-to-tire gap is a little big.

Moving to the front yields another improvement on the build kit. SKS now provides you a handful of 5 mm plastic spacers, which you can use to push the stays outward for clearance purposes. On the Alight, they came in handy for the fork, as the dropout-mounted fender bosses are set slightly inboard. I use a similar metal spacer for the fenders on the TCX to help clear the disc brake caliper, but that one was given to me by a bike shop.

I’d like an alternative solution here. Disassembly will require two tools and a lot of parts.

Fitting front fender to the fork crown yielded a slight surprise. Unlike with the TCX’s fork, the Alight’s fork crown doesn’t have threads; it’s just a simple pair of holes that goes clean through. This means disassembly and reassembly of the front fender for transport purposes is a little more involved, and there are more parts to keep track of (a longer bolt, a nylock nut, a washer, and a plastic spacer) and potentially lose. I might be able to replace the nylock nut with a thumb nut or wingnut so less tools are required.

At least there was zero cutting needed on these stays at all – the plastic caps going over eye bolts and excess fender stays easily.

This front edge cut isn’t quite symmetrical.

My wife is a fair-weather cyclist at most, so fenders like these perhaps are a little overkill. However, Philippine roads just sprout puddles and standing water out of nowhere sometimes, and that’s still protection against any dirty road water and muck that the Alight’s tires might kick up. Truth be told, this fender set looks pretty damn good.

A tale of two mudguards: Longboards vs Bluemels

Hyro, my TCX, is perhaps most famous on social media as one of the bikes that introduced full-length fenders into the consciousness of the Filipino riding public. Many of the questions I get revolve around the SKS P45 Longboards he runs and where I got them.

SKS P45 Longboards mounted on Hyro.

As great as they are, and as fantastic as their coverage is, they are not perfect. I’ve written about how their sheer size works against them and their plastic-with-aluminum construction in a number of ways. In my experience, they are very susceptible to skewing and twisting along their length, the stays combating the torsion by only a certain amount. Additionally, the vibrations from riding on our not-so-smooth roads have contributed to their cracking crosswise, which is why I’ve had two sets of these so far, and now run rubber washers on the mount points as a mitigating measure.

One of my custom mods was to add rubber washers on the central mount points of each fender, to dampen road vibrations and mitigate cracking. It’s helped.

Note that the fenders SKS makes as standard equipment on some Dahon and Tern bikes have the same construction; however, the much smaller 20″ (406 mm) wheel diameter they are made for means they can keep their shape and integrity better. I’ve never had issues with Bino’s fenders, much less needed to replace them.

Unfortunately, my second set of Longboards developed cracks earlier than before, the damage held at bay by duct tape. I was mulling over the cost of another set plus shipping fees…when I chanced across Bike-ary Bicycle Lifestyle on Facebook and their pre-order announcement of some SKS fenders, referred to by the article number “10434” and pegged at PhP2,000 a set. Bike-ary is a small-batch importer of more obscure bike accessories and other “contraband,” gaining popularity due to the growing bikepacking and bicycle touring movement.

As it turns out, “10434” is the article number for SKS’ 53 mm Bluemels fender set in matte finish – a full 8 mm wider than the 45 mm Longboards I run. I immediately had concerns about fitment on Hyro.

Above, without stays, are the Bluemels. Below, with stays, are the Longboards patched-up with some duct tape.

Front fenders. Bluemel on the left, Longboard on the right.

Fitment of the 45 mm Longboard front fender under the fork. Note that it skews to one side – I was never able to fix that.

Fitment of the 53 mm Bluemel front fender under the fork.

Fortunately for Hyro, his fork and frame fit the Bluemels snugly and nicely, which actually break 60 mm when measured across the top.

Test fit. Impressive that they keep their static shape even without the stays.

Examination of the Bluemels themselves reveals a much beefier construction. I actually tried bending these crosswise, thinking it might be needed to fit them into the TCX frame and fork. They feel solid and resistant to twisting in a way the Longboards could only dream of. The packaging seems to imply that this time around, SKS has used more aluminum – and slightly more weight.

This being my third SKS fender set on the same bike, I already knew the vagaries of installation and what to expect from the hardware…but met some pleasant surprises.

I hooked up the rear fender first. SKS replaced the metal sliding bridge with one made out of more snug-fitting plastic, very similar to Planet Bike’s design. The sliding bridge also has two small loops on the top that can be used to run zip-ties to, allowing bikes with no seat stay bridge to mount the rear fender directly to their seat stays. Up at the chain stay junction, I used zip ties to fasten the front edge of the rear fender as before.

SKS Secu-Clip for front fender.

SKS ASR-Plug for front fender.

Up front, SKS changed the previous Secu-Clip design with an ASR-Plug. Both devices are safety mechanisms, designed to release the front fender to prevent any large debris from getting stuck, locking up the front wheel and causing an accident. The Secu-Clip was a large plastic tab on the fork that served as a “clip” that the front fender stays plugged into. The ASR-Plug reverses this concept: what mounts onto the fork is the plug, and the stays themselves have the socket. The whole thing slims down in the process.

Bending of the stays and a 3 mm spacer needed to clear the TRP Spyre front disc brake caliper. If your bike has BB5s or BB7s, you will need to make more room.

The end caps are a new design, turning the nuts on the eye bolts into captive nuts. A bit more work on initial install, but better for security.

Install complete. The matte finish looks brilliant and there’s no visible gap between fenders and tires.

Full-length fenders can be tricky to deal with, but I was impressed with how smoothly the install went with the Bluemels. They have the same marvelously large rubber mudflaps the Longboards came with. One difference is the shorter forward projection and 20 cm shorter overall length on the front fender, perhaps indicating slightly less protection from a mouthful of dirty, muddy street water…but that’s still better than nothing.

Arguably, the best thing about this particular fender set is that it’s available locally without having to resort to the expense of private importing or a cargo forwarder. The Bluemels also come in other widths, all the way down to 25 mm, so if these 53 mm units are too much for your frame, you’ve still got options, although you may have to bring them in yourself.