Matt Page Blog: Crud Roadracer Review
I’ve been a fan of Crud products for many years and use the Crud Front Mudguard on my Focus First, so when Crud released the Roadracer version I was eager to try it out on my Kiron. Like most people I would rather stay dry if possible, so I use mudguards most of the year and tend to keep them on unless there is a prolonged dry spell.
Fitting is fairly straight forward, but even so I would set aside up to an hour to get them right and wouldn’t attempt to fit them if you are in a hurry. The instructions provided are good, but as every bike is different a few tweaks might be needed. Crud suggest that they will fit 700×23c or 700×25c tyres, although fitting them to the Kiron with the 25c Schwalbe Ultremo DD tyres I have is very tight and I had to remove the small extension piece on the rear guard, but this does not affect how they work in the wet. Once fitted the mudguards look great and far nicer to look at than anything else available.
In use the mudguards are stable and work very well. They offer more coverage and fit better than other add-on mudguard kits but fall short of fully fitted guards, but that is to be expected. They also stay put you you don’t have to keep moving them back in place. They are not quite flawless as any flex in the wheels or frame can lead to the guards rubbing on the tyre. With a bit more tweaking I am sure they will work without rubbing at all. Even so it is only very slight and only under power and this could be just because of my particular frame/wheel/tyre combo. If you were using a 23c tyre I think it would be fine.
The roadracers are a definite improvement on other add-on mudguards and I would certainly recommend them, but buy with caution if you have 25c tyres as depending on your particular combination you may experience a small amount of rubbing against the tyre.