"The most difficult component of a randonneur bike are fenders." (magazine)

[Cudzoziemiec]

An article about What Makes a Good Randonneur Bike?

Has some idiosyncrasies and strange recommendations such as mounting rear lights under the chainstay as well as generalities and other details. The author obviously loves old-style French bikes and there are some attractive photos.

[padrig]

Fitting mudguards is the most technically challenging aspect of bike maintenance, in my view.

[marcusjb]

Fitting mudguards is the most technically challenging aspect of bike maintenance, in my view.

And making sure they stay fitted in my experience!

(impatiently awaiting a new bolt for mine from sjs)

[vorsprung]

Jan Heine and me aren't often in agreement.  I have some funny ideas and so does he.  They don't often coincide.
 
But I agree about the mudguards thing

[mrcharly-YHT]

Fitting mudguards is the most technically challenging aspect of bike maintenance, in my view.

I'd rather fit mudguards than adjust cup & cone bearings. While wheel building is quite enjoyable, it's more challenging than than fitting fenders.

[GrahamG]

Usual American crap that infers you need to BUY something specifically designed for some sort of special niche bike riding. God forbid you should just get a bike that fits well and rides nice so you can have fun riding it. They must have some sort of fit every time they come over to ride PBP and see... *gasp* 'normal' bikes.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Oh they do. Read bikeforums.net

Best quote ever "Wait til I tell my mates I was beaten up the hills by some bearded brit wearing sandals and riding a steel bike."

[Wowbagger]

Mudguards are a fiddly pain in the arse, but there's no fear factor compared, say, to removing the sprocket from a Rohloff hub.

Anything involving threads tapped into the frame, especially something one doesn't attack very often, are psychologically much more difficult.

[TimO]

Putting the lights under the chainguard seems like a bad idea, it's going to get covered in crap from the road, and likely isn't positioned legally in the UK ("... between 350mm and 1500mm from the ground ...").  I'd guess it's not the best position from a visibility point of view either (hence the likely basis for that legislation).

There's a lot to be said for a rear rack, simply because it often provides a nice solid mounting point for lights (and many racks have specific fitting to aid this).  If you're using a rack bag, then mounting the rear light on the rack is a bit of a no-brainer.

I've got a Cateye light clamped to my Bagman on Red, which works pretty well

[rogerzilla]

Putting the lights under the chainguard seems like a bad idea, it's going to get covered in crap from the road, and likely isn't positioned legally in the UK ("... between 350mm and 1500mm from the ground ...").

Brompton rear lights must be pretty marginal.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've just measured my chainstays. A light underneath them would definitely be illegal (in the UK) and one on top of them is likely to be as well, depending exactly where it is. But even if the stays were high enough up to be legal, any light underneath them would still be pretty poorly visible simply because it's got something solid on top of it. And a wheel to one side and it's going to get covered in road grime. So I find it quite bizarre that both Heine and some French constructors like them.

Mudguard stays might be ok for position - if they were strong enough!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Jan Heine and me aren't often in agreement.  I have some funny ideas and so does he.  They don't often coincide.
 
But I agree about the mudguards thing

It's funny how steel mudguards became deeply untrendy because they were too heavy, and now we've made frames and other components lighter, they're coming back into fashion! Though actually I doubt they're that much heavier than plastic ones, especially when you consider you can usually fasten them with only one pair of stays.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

French metal mudguards have really close clearances (no mud) and no QR fittings on the front (no sticks). French roads tend to be better than British ones. Do you think that is just coincidental?