Mudflaps - Leather or homemade?

[Cudzoziemiec]

A bloke in Leeds has started making mudflaps to your own design for £12 each. Whether that's worth paying rather than making your own out of old milk bottles or whatever is, I guess, just up to you. But if you watched a certain cartoon as a kid, you might start singing: TopFlaps, the most effectual, Top Flaps...

[slohill]

Have used sections cut out of 2 litre plastic milk cartons for years.
Super effective, super light, pre shaped, totally free.
What other choice is there?

[slope]

German Rubber!

Front and back. SKS in 2 sizes

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/sks-long-mudflap-prod25599/

[vantage]

My 2 pennies worth...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00GRMTKU6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

gives you......

THIS!
Front mudflap by William McFadden, on Flickr

Rear mudflap by William McFadden, on Flickr

The patch was also bought from amazon but they seem to no longer flog them. Shame really.
I use a single 6mm roofing bolt to hang them so they swing in a crash/wind rather than tear. Been on there for just over a year.

[zigzag]

German Rubber!

Front and back. SKS in 2 sizes

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/sks-long-mudflap-prod25599/

after recent rides on mucky roads, mudflaps not extending to the floor make very little difference. if i can see your rear tyre i'll get sprayed all over if following you. might just as well save some weight and do without the flaps. to protect riders behind mudflaps should almost touch the floor.

[CAMRAMan]

I've tended to use summat like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Vintage-Leather-Elbow-Knee-Patches/111868641636?_trksid=p2141725.c100338.m3726&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20150313114020%26meid%3Dbf2804b2338145fc918726628f839da1%26pid%3D100338%26rk%3D7%26rkt%3D25%26sd%3D131690705921 as a basis for my flaps

[De Sisti]

Leather & homemade bodge in my case. 

Via cutting out and etching on the work laser-cutter. 



I haven't actually ridden that bike in the wet yet, so no idea how well they work. 

Too short.

[KM]

Have used sections cut out of 2 litre plastic milk cartons for years...

What other choice is there?

Well, since you ask...

http://eastyorkshirectc.org.uk/flaps

If you're too 'time crunched' to DIY:

http://rawcycling.uk/index.html
 
and

http://www.topflaps.co.uk/ for a more customised option (as mentioned up thread)

[Samuel D]

Is anyone able to provide a succinct explanation of why mudflaps (as opposed to longer mudguards) are desirable? Is it something to do with ground clearance and departure angles?

[LEE]

Is anyone able to provide a succinct explanation of why mudflaps (as opposed to longer mudguards) are desirable? Is it something to do with ground clearance and departure angles?

Mudguards long enough to do a proper job (when group-riding) would trap the rear wheel (as they wrapped around, and under the wheel).
A practical mudflap needs to be quite long (longer than most people's mudflaps if I'm being honest).
I see some on Audax rides almost touching the ground.  I think we should all take a few moments to thank those people.

Solid mudguards would also be prone to ground clearance issues (kerbs..etc).

A flexible, dangling, flap does the job without trapping the wheel.  It isn't snagged by kerbs and such like.

[jsabine]

View the mudflap as a mudguard extension ...

You can't buy mudguards that skim the ground, it's easier to DIY a flap than a longer guard, and the flexibility has some advantages - if, say, you clip a rock or a branch, it's less likely to cause the rest of the mudguard to snap off at the mount.

[Cudzoziemiec]

SKS Longboards come almost down to the ground at the front, which has got to be good for your bottom bracket and front mech, not to mention your feet, but they don't seem to be much longer than normal mudguards at the back.

[Cudzoziemiec]

A bloke in Leeds has started making mudflaps to your own design for £12 each. Whether that's worth paying rather than making your own out of old milk bottles or whatever is, I guess, just up to you. But if you watched a certain cartoon as a kid, you might start singing: TopFlaps, the most effectual, Top Flaps...

Forgot to add the link to the article where I saw it: http://road.cc/content/tech-news/176421-topflaps-offer-custom-mudguard-mud-flaps

[hujev]

I have a GB on my touring bike, and just bought 4 more cheap for other bikes ($7 each) on closeout - apparently they've fancified them and the 'new' ones have some fancy rivets of something; the ones I have are hunks of leather with holes in them.

I can't find decent leather around here so just as easy to buy these ($20 for first one a dozen years back but still cheaper than the hassle/time of making a nice one). 

It's a good point above somewhere about leather maybe being less splashy than plastic (even if nonsense, which it may or may not be; that's unimportant).

Plus, why not have nice leather material, like the seat? I wouldn't use brake hoods made from Fairy bottles, so why a mudflap? (see previous parentheses and ignore these)

Only thing is that mine after years of use is sort of 'twisting' a little to one side which while not reducing function occasionally tortures me with its defiant asymmetry...

[slohill]

Have used sections cut out of 2 litre plastic milk cartons for years...

What other choice is there?

Well, since you ask...

http://eastyorkshirectc.org.uk/flaps

Thank you---very impressive.
Pop rivets are the mudguard bodger's friend as they don't have bits that stick out and rip your tyres apart.
On a related subject---mudguards---I now use raceblade longs which have a very useful bracket to go under the narrow clearance brake bridge on a race bike.  I binned all other fittings as they seemed cumbersome and then pop riveted the plastic guards to the bracket and pop riveted old mudguard stay bridges into the guards to allow old stays to be used.  Duck tape goes under the open bits at the rear brake bridge.  Now in use for 2 winters---totally reliable and doing a great job,
.  (ps  they do of course have bespoke mudflaps made from milk cartons rivetted on).

If you're too 'time crunched' to DIY:

http://rawcycling.uk/index.html
 
and

http://www.topflaps.co.uk/ for a more customised option (as mentioned up thread)

[Dickyelsdon]

Why you need long flaps 


https://twitter.com/jeffwerner/status/406952019107131392

[Polar Bear]

Has anyone mentioned the damp course membrane stuff?

Super light, cheap, easily cut-up, flexible enough to avoid breakages. Looks terrible - but nowhere near as bad as cut-up bottles!

I just happen to have a 30m roll of 112.5mm wide dpc membrane.   I was thinking that I could cut out a flap shape.   i wonder if it will attach using evo stik contact adhesive which is supposed to work on non-porous surfaces and be waterproof...

[Feline]

You can actually buy mudguards that are long enough to not need any additions. We've recently upgraded to these from crappy SKS ones that keep cracking after seeing Cyclofabrica's set at PBP
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/portland-design-works-full-metal-fenders-set-30mm-9719-p.asp

Unfortunately not cheap- but should outlast 2 sets of SKS and then pay for themselves ...

[jsabine]

Has anyone mentioned the damp course membrane stuff?

Super light, cheap, easily cut-up, flexible enough to avoid breakages. Looks terrible - but nowhere near as bad as cut-up bottles!

I just happen to have a 30m roll of 112.5mm wide dpc membrane.   I was thinking that I could cut out a flap shape.   i wonder if it will attach using evo stik contact adhesive which is supposed to work on non-porous surfaces and be waterproof...

If it's the lightweight DPC roll, it's too light.

I tried it, spent several rides trying to convince myself it was working just fine (while ignoring other riders' abusiveamusing remarks about it flapping in the breeze behind me), then finally gave up on it after LWaB spent (what felt like) a substantial portion¹ of the 2014 Windsor-Chester-Windsor trying to break it off with his front wheel.

I'm now using a bit cut out of a document folder.

No idea about Evostik - I used rivets.






1: Maybe as much as ten minutes.

[zigzag]

You can actually buy mudguards that are long enough to not need any additions. We've recently upgraded to these from crappy SKS ones that keep cracking after seeing Cyclofabrica's set at PBP
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/portland-design-works-full-metal-fenders-set-30mm-9719-p.asp

Unfortunately not cheap- but should outlast 2 sets of SKS and then pay for themselves ...

to protect the riders behind, mudflaps should almost touch the floor. these pdw mudguards would benefit from a mudflap just as any other "proper" mudguard on the market.

[andrew_s]

A strip from a pound shop rubber mat, and a piece of very heavy duty rubber scavenged from the roadside

[Fab Foodie]

Long Ass-Saver type things are currently on sale for 50p in Decathlon.  Look perfect for a bit of scissor work!

[mmmmartin]

a black flower pot with a 14 inch or thereabout diameter at the top can be cut with scissors. A piece of reflective strip can be glued thereon. It looks ghastly, in the true spirit of audax, but shines like a demon and stops water being thrown up.
hackney hipsters it will not please, obvs, unless they are drafting you on an audax, obvs.....

[zigzag]

it's that time of the year! not finding anything suitable on the market, made a mudflap myself. 10cm wide, 6cm off the ground, our club colours and a reflective dot. attached with super strong double sided tape (no fugly bolts or rivets ). works great!

[Brucey]

trucks sometimes use spray guards that are (I think) made of low density EPDM rubber.  This is very light for its thickness (about 1.5mm, so light that it floats I think) and because it is so thick, it is stiff enough to make a long bicycle mudflap, even if it is cut to be not too wide.  PP ( ass savers) and certain grades of HDPE are also good materials, but because they are higher density they tend to make thinner and flappier mudflaps than the EPDM ones.

There are no mudguards on sale that are really long enough to use without mudflaps, and if they were, the guards would get pranged in no time.

cheers