Crud Roadracer Mk3 Mudguard

The Crud Roadracer Mk3 Mudguard makes keeping your bum and bike dry easy.

Mudguards, they’re not cool, but by golly they make a difference on mucky roads! They keep you and your bike clean, as well as anyone riding behind you. There’s nothing worse than riding in a group on wet country roads where not everyone has mudguards. However they can be a bit of a faff when it comes to fitting them, which is where Crud’s Roadracer Mk3 comes in.

Mr Crud’s story

Crud started making various types of mudguards back in 1991 when he wanted something nicer than a cut-down bottle for his Mtb. Since then Crud have gone on to produce a variety of crud deflecting products, but it wasn’t until 2009 that they turned to the road. The Roadracer approached mudguard design and how to fix them in a novel way. While they still had stays, there were no bolts. Zip-ties held the guard in place while nylon brushes kept the mudguards from rattling.

I had a set and found them light and rattle free, they could also be taken on and off quickly. Which was great for when the weather changed, or you had to stick your bike in the rear of a car after a breakdown! Now Crud has produced the Roadracer Mk3, an evolution of the original

Roadracer Mk3

This new version has done away with the stays and replaced them with struts that are part of the guard. These are attached with strips of Duotec; think big velcro! You get one strip that you attach to your frame while the other is on the inside of the mudguard. Once you’ve got your Roadracer Mk3 in position, you press them together et voila! Removing them looks easy as there are extended tabs on the struts that will allow you to remove them. Taking the strips off your frame shouldn’t affect your paintwork say Crud, but if you are worried apply some gentle heat beforehand. This will soften the glue and make it easier to remove.

The main body of the mudguard isn’t front or rear specific, you can use either. The parts that make them front or rear clip on, and are secured with a small plastic nut and bolt. The front has a long skinny extension that goes under your fork. This stops spray flying off the top of your wheel and covering you and your bike. The rear uses the same fixing point, but this extension goes down to the top of your bottom bracket. A nice touch here is that the drive-side wraps around your wheel, protecting your front-mech and chain.

Some details

The instructions are printed on the inside of the box and look very simple. The original Roadracers were easy to fit and the Roadracer Mk3 version looks even easier. Crud say they will fit all 700c bikes – as long as you have 4mm clearance – whether they’re disc or calliper brakes. No tools are needed to fit them and tyres up 38mm will fit. Weigh is 260 grammes for a pair and you can get spares from the Crud website should you need them. We took a look at mudguards for bikes with disc-brakes recently and featured the Roadracer Mk3 in that article. I’ll be fitting these to my winter bike and will let you know how I get on.