Full Metal Fenders - 700x37

Over the years, I’ve tried a few different ‘easy’ options for protection from the elements with varying degrees of success (and clunkiness) before taking the plunge and going all-in with the full metal fenders from PDW. I’ve used them for a few months now, so thought I’d leave a review. It’s no lie that it requires a lot of patience and some creative engineering to get these mounted properly. You will probably need a few extra pieces of hardware (e.g. I ended up using a couple extra water bottle cage mounting bolts, torx bolts from an old 6-bolt disc rotor) and had to use some of the extras in the mounting hardware kit in unintended ways to make extensions from seat stay bridge on my frame and the rear fender mounts to make the rear fender hug the curve of the rear tire. The front fender installation was dead simple by comparison - but the rear was frustrating enough that I had to leave it and come back to it another day! Ok… so that’s the worst part. Once these were on? Everything I’d hoped they would be. They look great, they WORK PERFECTLY, and they’re absolutely silent. Not a rattle, a buzz, a squeak, a rub, or anything at all (save a bit of added weight) to detract from the ride. The bike stays cleaner, I stay cleaner and more comfortable and there’s just no way to explain how much nicer it is to ride in the rain without the incessant cold spray from the road hitting you front & rear. Also - while the fenders themselves are quiet, I sometimes hear the ‘ticking’ of small road debris that’s flung up by the front tire - stuff that used to ping off of the downtube but doesn’t anymore. So glad I bought these, and will never ride without them in the sloppy winter months… and I just might leave them on year-round.

I've used chromoplastic guards on all my previous commuter builds, but decided my new J.Laverack titanium build deserved better. I spent a good few hours finessing the fit with custom made washers, but it was worth the effort. They look amazing, are super rigid and make no noise. I agree with others that the standard stay is not really long enough for the rear. In my case my mounting bosses weren't quite perpendicular to the frame and pointed the safety clips outwards which meant the stay needed to be even longer. A couple of wedge shaped washer were duly made to bring the clips back in to square and I just sneaked the fit home. I am going to order a couple of the longer stays as the current one is only about 1mm longer than needed for the grub screw to bite. I love that all the mounting hardware is black - it allows the mudguards to almost disappear on a modern build. Let's now see how they handle a UK winter!

Excellent product, very well made, looks smart, came with clear instructions and every type of fitting solution possible. Well worth the expense. Fitting the mudguards (fenders) to my steel Fairlight Strael which comes with sufficient clearance to run with 28mm was a quick and easy task. Already used them on my commute ride through Edinburgh, which is known for having four seasons in a day.

It’s been a while since I got the PDW Road Plus fenders, long enough ago that the hardware is silver, not black. That’s fine with me, as my Rivendell Frank Jones, Sr is a fully-lugged, steel frame, and everything else is silver except the pedals and bottle cage. I’ve got the 37mm fenders mounted over 700c wheels and tires, nominally 32mm, but actually 30mm on my rims. That’s not unusual, and prospective buyers should measure their tires before ordering. These also aren’t the first PDW fenders I’ve gotten, as I have several bikes of various sizes. They’ve all been absolutely quiet and bulletproof, and I can’t recommend them more highly. The only mounting “difficulty” I’ve found is that I tend to mount the rears to the threaded brake bridge or (in this case) to an extended, threaded brake bolt instead of the provided sliding brake mount, which means exacting fitment and drilling of holes in the fender at precisely the right spots. Not my first rodeo in this regard, so to speak, so it’s not only doable, but works flawlessly when done right. Since this bike is a single speed with track (rear opening) dropouts, and removing the wheel requires sliding it forward a good bit to unseat the chain, I fitted a spring bolt to the forward end of the rear fender—works perfectly. Nice job, PDW!

Portland Design Works Full Metal 700c Fenders 37mm, Black w/ Black Stays Best mudguards I've had. And I've had a few. These are mounted over 32mm GP5000TL tires. There is enough coverage. Just. The only issue is that the rear stays are not quite long enough for mounting to my seatstays. This is just a normal light touring frame based on the Van Nicholas Yukon. I had to use the included quick release mounts to extend the stays. Not a problem, but it could be tidier if the stays had been 1 cm longer. Otherwise, excellent in every way.

I highly recommend these fenders, I ordered the 37mm wide version after measuring my bike and referencing Portland's useful sizing guide. They fit great, weren't a hassle to install and fender line looks really nice. In my particular install, I did have to trim a tiny amount off of the front fender stays (~1/4") to get the fender to sit at just the distance I wanted. It was easy to trim the aluminum stays and they sit great. I imagine most bikes would not require this but even if they do, it is an easy task to perform. These fenders may be somewhat higher priced than some other options you could choose, but these are WELL worth it in my opinion, and SO much nicer than the cheaper options. They are solid, quiet, look really nice, and the finish is beautiful looking and durable.

These fenders turned out to be exactly what I was hoping they were! After listening to plastic fenders buzz/rattle from road vibration for years, I was excited to see that pdw made aluminum fenders, and hoped they would be much more solid. I was a little skeptical about the single stay for each fender, but people reviewed them well without mention of this as a problem, so I decided to try them out. I did have to make a few custom spacers (only because the full carbon frame/fork on my new commuter bike has "hidden" mounts) but the install was otherwise straight forward and simple. Once installed, the fenders are rock solid and the single beefy stay appears to be more than enough support on both ends of the bike. They are super quiet on the road, and are hardly noticeable on my bike. They do tend to make a slight bit more noise than plastic fenders when something sticks to the tire and flings off inside the fender - but its a great trade-off for not buzzing/rattling from road vibration like plastic fenders. On a trivial side note: I was initially concerned that the mud flaps seemed super long on this model when compared to the other models, but now that they are on the bike I am excited to see how much protection they will provide for the feet. When the rainy season is over, it takes a couple minutes to remove both flaps with an allen key, and you don't even notice the fenders are on the bike!

Perfect fit on my 2019 Cannondale Synapse! Just the right width for my 28 mm Continental GP4000s ii tires (which bulge to 30 mm on the wide rims.

Wonderful mudguards! I was out riding in heavy rain a few days ago and it was quite nice to look down at the bottom bracket and see the amount of water that was »fendered« away from my back, the front derailleur and the chainset. They may be bit tricky to install (in my case that depended mostly on myself) but once they are there, they are rock solid. No rattling at all, even though I mounted them less than 5 mm above the tyre in order to cover as much as possible.