Best road bike mudguards 2023 — choose fenders that’ll keep you dry and comfortable on wet rides

Mudguards stop water and dirt from your tyres spraying upwards over you, your bike, and anyone riding behind.

You’ll be surprised at how much difference they make. Unless it’s raining hard, most of the wetness you feel when riding without mudguards is likely to have come from the road and your tyres. Mudguards keep you drier and more comfortable.

Think mudguards aren't cool and that they'll spoil the lines of your bike? Think again. Even professional cyclists fit mudguards to their training bikes through the winter.

Mudguards can even offer a performance advantage. Yes, really. By keeping you dry and comfortable, they allow you to train more effectively than if you’re wet and cold. By keeping as much of the water off your body as you can, you're going to be able to ride for longer, and faster, when the roads are wet.

For commuting, mudguards are a no-brainer. If you want to cycle to work through the winter, mudguards go a long way to ensuring you stay reasonably dry. If you have to carry a rucksack a rear mudguard will stop it getting covered in dirt, and then leaving a trail of dirt through your workplace.

You might think mudguards look daft on your carbon race bike, but that’s better than a brown line up the back of your jacket and sodden shoes from the front wheel spray.

We sometimes hear people say that road bike mudguards ruin the clean lines of their pride and joy, but if it's the difference between being dry or absolutely soaked and covered in road muck from head to toe, then we'll happily use them. We're more interested in keeping dry so we can keep cycling when the weather isn’t good.

If you're riding in a group, those following your wheel will appreciate your mudguards. Many clubs and riding groups demand mudguards over the winter.

Full-length mudguards are commonly referred to as traditional mudguards, because they’ve been around for many, many years. They are most often a permanent fixture on touring bikes. Due to their length and sides, they cover a large percentage of both wheels and provide the best protection from spray generated by the wheels.

Some full-length mudguards are longer than others. Some have a large rubber flap on the end of the front mudguard. The longer front mudguards really help to stop your feet from getting soaked through. There's a surprising amount of spray kicked up by the front wheel and your feet are right in the firing line. The longer the front mudguard, the more chance of your feet staying dry. Having a long rear mudguard will keep spray from hitting the person following behind you when you're riding in a group too.

The other advantage of these mudguards is that they offer the most protection to the bicycle. They keep all the water and mud away from the rim brake callipers (if your bike has them), which really don't like being dowsed in gritty water, and it's the same for the front derailleur. They also keep water away from a saddle bag and rear light that you might have attached to the saddle/seatpost, so that's another plus for mudguards.

Full-length mudguards are very sturdy. They mount to your frame at the brake callipers, eyelets at the dropouts, and to the chainstay bridge behind the bottom bracket. They can take a bit of time to set up, but once in place they will survive a lot of abuse.

In order to fit full-length mudguards you need a frame with enough clearance under the brakes (if your bike has rim brakes rather than disc brakes) and behind the seat tube. That means the chainstays are a bit longer, lengthening the wheelbase.

If your bike has rim brakes, you’ll usually need long-reach brake callipers, especially if you want to use mudguards with tyres that are 25mm or larger.

The fact that full-length mudguards can only be fitted to frames with the necessary mounts and clearance does limit them, but there are plenty of bikes designed to accept them. Most common are those that fall into the touring/Audax category, with a variety of frame materials including the most common: steel, titanium and alloy. It’s also possible to buy a carbon fibre frame with the necessary eyelets and clearance for these mudguards.

> Check out 11 of the best mudguard-compatible carbon fibre road bikes 

Not everyone wants, or has space/money for a second bike built specifically to take mudguards. Luckily, bicycle designers have cottoned on to this and many regular road bikes come with concealed mudguard mounts. Without mudguards a bike like this looks like any regular road racing bike, but look close enough and you'll find mounts that allow it to be a mudguard-equipped winter bike.

The Canyon Inflite, Grizl and Grail also have unique mudguard mounts and Canyon have designed their own mudguards, made by SKS, to be compatible with these mounts, so there's plenty of choice if you look around.

Mountain bike-style mudguards will fit almost any bike, and offer loads of clearance regardless of frame design. On the flip side, they offer less protection than other types of mudguard. Your feet will still get wet, your bike gets no protection, and they don't shield the rider behind you.

Mountain bikes, because of the huge variety of design thanks to factors like suspension and huge tyres, need a mudguard fitted very high above the wheel. The solution is a rear mudguard that clips onto the seatpost so the height above the wheel can be adjusted, and a front mudguard that's attached to the down tube.

These mudguards are useful for commuting bikes, especially where clearance might be an issue because of frame design and/or wide tyres. The simplicity of fitting makes them attractive, and they can be whipped off in a minute too. While these mudguards don't provide 100% protection compared to full-length options, they do keep a surprisingly large amount of spray off.

The seatpost-style mudguard is one favoured by quite a few professional riders, but they’re more for keeping your own back dry than worrying about the rider behind you.

Similarly, a mudguard attached to the down tube also offers the same simplicity of fitment. Protection from front wheel spray is limited to riding in a straight line through; the mudguard obviously doesn’t track the front wheel through turns.

The best mudguards for your bike will depend on your wheel size and tyre size.

The tyre size is usually written on the side of the tyre. It might say 700C x 28mm, for example, or  650B x 47mm.

The first number refers to the wheel diameter (although 700C doesn’t mean that the wheel has a diameter of 700mm) while the second number refers to the tyre width. Many tyre widths are given in inches.

You want a mudguard that’s designed to fit your wheel size and that’s wider than your tyre – to be effective and to avoid rubbing. Most brand give a maximum tyre width for each mudguard in their range. Check on their website for compatibility.

For example, SKS says that its Bluemels Style 28in 56 Set is compatible with wheel sizes 27.5in (650B), 28in and 29in wheels, with tyres from 32mm up to 47mm. 

If in doubt, ask the retailer before you buy your mudguards.