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Imagine someone who buys a bike for some touring in their free time. Then they may be tempted to use it for an occasional commute when the weather is nice or to go to meet some friends. But soon they realise that showing up at the office with mud streaks on their back is not a great idea and they become less keen to use the bike in everyday life.

That case is not so remote because the overwhelming majority of the bikes for sale do not have fenders. Actually it is becoming increasingly difficult to find models with fenders except those specially designed for commuters.

Why is such an important part undervalued so much?

Note: this question is an observation, not my personal case. If it was just for me I could just buy the model I like and mount them afterwards.

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FluidCode
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    I’ve been riding bicycles for years in all kinds of weather without fenders. When it’s wet or raining you just accept that you’ll get wet and dirty. I ride in bicycle clothes. If I have an appointment somewhere I just bring normal clothes and change. I have fresh clothes in the office. I guess fenders are really only useful after it has been raining when the road is still wet and dirty. – Michael Dec 22 '21 at 13:09
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    @Michael You live in a very nice country. Tyres in your country do not consume leaving a greasy powder on the tarmac. Car exhausts in your country do not leave an oily pollution that partly settles on the road when it rains. Unfortunately I live in a big and busy city and I have a different experience. – FluidCode Dec 22 '21 at 13:13
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    @Michael Not everyone has a place at the office where they can change clothes. – FluidCode Dec 22 '21 at 13:14
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    On the other hand, it is not difficult to find aftermarket fenders. There could be a connection to this. You should also check related questions about why bikes are sold without pedals and often with terrible cheap saddles. – ojs Dec 22 '21 at 13:25
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    Because fenders are a PITA. – Daniel R Hicks Dec 22 '21 at 13:34
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    @FluidCode: When it’s really raining it would be impossible for me to arrive clean, dry and smelling nicely. Fenders would hardly change that. That being said, I have an "ass saver" fender on my winter bike (cyclocross) because it helps me stay warm-er by keeping the constant spray of cold water away from my backside (even while it’s raining). – Michael Dec 22 '21 at 13:35
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    @Michael Are you trolling? You are making comments that refers only to your personal case without taking into account all the possible things that may be on the roads. – FluidCode Dec 22 '21 at 13:44
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    @FluidCode: No, seriously, I really only seed three edge-case use cases for fender: To keep your feet and backside clean-ish on wet and/or slightly dirty roads (but no rain from the skies); To stay slightly drier and cleaner while it is raining (but you’ll still get wet and dirty eventually); To keep spray water out of the face of someone riding behind you. For me those small benefits are not worth lugging around >500g of fenders + drag. They also tend to get loose or break. – Michael Dec 22 '21 at 14:00
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    @Michael the water from skies is often considerably cleaner than water from roads. Also, for reasonably fit people 500g is not huge problem except on hill climb stages. – ojs Dec 22 '21 at 14:05
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    @Michael " For me those small benefits are not worth lugging around >500g of fenders + drag." Going to the office or to the supermarket is a normal transfer not a race. If you take two minutes more it does not change anything. – FluidCode Dec 22 '21 at 14:28
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    I disagree with the premise of the question. The value of fenders has everything to do with the local climate and culture. In the Pacific Northwest of the United States, it’s my observation that the vast majority of commuter bikes you see downtown have full coverage fenders and the vast majority of “serious roadies” have a winter road bike with full coverage fenders. Same with the die-hard adventure/gravel riders. – Paul H Dec 22 '21 at 16:10
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    I disagree with the premise. There is nothing that supports mud guards are underrated. Even a statement "most bikes are sold without fenders" is debatable. – gschenk Dec 22 '21 at 16:17
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    @gschenk Ehhhh…if you look through any major brand’s catalog, I would be surprised if you found more than one or two bikes that come with fenders. – MaplePanda Dec 22 '21 at 19:26
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    When I look at local retailers web shop I find more bikes with mudguards, lights, and racks than without. What is more, those are also the volume market. It will look different for BSO. But then there are millions of bike-share bikes with mud guards that make up for that. I shouldn't want to guess what is sold more. – gschenk Dec 22 '21 at 20:02
  • The Pacific Northwest has many different climates, @PaulH. In Southern Oregon where I live the climate resembles that of Northern California more than those of Portland or Seattle, and fenders are relatively rare even in winter. In Oregon's high desert fenders are surely even more rare. – rclocher3 Dec 23 '21 at 01:07
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    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamil – d-b Dec 23 '21 at 07:38
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    @MaplePanda They all have fenders. Only a minority has skirtguards, though. Gazelle is one of the biggest brands (if not the biggest) in one of the most cycling (if not the most) countries in the world, so it certainly counts as a major brand. – gerrit Dec 23 '21 at 08:10
  • @gerrit Ah! Interesting to see which brand you chose. I was thinking of Trek, Specialized, Giant, etc, with their multi-thousand dollar bikes where fenders are rarely seen stock. A commuter/urban brand like the one you showed didn’t even come to mind. Cultural differences I suppose! – MaplePanda Dec 23 '21 at 08:14
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    @MaplePanda Probably! Although it probably mostly depends on the type of bike. Giant also sells city bikes, at least for the Dutch market, and those do have fenders, but their mountain-bikes do not. It probably depends entirely on whether one considers cycling as a sport (primary purpose in the USA) or as a utility vehicle to get around in (almost) all weather (Netherlands). – gerrit Dec 23 '21 at 09:46
  • Before the pandemic, I bike-commuted and I was going to take a shower/change clothes anyway so I did not really care. I guess I am lucky wrt tires and oil in my country. I never really got that dirty. Now I am working entirely remote ... no more bike commuting. All my rides are purely recreational, so if it is nasty outside I might simply not go. – emory Dec 24 '21 at 14:01
  • @emory Please see the comment to rclocher3 answer starting with "To all those discussing whether fenders are useful or not in the rain." – FluidCode Dec 24 '21 at 14:06
  • @Michael You sound like a Formula-1 driver trying to convince the world that things like shock absorbers and heavy flywheels are for wimps. Try to have a bit of perspective here. Commuters are not in a race. Bicycles have more than one purpose in life. – J... Dec 24 '21 at 14:50
  • @J...: I just don’t really see the benefit and use case for full wheel fenders. And they have their disadvantages. – Michael Dec 24 '21 at 15:28
  • You need to add a country tag. Many countries require fenders by law, others (like the US) don’t. – Aganju Dec 24 '21 at 23:07
  • @Michael 'They also tend to get loose or break.' I experienced this for a while, but it turned out to be because my wheels were slightly bent, and the tyre treads were colliding with the mudguards during part of their rotation cycle. Once I got my wheels trued, no more problems with mudguards getting loose or breaking. – Daniel Hatton Dec 26 '21 at 11:58

7 Answers7

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In e.g. the Netherlands the majority of the bikes are equipped with fenders and lighting. These bikes are used for everyday transportation. Only Road bikes and all-terrain-bikes are seen without.

If Cycling as a transport means is incorporated in the culture, than the bikes offered for sale will be more practically oriented.

Ewout
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    Exactly. Same in Germany. Most bikes sold here have fenders and lights. It even seems that German bike brands focus specifically on practicality, and you can buy high-end sports (road, gravel, randonneur) bikes that have full fenders, hub dynamos, racks, gearbox drivetrains (Pinion, Rohloff), belt drives, e.g. from the brands VSF or Falkenjagd. I have full-length carbon fenders with proper mounts on my gravel bike, they make winter riding cleaner than summer riding without them! – Erlkoenig Dec 22 '21 at 22:33
  • The Netherlands, Belgium and the surrounding regions are a special case. There is a strong cycling culture there, People without a lot of experience who buy as a ready to use bike the most common model they see in the shop without many practical considerations are rare. Furthermore people there are not very likely to be influenced by the thousands of blogs and articles on the internet that keep saying "fenders are not cool". – FluidCode Dec 24 '21 at 13:22
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    fenders and lighting ..... and a bagagedrager! (luggage rack? not sure of the right translation.) – Victor Eijkhout Dec 24 '21 at 16:02
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    @FluidCode Well actually, in Central European cycling culture, most people know very little about bikes. They go to a shop, say "I need a bike for getting to work", and get a city bike, Dutch bike, or trekking bike, which usually feature fenders, lights, racks. We have jokes about many people not being able to pump up their tires. People don't even think about fenders, they're just there. I think this is great, because you don't have to be a cycling nerd to ride a bike, as those bikes are practical and just work. Many of them have hub gears, because people just need them to work. – Erlkoenig Dec 24 '21 at 17:43
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High-end "road bikes" are essentially racing bicycles, and in many countries it's fashionable for riders to dress like riders in the UCI World Tour. The fashion extends to the bicycles as well: many riders eschew any practical accessory not seen on the Tour de France, such as bags, mirrors, reflectors, lights, and fenders, no matter how useful they may be. It's not just the roadies who don't care for such things; where I live, mountain bikers don't use fenders much either. Here in the US, inexpensive bicycles are generally modeled after much more expensive road and mountain bikes, and follow the same fashion trends.

To generalize more, in many places bicycling for fitness and as a leisure "lifestyle" activity is far more popular than bicycling for practical transportation. Here in the US, I think it's fair to say that most people look down on bicycling for transportation as something that poor people, fitness fanatics, and people who lost their drivers' licenses for DUIs (Driving Under the Influence [of alcohol]) do. I'm pleased to say that the rapidly-growing popularity of e-bikes is beginning to change that perception.

I return to my point. The more popular bicycling for fitness or leisure is over bicycling for practical transportation in a particular area, the less utilitarian features will be seen on bicycles, especially high-end ones.

rclocher3
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    When you do a 4-hour ride in the rain, fenders *are* useless. Even with fenders and a good mud/spray flap and good wet-weather shoes, your feet will be soaked through and through in about 30 minutes to an hour in a steady rain, and the rest of you will be totally soaked long before then. – Andrew Henle Dec 22 '21 at 23:39
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    @AndrewHenle Soaked does not equal to covered in dirty stuff. OP indicated that where they leave roads have oil spills and more. – ZenJ Dec 23 '21 at 00:32
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    Interesting point about the road biking fashion. I always thought that no-fender setups were inspired by MTB, where catching mud between a fender and a wheel may be undesirable, especially with V-brakes. – ZenJ Dec 23 '21 at 00:36
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    @ZenJ Soaked does not equal to covered in dirty stuff. OP indicated that where they leave roads have oil spills and more. Fenders can't keep enough water off you to stop you from getting soaked in 30 minutes to an hour anyway. If you're riding for hours and go offroad or through oil spills you're going to get covered with that too. I've done multiple-hour rides in rain, both with and without fenders. After a long enough time riding, there's no real difference in how you wind up. It's nice to have your feet dry for an hour and not be covered with grim for 90 min, but that's all you get – Andrew Henle Dec 23 '21 at 00:51
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    I think road bicycle racers don't use fenders (or bags, mirrors, reflectors, or lights) because a little dirt doesn't make a difference to riders pushing through the pain of recent crash injuries and riding full-gas for several hours; but every protrusion increases their aerodynamic drag, and every gram hurts their uphill times and their sprint acceleration. – rclocher3 Dec 23 '21 at 00:53
  • I didn't realize that mountain bikers don't use fenders for practical reasons. Thanks @ZenJ! – rclocher3 Dec 23 '21 at 00:58
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    @rclocher3 Drag and weight don't matter on any ride that isn't an actual race. And you started this answer with "High-end "road bikes" are essentially racing bicycles" and then assumed it's just riders of such bikes making fashion statements while ignoring the practical limits of fenders, and with a dismissive "no matter how useful they may be" statement to boot. If those items you listed actually were useful for road cyclists, they'd be using them. I broke my neck in 4 places 18 months ago and can only turn my head about 80 degrees each side now, and mirrors are still not useful - at all. – Andrew Henle Dec 23 '21 at 01:07
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    (cont) Just because you find things useful doesn't mean someone else does, and presuming that it's just because of "fashion" is more than little condescending. – Andrew Henle Dec 23 '21 at 01:08
  • @ZenJ I'm not too sure about that. Fenders are on 60% or so of the MTBs around here. Usually they're of the "ass-saver" variety though, as there's no way to mount full fenders. Catching mud isn't a huge consideration as your frame/fork would do so anyways even without a fender there. – MaplePanda Dec 23 '21 at 01:23
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    @AndrewHenle has missed the biggest benefit of mudguards which is that they minimise the spray of water and dirt onto your bicycle drivetrain. Mudguards (obviously) won't keep the rain off you or your bike but they will massively reduce drivetrain contamination, wear, cleaning time and general destruction that happens to your bike if you do a lot of bad weather riding. – HJCee Dec 23 '21 at 14:22
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    To all those discussing whether fenders are useful or not in the rain. That is not the example I was thinking about. Consider the case when it rains during the night, there is a nice sun in the morning, but roads are still full of water. Unfortunately not everywhere in the world roads a perfect, always clean and well drained. Consider also the case when roadworks or some building activities alongside the road let some muddy water flow on the pavement. Consider also the case of the wheels picking up dry, but oily soot. – FluidCode Dec 24 '21 at 14:01
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For recreational riding, they are often seen as unnecessary weight that can be saved without paying more for lighter parts. A typical recreational rider would simply avoid riding in a rain. And if not, the destination is usually at place where arriving dirty is not a problem. This is that I was thinking when buying a bicycle without fenders, even without looking if there are any easy options to fit them later.

Now I am fitting the third set already, one longer and wider than another because commuting to work is something very different. Arriving dirty is totally not cool even if you change later. It is not a fun to put an efficient fender on a fork that does not have any single hole anywhere for this purpose, so for my next bicycle the fenders are between the first things I am looking for.

nightrider
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8

A different way to see things is that fenders are usually considered aftermarket equipment. They are not critical for the bicycle to operate safely, after all. The same could be said of lights, of saddle or handlebar bags, of bells (unless required by law), or a number of other things.

More high-performance bicycles come with fender mounts these days. It’s true that bicycles focused on racing often don’t have fender mounts, and that road bikes a few years generally didn’t have them unless they were explicitly marketed to the UK or other places with similar climates. However, many current endurance road and gravel bikes have them.

Weiwen Ng
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    Your parenthetical remark about the law also applies to lights. – gerrit Dec 23 '21 at 08:14
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    @gerrit: in the Netherlands the rear fender used to be required by law for road legal bikes, because of its mandatory 30 cm long white marking that would increase visibility. – slingeraap Dec 23 '21 at 08:46
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There are a number of reasons:

  • Many, especially high-priced bicycles are used as good-weather-and-good-road-cycles, only. They don't need fenders.

  • Fenders are a cost factor to the manufacturer.

  • Fenders are not cool, many people don't even want them.

  • Fenders are notorious for breaking. They are large slim pieces that are subject to all the shocks coming from the road. Even if you use stainless steel fenders, they will eventually go to pieces. I guess it takes much, much less time for a cheap plastic fender to disintegrate. And a fender that's developing a crack is noisy. All the more reason for nice-weather-riders to not want them.

Nevertheless, fenders are invaluable if you are riding irrespective of weather and road/path conditions.

cmaster - reinstate monica
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    "Fenders are not cool," Yes, when I see marketing sites that list the coolest bikes I notice that they choose those without fenders. I notice the same when I read blogs or articles. But this is a trend decided by marketing not by the public. – FluidCode Dec 22 '21 at 14:45
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    "Fenders are notorious for breaking." They may break as all the other parts. But they are not notorious for breaking. It does not happen so often. – FluidCode Dec 22 '21 at 14:46
  • Snow and mud and even leaves get stuck in them, making for a worse riding experience. If one breaks while riding you can have an unsafe bike unless you have the tools to dismount it. Checking a tyre for glass or debris is much harder, and requires stopping. You lose half the advantage of taking your front wheel off to fit your bike in your auto. Nice metal fenders have a rubber flap to catch the initial spray off the tyre that works really well, but only lasts about a year... So many reasons. – DavidW Dec 22 '21 at 14:57
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    I didn't ride with fenders on commutes as I liked to take muddy single trails. Of road wrecks fenders very fast. For pootling around in the city this year I mounted fenders early autumn. Road conditions let them live long. Bike racks and locks still break them though. – gschenk Dec 22 '21 at 16:21
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    Doesn't fitting bike into auto defeat the purpose of having a bike in the first place? – ojs Dec 22 '21 at 16:34
  • @FluidCode The expected lifetime of fenders depends on the roads you are riding. I live in a city with many bad bike paths, sporting roots, potholes, badly done ramps, etc. In combination of 6 bar tires, my fenders don't last especially long. Of course, conditions could be much rougher (plaster, stony paths, etc.) but they are bad enough to break stainless steel fenders in a matter of years. And everytime a fender breaks or causes preemptive maintenance, it's a case of sunken time and costs that would not have happened without fenders. I still stick with my fenders because my use requires them – cmaster - reinstate monica Dec 22 '21 at 16:52
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    @ojs Sometimes it's nice to throw a bike in the auto when, say, going to visit my folks, so I can get some exercise while I'm there. Or taking a bike along when visiting friends in another city so I can ride with them. – DavidW Dec 22 '21 at 22:06
  • @DavidW I read that comment as a tongue-in-cheek one. Not entirely serious, but pointing out that a bike is a vehicle in first principle, not a sport gear item for some hobbyist activity. Which is true, imho, though it's also true that it's sometimes very useful to be able to put a bike into a car. My primary use case would be to pick up a bike that had a failure which made continuing on bike impossible. Stuff like a broken chain, a broken BB axle, fork, seatpost, whatever. – cmaster - reinstate monica Dec 22 '21 at 23:34
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    @FluidCode Front fenders on any bike with toe overlap are always living on borrowed time... – Andrew Henle Dec 22 '21 at 23:41
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They have been included in many times and places and for many bike genres.

I think the answer to your question plays out culturally and economically a little differently around the world. I will speak to the US: The United States is big and has diverse climates and riding conditions. The cycling culture here overall is very focused on fair weather, recreational/fitness/leisure riding, and several of the biggest cycling markets (coastal California and Florida) are quite dry. Additionally, the US has long wrestled with cultural attitudes that relegate bikes as toys, which results in a dynamic where the cycling industry is forced to accomodate a buying public that can be tentative about paying what it costs for a quality utilitarian bike. Like fenders, this is the reason why dynamo lighting and hub gears have had a hard time in the US; despite being a good value, they add to the up-front cost.

The mainstream dealer-level bike brands in the US have mostly all tried a number of attempts at selling fully appointed utilitarian bikes in the mold of what's normal traditionally throughout Europe and elsewhere. It is hard to get American consumers as a whole to see the value in this approach, although many certainly do. For whatever reason, those sorts of bikes rarely become strong sellers and rarely stay in the lineup for a long time. There is a thing called a "concept bike," a model with unusual or proprietary features or design. The 2001 Giant Prodigy is one burnt into my mind from my personal early days in cycling. In the industry they have a reputation for being a barely necessary evil that's easy to lose money on, because by nature of what they're trying to do, they're usually low-margin and are liable to be low-demand, with very few historical exceptions. While those of us who know the value of fenders and (and generator lighting and internal hubs etc) know it's silly to equate fully appointed Dutch- or British-style utilitarian bikes with concept bikes, it's very common for them to more or less sell that way when manufacturers try it here. That doesn't tell you why those attitudes exist from the consumer to the dealer, but it does tell you a lot about the attitude from the dealer to the manufacturer.

I work in a very large shop in the Pacific Northwest US where probably 50% of the new bike sales are commuter/city bikes. We sell and install a lot of fenders and customers are fairly accepting of the value of them. Many spend the extra money on fenders without a second thought on their new bike, but many also don't because they can barely accept the base price, and they take it as-is. Here in a rainy climate, my impression over many years of doing this is that group by and large doesn't seriously question the value of fenders and it's all about the psychology and/or necessity of limiting the initial investment.

Nathan Knutson
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As already seen in comments, some people prefer their bicycles without fenders and aftermarket fenders are cheap and easy to install. For manufacturers and resellers it is cheaper to build bicycles without fenders and let the customers who want them add them afterwards than adding them only to be removed. Some of the savings can even go to sale price, which is an advantage for the models without fenders.

ojs
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    That is not what I see happening. Most of the people do not add the fendes after they bought their bike and this will limit the usability beyond leisure time of what they bought. – FluidCode Dec 22 '21 at 13:37
  • @FluidCode replace "some people" with "most of the people" then. People often have preferences that are not in their best interests. – ojs Dec 22 '21 at 13:50
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    They are only easy to install if there are mounting holes foreseen for them. – nightrider Dec 22 '21 at 13:59
  • @nightrider you really need to look up what a "p-clip" is. But the mounting holes aren't that uncommon frames that are not dedicated for racing. – ojs Dec 22 '21 at 14:02
  • You cannot fix a front fender just with stays, you need to attach it to the top of the fork where it may be a hole foreseen for this but mine does not have. – nightrider Dec 22 '21 at 14:07
  • @nightrider explain it to SKS, not me: https://www.sks-germany.com/en/productcategories/road-en/ – ojs Dec 22 '21 at 14:14
  • Fitting SKS Bluemels 75 U Long right now. Hopefully the plastic straps through the holes will hold the top, if not, preparing to 3D print. My other front fender used a large hole at the bottom of the fork, it is however way too high from the wheel there. Also must be wide enough. – nightrider Dec 22 '21 at 16:13
  • Factory installed good fenders are so much better than aftermarket fenders it is no real comparison. Which may be why US riders mention fender breaking all the time while Dutch (and other European) riders mention fenders not breaking much or at all. I have gone a step further, a fully enclosed trike. I would not every ride a fenderless bike/trike on wet roads or roads which have been wet. (And yes, recumbents are sometimes sold without where I live.) – Willeke Dec 25 '21 at 19:48