I can't imagine what started the "shorty" mudguard craze in the late '60s, early '70s... they truly are useless except for keeping crud off your brakes and also from flying onto the underside of your saddle. But your bike and you are still going to get covered.
A week ago I foolishly took my Raleigh Comp GS on the path in showery weather... all my other bikes save the PX-10 have proper mudguards... so I wasn't even thinking. Well.. talk about getting "filthed"... the machine and I looked like those old newreels of the Tour de France in the 1920s. A 50 minute ride followed by 50 minutes of cleaning every inch of her. I had mud in my eyebrows. Now I finally understand why Brooks sold saddle "undershields"!
Now I appreciate that "real" racing bikes don't have mudguards but they are jolly useful things indeed. Just full ones not shorties. I suspect there are tons of NOS shorty 'guards laying about since if you bought one pair, you'd never want another.
Peter Kohler Washington DC USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web - Check your email from the web at
http://mail2web.com/