The so-called Berthoud fenders work best on bikes designed for fenders. They don't come with clamps for the rear bridge, etc. You really need threaded holes in the right places. The Honjos have more hardware, including said clamp, but also work best for bikes designed for fenders (and by that I don't mean just enough clearance).
The post quoted by Mark Encarnacion points out another important fact: Aluminum fenders need to be mounted properly, otherwise they'll break. Unfortunately, the instructions that come with them are either non-extant or misleading. Secure mounting and no in-built stresses are crucial. This is hard to achieve on a bike where the clearances aren't spot-on. I presume stainless fenders are more forgiving, but haven't got long-term experience with them.
It's sad that due to incorrect mounting, these fenders are getting a bad reputation, when I have seen them last decades of hard riding on French randonneur bikes. I know of many bikes ridden since the 1950s still on their original fenders.
VBQ Vol. 2, No. 1 had a comparison test of fenders. Vol. 3, No. 1 had
an article on how to mount alloy fenders correctly on custom bikes
designed for them. Vol. 1, No. 2 has a short how-to article on
mounting Honjo fenders on a bike with clearance, but not designed for
fenders.
--
Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
c/o Il Vecchio Bicycles
140 Lakeside Ave, Ste. C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.mindspring.com/
>Collective wisdom sought-
>
>Do any of you have experience with Honjo and Berthoud fenders? I
>like them both but haven't "lived" with either. Either will be
>mounted to my new 650B KOF bike but I want to know if one has better
>mounts/hardware than the other.
>
>Curt Goodrich
>Minneapolis, MN