Quoth Frank Cohen:
>You are probably not very familar with British weather conditions or
>have ever ridden any time trails here.
>These short mudguards were used primarily by British time trial
>riders. Their heyday was prior to the Second World War and any
>perusal of pre-war British cycling journals will show this as true.
I'm quite familiar with riding in rainy conditions, and always choose
a bike with full fenders/mudguards for that application.
>If you are riding a 100 in very wet weather with an old fashioned
>alpaca jacket and tights you would indeed appreciate having these
>shorty fenders.
You would appreciate real mudguards/fenders even more. The shortys
won't keep your jacket clean, real fenders/mudguards will.
>Also British 1960's Mums with youngsters and no washing-machines.
>They did help keep some of the wet and muck off.
>Fenders are fire guards in the UK or ropes and tyres hung from a
>boat to protect it from impact.
>Best wishes Frank.
The nautical usage is the same on both sides of the pond, but the fender/mudguard distinction is one of the pecuiliarities of the different forms of English spoken in the U.K. vs North America. I commonly use the US English term "fenders" when writing for a primarily U.S. readership, because using British usage is sometimes seen as pretentious or patronizing in that context.
This is primarily a U.S./Canadian list, and the word "fender" was in the Subject heading, so I saw no reason to introduce the foreign usage. Cosmopolitan cyclists on both sides of The Pond understand both terms.
Many technical terms involving vehicles are different depending on which side of The Pond you find yourself, since both bicycles and motor vehicles were developed after the War of Independence.
Sheldon "Fending Off The Mud" Brown
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs |
| of his tribe and island are the laws of nature. |
| --George Bernard Shaw |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
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