Having raced and ridden mountain bikes for years and being in the east were one will see many wet areas I run a mud guard all the time. The reason for this is to keep dirt and mud out of my eyes. Judging from the road surface I would think this is the same reason the racers of this period ran a short fender. Once the road surfaces improved and cool sunglasses were in the retail stores the need for fenders was necessary.
Mark Poore in a wet and muddy mountain bike playground Slatyfork, WV
Fred Rafael Rednor <fred_rednor@yahoo.com> wrote: I noticed that the rider at the front of this group (either Jules Lowie or Vervaecke, depending on whether Aldo was listing then right-to-left or vice versa) has a "mini fender" mounted over his front wheel. They are regularly deprecated and described as useless. Nevertheless, I've often seen them in race photos from this period and even on a couple of older unrestored bikes.
So the question is, when was the use of the short fender/mudguard totally abandoned on racing bikes? Also, considering the direction in which a tire rotates, are there _any_ circumstances in which they served a useful purpose? Cheers, Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia
> Pic of the Day
> 25th May
> Belgian Chase
>
> (Morgan Fletcher has been kind enough to provide space on his
> server for
> "Pic of the Day". This should provide a steady alternative
> for archiving
> these pics. Thanks Morgan!)
>
> http://www.birfield.com/
>
> Tour de France, 1935, stage 16.
>
> Alarm in the Belgian team as Jules Lowie (individuel),
> Sylvere Maes, Romain
> Maes, and Felicien Vervaecke try to chase-down Italians
> Ambrogio Morelli and
> Orlando Teani.
>
> >From "Le Miroir Des Sports" No840, 25 Juillet 1935.
>
> Aldo Ross
> Blue Ball, Ohio
>
>
> _______________________________________________
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger