Like Doug Smith, I was surprised by the attitudes expressed in some of those replies. It happens that in North America, many people used the short fenders because that's what they saw in photos of British time trial races - and also in old photos of the Tour de France, the Giro, etc.
Anyway, for many riders the short fenders were protection
enough for their purposes. For others, it was strictly a
matter of appearance. But so what? I see all sorts of wailing
and gnashing of teeth on this list over items whose only
importance is appearance. I suspect that many people who
deprecate(d) the users of short fenders often rode in the rain
without any fenders whatsoever, all for the sake of looking
like "real racers". Such is the way of human beings...
Cheers,
Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia (USA)
> I am very surprised at some of the negative veiws expressed
> by the few
> regarding the use of these short mudguards.
>
> To these people who so readly put them down I say , you
> could'nt have
> read my contribution or you just do'nt understand the reason
> meant for
> their orignal use. They were manufactured with the racing
> cyclist in
> mind aware that full mudguards would not be used by cyclists
> whilst
> competing in an event.As I explained they were a protection
> against the
> elements when racing on road and circuit. Try riding a 100
> mile or 12
> hour time trial on a rainy day without these ,both yourself
> and your
> bike would be in a right mess at the finishing line!. After
> the event
> or next day these shorties would be removed and replaced by
> the full
> set. Its worth remembering that the same machine used in the
> race the
> day before would be used to take one to and from their work
> place for
> the rest of the week, fully equipped with full fenders,
> saddle bag and
> in my case a bag of tradesmens tools hooked on the handlbars.
>
>
> So to those folks I say ,before harshly condeming them as a
> useless
> piece of equipment just think what an asset they have been to
> the many
> who used them in the past and by reading some of the replies
> do so
> today.
>
> Doug Smith
> North Dorset
> UK
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
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