Titilating Tuesdays - SKS Commuter Fenders

Titillating Tuesdays shall be a regular installment of the Velox Cycles blog. To titillate, for those of you still caught up on the first three letters, is to excite or stimulate. What could be more exciting and stimulating than rad bicycle bits? Every Tuesday we'll pull out our soapbox and harp about a cool product, mechanical trick, trail, ride, or just about anything else bike-related that we think you should know about.

This week, we're spotlighting the SKS Commuter Fender set. They're made in Germany, and like most fenders these days are essentially a thin aluminum skeleton covered in plastic (polycarbonate). They claim to be unbreakable, but we're pretty sure a hammer would do the job. Under normal riding circumstances, however, you are not likely to break these suckers. Mounting hardware is sturdy with double stainless steel stays attached to the fender body with big, healthy looking rivets. They come in three different widths - fixie/road bike sized at 35mm wide, commuter/hybrid sized at 45mm, and mountain bike sized at 60mm. The smallest size is perfect for those who never run anything bigger than a 28c tire, medium great for 28c-40c, and large for anything up to a 2.3" mtb tire.

In terms of water-stopping performance, any decent fender set will do the job. The SKS Commuters fall into this rather boring and very wide category. They fall low enough up front to protect your feet, and wrap all the way around out back to prevent that oh-so-attractive ass smudge, as well as keeping the spray headed backwards towards your riding buddy to a minimum. Set them up so they sit close to your tires, without rubbing, and the only water you'll be feeling will be coming from the sky, not the road. That's the point, right?

It's this mounting hardware that set off our love affair with SKS fenders. In the amount of time it takes you to put on your hipster jeans in the morning (5-7 minutes, depending on how stretchy they are) you can mount up these fenders perfectly. They come with an allen key that is used to adjust the height of all stays - just loosen up the bolt and slide the fender wherever you like. Clamp the bolt back down and voila, your fenders are ready to rock and roll. They'll stay that way too - I haven't had to adjust the stays on mine in over a year.

We're of the opinion that any dedicated commuter should have fenders on their bike, even in Colorado. They add so little weight, so little wind resistance, and so much function that riding without them is just silly. Save your pants from the humiliation of the ass smudge - get some fenders.