Vavert Fixed Mudguard

The clock has well and truly struck mudguard o'clock now, and there's plenty to choose from out there. Vavert is a brand you may not of heard of; they're fairly new to the game and their product range revolves around accessories that you can colour code to your bike. As such, the Fixed mudguard comes in five colours. Whichever you pick, you can be assured it'll do a good job at a low price.

I had a set of the brown ones, which were a decent enough match with my Charge Spoon saddle and Brooks leather bar tape. There's two widths, of which we had the 35mm version suitable for tyres up to 28mm. There's a wider 45mm version too. They're plastic construction with metal fittings, and you get a rubber spray flap at the rear (and rubber end cap at the front) and a rear reflector thrown into the bargain. If brown's not your thing you can have black (with blue or lime green piping), white (red piping) or silver. I like brown though. There, I've said it.

Fitting the Vaverts is easy enough; you don't get fancy-dan quick releases at the front or the miniature fixing bolts of SKS but the Nyloc nuts do the job just fine and it's a simple job to get the 'guards on. A pair of bolt croppers is handy for cutting the stays to size, and there are rubber covers for the sharp ends.

In use they're solid and dependable. The guard itself is plenty strong enough that it doesn't bend or rattle across the rougher surfaces, and the solid stays keep them from rubbing and they're simple to adjust. It's pretty easy to get them close enough to the wheel and they're long enough to to cut out just about all the road spray. Your winter-riding friends will appreciate the extra length of the mudflap on the rear too, when they're sucking your wheel.

Verdict

Nicely made 'guards that come in a range of colours and sizes.