Improvising a mountain bike mudguard

A mountain bike mudguard can be unnecessarily expensive, especially if you rarely use one.

These simple home made guards are extremely cheap and easily improvised and (cue Blue Peter theme tune) all you will need are a pair of scissors, four cable ties and an old inner tube.

The premise of these more modern style guards is that much of the mud that hits your face is actually dragged up by your tyre and thrown through your forks, which you then ride through – this guard blocks the mud’s path through your forks, reducing the amount of splatter that hits you.

Cut a slice of inner tube to approx size (as shown above) then slice length ways to make a rectangle of rubber. A mountain bike tube works best as they are wider, unfortunately all I had to hand was an old road bike tube – still works but gives less coverage.

Poke a hole in each corner and cable tie to your forks (as shown below), trim off the cable ties and your done.

Cheap, recycling and effective.

– Graham