Mucky Nutz Fenders are Made From 100% Recycled Plastics, Shaped to Un-Mud Your Vision [Review]

What do Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” and a Mucky Nutz Mud Guard have in common? Answer: The soulful song is heavily covered, and the fender heavily covers your mud-flippin’ tire. Covering a song is a way to show love for the original artist, and covering your tire is a way to show some love to your eyeballs. Additionally, in 1984 Born in the U.S.A. was released on records and cassette tapes that may have ended up in these 100% recycled fenders.

If your local trails can handle tires and water combined, you likely know something about strapping plastic to your fork. Keeping any amount of the trail out of your vision is often appreciated, well worth zip tie scratches on the fork chassis. Folks with steel frames may have a particular affinity for bulkier fenders since the narrow downtubes allow a larger helping of debris to reach their face. A good fender will also keep some crud from collecting around the fork seals, but likely not enough to lengthen the winter service interval.

These Short and Long fenders from Mucky Nuts are particularly sweet because they forego the issues I’ve experienced with other guards. First off, they provide solid coverage both behind and ahead of the fork arch. That chunk up front can make a massive difference when it’s genuinely wet out and water is spraying radially from the tire. It will deflect most of the slinging droplets when you’re poised over the bars. The rear coverage is also solid on both of these fenders, with the large option able to keep my vision completely clear on long descents in the rain. Seeing my clean face in the lift line, several friends purchased this long fender following some soggy park days in the Alps this summer.

Another issue that the Mucky Nutz shapes forego is the buzzing cacophony that accompanies most moto-size fenders. Even with the lower arch of the Öhlins 38 I’m able to position the longer fender so it stays quiet on everything but the harshest compressions. With the six attachment points strapped tightly around the arch and lowers, and the front of the fender closer to the tire than the rear, it remains almost silent. Tilting the whole shape forward keeps that stretched rear flap from contacting the tire, while the front side can sit fairly close without noisy flex or movement.

People sometimes like to identify with their behaviors with statements like “I’m a black coffee person” or “I’m a DIY kinda gal.” In this same vein, I am a “long fender all year long” sort of rider. I like the way a long fender makes my bike look like a trials moto, and I prefer to be able to see if it happens to rain. Large fenders also reduce the amount of dust, rocks, and loam that reach my face in the summer, which I’m not mad about. The only time that long fender has proven problematic is on bike park or shuttle days when my front wheel gets sandwiched into a hanging rack. Getting the fender and tire in the rack together requires some careful Tetris, and the process has deformed and scratched the plastic somewhat. I like the story those scratches tell about my summer fun, but folks who like a perfectly clean looking bike might opt for the shorter shape or remove it when the trails are dry.

Now, back to that Springsteen tune. With all this talk of crap flying in faces, surely there’s a joke in here someplace.

You sit around gettin’ older There’s a joke here somewhere and it’s on me. I’ll shake this world off my shoulders Come on, baby, this laugh’s on me.

-Bruce Springsteen

Mucky Nutz short fenders retail for £20.00 (available at Competitive Cyclist and other online retailers), and the long slab goes for an additional £5. You can add colorful decals to the sides that match your bike’s aesthetic for £4.50 or order fully custom printed fenders for your crew at a 100 piece minimum.

⭐️ Mucky Nutz fenders are available at Competitive Cyclist and other online retailers.