****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
i installed cascadias onto my wife's hybrid bike a year or so ago and have had ZERO issues with them ever since, so once i got a road bike that had proper fender bosses and clearance, i went that route with it. here are my thoughts on them after a couple months of daily usage:good:- easy to fit. they took about half an hour, maybe. you need to remove the back wheel so obviously they're much easier to install if you have a stand to get to your chainstay bridge and the like, but it's not necessary. i installed my wife's easily by just putting the bike upside down.- great coverage. the long fender in the front, with mudguard, minimizes the water hitting your feet. the same in the rear keeps the face of the guy behind you nice and dry.- nice and light. much lighter than similar aluminum fenders. they're about 220 grams, i believe.- quiet, for the most part (see below). once you have all the clearances dialed in, you'll hear a bit of rattling as you go over bumps and such, but that's to be expected with any fenders. i'm using the 35mm road version with 25mm tires.- no issues hitting them, toe-overlap-wise. but that depends on your bike. if you have a shorter wheelbase and are close to having toe-overlap, you might have issues.- can be used with a fork-mounted roof rack without removing them. the mudflap in the front will hit the rack tray, but then it just folds back and all is good (i have the rockeymounts tierod roof trays).- planet bike puts money back into cycling safety/advocacy. and they don't want you to toss their products and buy new ones if you have issues with them down the road; so they sell parts directly from their website, complete with free shipping. i like giving my money to companies like this.not-so-good:- you will need to cut the excess metal off the ends of the struts and this requires either a hacksaw or bolt cutters. i chose the latter and it was very easy, but a lot of people might not have these around. you MUST cut these though or toe overlap is more likely (and dangerous) and you could cut yourself on the ends of these.- on a road bike, you'll need to mount them to the brake posts (versus touring, cross or hybrids where you won't even touch the cantilever or v-brakes those bikes use). these will interfere with the brake adjustment and that means a bit more fiddling and fine-tuning. check out the problem solvers sheldon nuts: The description by the manufacturer --Planet Bike Cascadia bike fenders - 700c x 35mm--is misleading because when I opened the package, the actual label on the item says it will fit at a maximum width of 25mm. So I bought the wrong fender based on the manufacturer's information. The seller is not to blame because of the manufacturer labeling. The seller was honest, courteous and prompt in providing return label. I recommend that the manufacturer provide the "maximum tire width it will fit" up front on the web so buyers would not be misled into buying the wrong size and have to return to the innocent seller.Bike: 56CM Mercier Galaxy AL.Tires 700x28mm Michelin Dynamic SportThese fenders are not made for 28mm tires right out the box. Will take at least an hour of adjusting the stay positions just right to prevent rubbing. The plastic clip used to attach the rear fender to the frame pretty much prevents the back tire from moving. Luckily it's removal, so I had to jury rig some hair pins to hold the fender in place (hooking the pins under the fender and around my brake caliper) and keep it from rattling on bumps.Speaking of caliper brakes, in order to install the front fender on the rear of the fork requires an extra bolt (probably a 10-15mm M6) to screw into threading of the brake nut, which occupies the fork hole. Another of my makeshift fixes was to use one of the provided 40mm bolts and the cylinder spacer with some aluminum foil to grip the brake nut. This will be temporary until I pick up the M6 bolt.Lastly, the front lower stays will have to be cut with a bolt cutter because they completely collide with my toe clip pedals when they are parallel to the ground, making turns potentially hazardous, especially at intersections. I'll probably have to remove the clips and just use the straps to prevent my feet from shifting too far forward.This is one of those simple projects that ends up taking a day. At first glance, the fenders and instructions looked pretty easy, but the first problem was that the longest bolt in the package did not go all the way through the fork on my Trek bike. Trip to the hardware store. Both wheels had to be removed for installation, even though the instructions showed everything being done with the wheels on the bike. As a matter of fact, I ended up removing the wheels more than once to get the fenders to stop rubbing. The sequence of the instructions was also meaningless.Even though my bike has threaded stays for attaching accessories, I ended up using a cable tie on the rear fender to raise the bracket high enough to prevent rubbing. I don't question the quality of the product, but the tolerances are so close, it makes me wonder how many bikes these fenders actually fit. If you try these, allow a day for installation and lots of fiddling with fine tuning.I just got these today and had them installed in about 2 hours. I didn't use the clip thing on the rear fender, but I did zip tie it to the lower bar between stays so it couldn't rotate. My bike is a 1979 Raleigh Super Grand Prix with 700x23c Specialized Armadillos (I previously had 28c and they did not fit.. 25 was ok in the front though.). The fit is just right. There also isn't any interference with my brakes (both are Tektro R539). It was a bit of a pain to adjust and center these. I had my bike on a stand and it was still a bit hard. I think I will paint these eventually. Will update if I do.They installed easily, little flimsy but I suppose thats the material. Hard to find ones that aren't the flimsy plastic, especially at this price-point.
