EnduroGuard Review (RRP)

RRP or Rapidracerproducts is based in the UK. Being based there means mud and lots of it. Having such sloppy conditions to ride under they are in need of fenders more than most. They saw some improvements that could be made to fenders on the market and created the Enduroguard.

"We are pleased to introduce our new ENDUROGUARD mudguard which is an awesome FRONT or REAR mudguard. As a FRONT mudguard it's amazing at stopping the mud and spray that’s thrown into your eyes from the back of the front wheel. Just snap off the round holes either side of the RRP logo and it becomes an effective REAR mudguard protecting your linkages and shock from getting hammered. We have also added a neat design feature of the “Seal Guard”, this enhanced bulge is specifically designed to give additional protection to your fork seals.

AVAILABLE IN 2 SIZES:
STANDARD	for forks from 80mm to 120mm travel
LARGE	for forks from 130mm to 200mm travel

STANDARD
This STANDARD size is small enough to look right on short travel forks found on 4X and Cross Country/trail bikes, the fork brace is also usually closer to the stanchion so we have moved the holes for a more appropriate fit for smaller travel forks.

LARGE
This LARGE size offers great protection and is big enough to fit the longer travel forks found on Gravity Enduro and Downhill bikes, the fork brace on these forks are typically further away from the stanchions so we have moved the holes accordingly for a better fit.

UNIQUE DESIGN FEATURES

1. USAGE

The ENDUROGUARDTM is designed as a FRONT or REAR mudguard and has been specifically adapted to do both jobs extremely well, the holes that are correct for fitting to the front forks do not work when using them to fit as a rear mudguard (unless the bike has a dropped rear brace), our snap off holes allows you to rotate the guard forward for better tyre clearance and protection. Clean with a hose or jet wash, no chemicals are needed and may degrade the print over time.

2. SEAL GUARDTM 

This additional bulge has been added and refined to offer additional protection for your seals against the relentless attack from spray and mud without affecting the fit or aesthetics, you will be grateful for this feature on those extremely wet rides prolonging the life of your fork seals.

3. FRONT MUDGUARD

The 'T' shape clamping points are designed to wrap around the fork leg providing a better and neater fit. The front of the mudguard is designed to offer slightly increased protection without spoiling the look of the mudguard. The wider curve with flat rear end offers maximum protection and frame clearance compared to a simple symmetrical curve. The main holes for the STANDARD and the LARGE are located in slightly different places, this reflects the typical differences between fork braces on long and short travel forks.

4. REAR MUDGUARD

The holes for the fork brace aren't ideally located when using it as a REAR mudguard, so we built in 2 snap-off holes to allow you to rotate the guard forward and attach it to the brace between the rear stays (NB: The snap off holes are available on both the STANDARD and the LARGE sizes). This feature creates more mud/tyre clearance and a much better fit (although you can still use the main holes for the small number of bikes that have a dropped rear brace).
Choose either the STANDARD or LARGE size depending on what rear protection you want to achieve (STANDARD would be the default size recommendation).

5. GRAPHICS

Our product displays cool looking 2 tone screen printed graphics with our awesome Evil Eyes logo on the front to finish off the look nicely. The fork travel suitability for each size is printed on the side of the mudguard for ease of purchasing.

6. MATERIAL

We took a more expensive route opting for a custom thickness of polypropylene to meet our requirements, we felt the standard "off the shelf" options were either too thick (1.2mic) or too thin (0.8mic), our custom material sits squarely in-between. This allows us to offer the best of both worlds; the durability and quality feel that a thicker material gives, combined with the fit flexibility that a thinner material delivers.

7. ZIP TIES

All sizes and colours will come with our new custom bright white zip ties made to a custom length. WHY ON EARTH?.....well the bright white zip ties simply disappear on white forks but also offer a nice colour contrast on the other coloured forks. Whilst standard black and natural / opaque colours and lengths were available, these were dull and either not long enough for large forks, or too long for the packaging. We think they look great with the white graphics and let’s face it, every mountain biker has black zip ties so if you don’t agree then they’re easily replaced.

FITTING INSTRUCTIONS
FRONT
1) Remove the 4 zip ties supplied and insert them into all the holes as shown below
2) Bend and slide mudguard into position from the front
3) Loosely fasten up the top zip ties around the fork brace first then the legs
4) Centralise and then tighten up the top zip ties REAL tight so it won't move
5) Rotate the bottom zip ties until you get the desired angle and then tighten
6) Cut off any excess from the zip ties and rotate them out of the way

REAR
1) Remove the snap-off holes either side of RRP logo as highlighted in red below
2) Loosely attach the zip ties to the rear stays and brace
3) Align to give you the correct tyre clearance
4) Now do up all the zip ties REAL tight

INSTRUCTIONS STICKER
As with all adhesive backed stickers it’s advisable to warm the sticker with a hair dryer before removal to reduce the amount of adhesive left behind, use “sticky stuff” remover or soap and water to remove any remaining residue from the mudguard or zip ties.


STANDARD 23g (ex. zip ties)
LARGE 26g (ex. zip ties)
SRP £8.99

AVAILABLE COLOURS:
BLACK, WHITE, GREEN, RED, MAGENTA, BLACK/BLUE, BLACK/ORANGE

Our ENDUROGUARD is designed, manufactured, and packed in the United Kingdom

ENDUROGUARD"

The EnduroGuard went onto the fork easily. It provided great great protection from gravel, sand and flying mud. Overall the EnduroGuard was a bit thinner than a MarshGuard. It allowed it to conform better to varying fork arches. So far it has done a great job of keep the downtube of our bike clean and the fork seals free from dirt. 

We used it on a BOS fork and on the back of The Evil Following. The fit was very snug on the Evil and it took some cutting and fitting for it to clear the rear. Having a thicker plastci would have made this task all but impossible so the thinner material showed its benefits here.

RRP EnduroGuard Questions

1. How long has Rapid Race Products been running?

RRP was formed in 2007 some 8 years ago, whilst racing DH with my team riders I was always annoyed about zip tying a dirty inner tube to my brand new bike each year so I thought there must be a more professional solution, the NeoGuard was born!

2. What was you first product?

The classic NeoGuard was our first product, a piece of neoprene that stretches across the front forks to stop the spray from the back of the front wheel from hitting you in the eyes, this is still the preferred choice of many a mountain biker

3. What did you feel needed improving on the current fender options on the market?

• ·      With the EnduroGuard we felt the main competitors had got it wrong, the main issues were:
• ·      Material – we felt the thickness of the material on current options were either too thin or too thick
• ·      Seal protection – not enough protection for the fork seals with some offering none at all
• ·      Size – one size doesn’t fit all fork travel, 2 sizes were needed
• ·      Rear fitting – the existing options wouldn’t fit the rear unless it had a dropped rear brace
• ·      Graphics – other options were either were either black print on white or white print on black, we felt customers wanted more colour options and cooler graphics which others have later followed

4. Did you implement all the above into the EnduroGuard?

Yes, we addressed all of the issues which is why the EnduroGuard became an instant success, more detail below:

MATERIAL

We took a more expensive route opting for a custom thickness of polypropylene to meet our requirements, we felt the standard cheaper "off the shelf" options were either too thick or too thin, our custom material sits squarely in-between.  This allows us to offer the best of both worlds; the durability and quality feel that a thicker material gives, combined with the fit flexibility that a thinner material delivers.

SEAL GUARDTM

This additional bulge is unique to RRP and has been added and refined to offer additional protection for the seals against the relentless attack from spray and mud without affecting the fit or aesthetics, you will be grateful for this feature on those extremely wet rides prolonging the life of your fork seals.

STANDARD

Our STANDARD size is small enough to look right on short travel forks found on 4X and Cross Country/trail bikes, the fork brace is usually closer to the stanchion so we have moved the holes for a more appropriate fit for smaller travel forks.

LARGE

Our LARGE size offers great protection and is big enough to fit the longer travel forks found on Gravity Enduro and Downhill bikes, the fork brace on these forks are typically further away from the stanchions so we have moved the holes accordingly for a better fit.

REAR MUDGUARD

The holes for the fork brace aren't ideally located when using it as a REAR mudguard, so we built-in 2 snap-off holes to allow you to rotate the guard forward and attach it to the brace between the rear stays.  The snap-off holes are available on both the STANDARD and the LARGE sizes, this is a unique RRP feature that creates more mud/tyre clearance and a much better fit, although you can still use the main holes for the small number of bikes that have a dropped rear brace.  On version 2 there are another 2 sets of snap-off holes to use when there isn’t a rear brace to attach to eg: Intense.  You can choose either the STANDARD or LARGE size depending on what rear protection you want to achieve, STANDARD would be the default size recommendation.

GRAPHICS

Our product displays cool looking 2 tone screen printed graphics with our awesome Evil Eyes on the front to finish off the look nicely.  The size and fork travel suitability for each size is written on the mudguard for ease of purchasing.

5. Any future plans for more products?

Way too many to mention but here’s a couple…
FATGUARD - We currently have the FatGuard in production which is a mudguard for Fat Bikes (see attached), this is designed to work on both the rigid and suspension fork options currently available and offers incredible protection

CX-GUARD – We currently have the CX-Guard in production which is a mudguard for Cylco-cross bikes, this can be used on both disc or canti-lever brake bikes, it stops the lower bearing from getting hammered and significantly reduces the spray and mud thrown into your face (see attached)

REARGUARD – We are currently working on a new RearGuard XL whilst refining the current standard RearGuard. Our standard will become the ‘road only’ option and will have only one Velcro strap making it much easier and quicker to fit.  The new XL version being designed with be for MTB, CX (not race), and Commuters offering massive protection and a clean back, it’s also suitable as a WINTER mudguard on road bikes for those wanting their whole back to remain spotlessly dry and clean.

6. What is the difference between V1 and V2 of the EnduroGuard?

We made some small design changes from V1 to V2, the most notable are the Seal Guards were made a little larger and additional snap-off holes were added on the main arms to allow you to fit the mudguard to the rear of bikes with no rear brace at all eg: Intense (this gives two secure clamping points). We are currently working on a new version 3 due out later this year that has loads of changes, both sizes are larger and wider at the front and rear (to help cope better with the new breed of larger wheels), the seal guard has increased in size again for even more protection, we have designed in a new indent/relief section that allows the front end to flatten out giving even more protection, longer arms have been added for better fit around larger fork bushes, the graphics are changing and we’re getting rid of the coloured plastics in favour of coloured inks on black plastic (white plastic option will remain), our new coloured inks include: Red, Yellow, Blue, Cyan, Green, Orange along with a standard Black (example picture of v3 in red ink attached).  Though most may not have thought there was anything wrong with the V2, we are continually looking at improving our design to give value for money and respond to the design changes in forks and wheel sizes

7. If you had to choose a trail would it be rock or jump filled?

Definitely rocks for me, I never looked pretty on the big jumps.

8. Do you prefer going up or going down?

DOWN DOWN DOWN all the way, up is for the skinny tin ribs……

9. Does the bike industry need anymore Hub, BB, or Headset standards?

Dear lord please stop the relentless standards! Some companies clearly need their heads bashing together as the differences can be so small it can only be intentional to undermine their competition, great for company sales but massively frustrating for both bike shops and customers.  There should be an international law clearly defining what constitutes ‘STANDARD’ that all companies have to apply for, it would require manufacturers to seek agreement from a min number of other companies before submission, I mean……how can any company just decide it’s a new standard?

10. Who is the better bike rider Nico or Tomac?

Both are absolute legends for different reasons, but for me it’s Nico.  His emotionless metronomic style impressed, there was no fuss or fanfare, he was just relentlessly fast and super consistent

11. What do you feel is the best invention for Mountain Bikes in the past 20 years?

It has to be disc brakes for me, that first time when you made the swop was incredible, I have no idea why the road market is taking so long to realise the benefits, have you ever tried braking in the wet on carbon rims (how is that legal?).

12. What will need to change to bring more sponsorship money into MTB racing?

I’m pretty positive about the sport, it’s going in the right direction and becoming widely known and understood.  Cool videos and events along with as much TV as we can muster is the way forward to reach the masses, if you look at how cool DH is right now thanks to the action camera market and awesome tracks then I think greater sponsorship and events will only follow. The new rougher DH tracks that are appearing on the calendar are truly challenging the best elite riders in the world and their equipment and I believe this is the best thing that has happed to DH, we need to keep a close eye on safety though as riders must be protected from themselves.

On the flip side I think XC needs a bit of a sexier image and a re-vamp maybe in the type of tracks and race format, these guys murder themselves on the bike at a pace that’s hard to imagine holding but it’s not that interesting to watch.  The courses are sometimes to blame, my absolute rule would be that the bike for which the event is intended MUST be the fastest bike option, some of the XC courses are so smooth and boring that the XC bikes have less and less travel and could sometimes be done quicker on a CX bike. Some races look like road racing off road, you must require a min of 100mm of travel front and rear because the course demands it to set a fast time, that would be my starting point.

13.  Anything you want to let the readers know about or explain?

NB: Don’t worry what people or the industry tells you about wheel sizes, just choose the one that suits you and you like to ride, you don’t need to justify the purchase with facts and figures you only need a big smile……

RRP WEB PAGE: http://www.rapidracerproducts.com/

RRP FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/pages/RapidRacerProductscom/164956666850593

Overall the EnduroGuard proved to be a very easy to fit and forget product. We used it on the front fork of a YT Tuesday and also on the rear of an Evil Following. The Evil is a very snug fit between the 2.3 tire and the frame. Lucky for us the EnduroGuard is very easy to manipulate into tight spots. Having so many zip tie holes in the guard made it a snap to secure to a variety of different bikes. We would have no problem reccomending these to a friend.