Car Less Ohio

Ever since I got my Surly Cross-Check a couple of years ago, I’ve been debating whether or not to put fenders on it. I don’t use it as a cyclocross racing bike; it’s more my “light and fast touring bike” or my “slow and comfortable road bike.” My mind was made up for me when I saw the new Civia Market 48 Fenders.

My Cross-Check came in the Misty Mountain Grey color that Surly made a couple of years ago, and it’s one of a couple of bikes that I have worked to maintain a consistent color scheme with as many of the components as possible. For this bike, I’ve used red, from the headset and spacers, bottle cages, and mini-pump, right down to the spoke nipples and brake pads. When I saw that the Civia Market 48 Fenders are available in Red, I knew it was a match made in heaven.

Civia is a relatively new brand in the bike business; their main focus is high-end commuting and utility bikes for the discerning transportation cyclist. Like Surly and Salsa, they are owned by mega-distributor Quality Bicycle Products, so by using these fenders on my Surly, I’m still keeping things “all in the family.”

The Market 48 Fenders are made of anodized aluminum, and have a nice long mud flap on both the front and rear, similar to the extended flaps on the Planet Bike Cascadia Fenders. The flaps are attached with two rivets each, to keep the flaps from twisting.

The front fender went on without much trouble, with a standard fork crown bracket made of sturdy stainless steel, just like all of the other mounting hardware.

The only real hitch in the installation process was the seatstay bridge support for the rear fender. Most fender makers give you a molded plastic piece that you slide along the length of the fender until you get it into the proper position. Civia provides this piece as a straight, flat hunk of metal. I guess the rationale was that a matching stainless steel bracket would look better with all of the other mounting hardware, but if it were pre-bent to match the shape of the fender, it would scratch the finish of the fender as you slide it into place.

So, the process of installing the rear fender involved these steps:

1. Remove rear wheel.
2. Remove both rear brake caliper arms to give yourself room to work.
3. Bolt side fender struts in place to fender eyelets near rear dropouts.
4. Bolt front end of fender to the chainstay bridge.
5. Loosen side strut adjusting bolts to position fender height near seatstay bridge.
6. Carefully eye up and mark the position needed for the seatstay bracket.
7. Un-bolt side struts and front end and remove fender from bike.
8. Carefully position the seatstay bracket where marked from Step 6, and carefully bend it to match the shape of the fender.
9. Wrap the extra length on both sides of the bracket around to the underside of the fender, and clamp tightly into position with pliers.
10. Bolt seatstay bracket to seatstay bridge.
11. Bolt side fender struts in place to fender eyelets near rear dropouts.
12. Bolt front end of fender to the chainstay bridge.
13. Reinstall rear wheel.
14. Re-attach rear brake arms.
15. Loosen and re-tighten side strut adjusting bolts to center and further fine-tune the position of the fender.

In step 6, I used a piece of thick double-sided rubber tape to mark the bracket position, then just left the tape in place as I bent the bracket around the fender. This helps to fill any gaps left between the bracket and fender (due mainly to my imperfect metal-working skills), and prevent any future shifting and rattling in the bracket-fender interface.

All fender installations tend to have their tricky points that are impossible to anticipate until you’re knee-deep in the process. This bracket was an unexpected curveball even for a relatively experienced fender-installer such as myself. All of the mounting bolts and other hardware you should need are included with these fenders, although I ended up using two of my own spare bolts on the seat stay and chain stay bridges to find a more ideal length.

The “48” in the name of the Civia Market 48 Fenders refers to their width, in millimeters. I’m not sure why they felt the need to include it in the name, since Civia doesn’t make any “Market” models in other sizes; maybe Civia plans to in the future, though. They are theoretically compatible with up to 700x40C tires. My Panaracer T-Serv Messenger 700x35C tires run a bit wider than the name indicates; more realistically like 700x38C. The Market 48 Fenders seem to have just enough, without any noticeable rubbing, at least in the workshop environment. I think a 700×40 might be pushing it almost too far. These tires are almost due for retirement, and I’ll probably be going with something a little narrower, like a 700×32, in the near future.

With Northeast Ohio under a foot or more of snow at the moment, I have not had a chance to give these fenders a true road test yet. But they appear to be a very solid, functional, and not to mention quite attractive addition to my Cross-Check’s red wardrobe. For those not into making their bike look like Santa’s sleigh, the Civia Market 48 Fenders also come in Black, Silver, and Gray. The suggested retail price is $55. If they don’t have them in stock, your favorite local bicycle shop should be able to order them for you.