Why would you spend money on something for your bike that will have absolutely zero benefit for you as a rider? That’s the question you might ask yourself when you see AssSavers’ Brotector mudflap. And the answer of course is altruism. This small strip of carefully shaped and manipulated plastic won’t do anything for you, but it will keep your ride buddies happy during the winter by reducing (in fact, by removing all together) the chance of them getting a face full of slop from your back tyre when you ride in wet conditions. Olly heads out in search of puddles to splash through.
Mudguards. Fenders. No matter what you call them, they tend to polarise the riding community. Some riders look down their nose at them for aesthetic reasons or perhaps for reasons of peer pressure/street cred. But anyone who has ever ridden during the winter with a group of friends will be familiar with the deeply unpleasant sensation of receiving a face full of spray off the back wheel of the rider in front.
Image courtesy of Rob Wood
At this point you might say “I only ever ride solo”, in which case this story isn’t for you. But if you do ride with a group, even if it’s just with one other rider, then by equipping your bike with a Brotector mudflap, you will earn their eternal gratitude when you help give them a nice dry ride each time you ride on the front.
The logic of the Brotector is sound – the additional plastic flap extends the length of your mudguard and helps force any spray downwards and sideways, rather than up into the face of the rider behind.
Of course, there is one slight flaw in their plan – it assumes that you’re already running mudguards. For anyone who likes a stripe of cold, wet slop sprayed up the back up their jacket/jersey, then you won’t be the target audience for a Brotector, but for anyone who does already ‘cover up’ then the mudflap can be fitted by simply drilling two holes in your existing mudguard and adding the flap using the included ziptie or with a couple of short nuts & bolts. Once fitted, all you need to do is to crease lightly the Brotector down both the center and the end (following the ready-made marks) as this will help increase rigidity and prevent unnecessary mid-ride flappage. I didn’t do this on one of my early rides and the Brotector eventually tried mating with my rear tyre. Luckily, after a bit of gentle origami, full function was restored.
“Why are they called Brotectors? Don’t women ride in the winter too?” was a question posed in a slightly tongue-in-cheek manner by my wife. Luckily, despite the name, Brotectors are gender-neutral and protect every rider in a group ride. They also have a little brother (or sister?) called a Toetector , which you add to your front mudguard to help protect your feet from receiving unnecessary attention from a cold shower during your rides.
Brotectors are available direct from the manufacturers or from local bikeshops for around €11/£9 and they come in stealth black, reflective red or a very funky limited edition RVMBLE prong colourway.