Finally the day is here. SKS in Germany is in the midst of producing our custom blades and stays while our friends at Carbon-Ti are producing custom "mini-axles" to attach to fender to the frame. Both will be delivered to us this month, meaning we can ship them out to you early November. 



But first a step back. We know that many people don't use fenders on our frames, but some do. Our idea with the WIDE was to accommodate the latter without adding ugly fender mounts to offend the former. While it's easy to add some invisible mounts to the fork crown and seatstay/chainstay crown, we weren't too sure about how to do it in the center. 

That is, until we took a closer look at our Carbon-Ti thru-axles. Since they are hollow from the hex key hole through, you can actually fit an old-style quick release inside the through axle. And with that, you could clamp a fender stay onto the frame. That was the low-tech garage version, and eventually it turned into a much nicer & lighter version.

If that sounds complicated, just check out this little video that shows how it works:

 

It's important to note a few things:

• The fender fights for the same space in the frame as the tire. So installing a fender means you cannot fit as big a tire as you can without.For most riders this will not be a problem because when you think about it, when you ride the sort of muddy terrain that requires the maximum tire size, you're bound to get dirty with or without a fender anyway. Adding a full fender is a great way to turn your WI.DE. into a winter bike.
• If you're looking to keep the maximum tire clearance and still protect yourself from the worst spray, then something like an Ass Saver or Fender Bendor is a better idea (the latter provides more protection and thanks to the shape of our seatstay crown, it won't affect tire clearance at all. Of course an Ass Saver doesn't either).
• It's important to note that officially, fenders are designed for tires with no or little profile. Keep that in mind when choosing your winter tire.
• Careful when ordering the De-Fender from our online store. The complete set consists of the Blades, the Stays and the Mini-axles. We also sell the Blades + Stays and the Mini-axles separately, just in case you lose or damage something. So make sure you order the right set.
• When you order, you will see "In stock". That's how our store software works, but the fenders won't be in stock until early November. When you check in your cart, you will see this listed correctly.
• All fenders ship from Germany. For shipments outside of Europe, we use a relatively slow shipping service to keep costs reasonable (fenders are light but relatively bulky to ship). So please allow for approximately 2 weeks of shipping time (and in some cases even longer as Covid still messes up logistics in some parts of the world).