Shown in prototype form at last week’s IceBike trade show and expected to be in production by autumn 2011, CycraGuards are a new concept designed, patented and developed by staff at Madison Cycles, the show’s owners.
There are several models planned, of which two will be of obvious interest to road cyclists: the CycraGuard Twinpack Road Narrow, suitable for tyres from 20mm – 27mm wide, and the Intermediate, for 28mm to 37mm rubber. Titanium and Black colourings will be on offer.
The essential features of the new design are ease of fitment and adaptability, with the stays particularly impressive for the way they lengthen to accommodate wheels of different sizes. Each stay comprises an inner and outer strip, with contrasting inner and outer ridges that, when conjoined, prevent the strips sliding over each other. Initial fitment is carried out by finding the required overlap and pressing the strips together, with adjustment a simple matter of peeling them apart and re-sizing for length.
At the mudguard end, the stays are secured to plastic bridges using stainless steel panhead screws threaded into brass inserts. The same construction is used at the hub end, where a three-bolt arrangement allows maximum adjustment as well as the possibility of attachment either to a threaded boss or to a bracket zip-tied to the stay or fork blade.
Various mouldings in rubber and hard plastic complete an array of parts that assembles into a good-looking and coherent package , if one that is slightly complex and weighty in appearance. We shall see.
Price is expected to be £29.99 per set.
