I rode 61 mm actual superduperlight Big Ones under custom Kelpie fenders, with only ~1 cm between top of rear tire and fender where Chauncey had misjudged bridge height by ~1 cm. I had about 2 cm between top of front tire and underside of fender under the crown. The Big Ones of course are semi-slicks.
I had no problems in some 7-8 years riding where fallen cottonwood branches were likely, this despite often briefly pickup errant branches; doubtless this was because the Big Ones are, again, semi-slicks and also because the Kelpies use struts at least 50% thicker than your typical Honjo, Berthoud, VOs, etc, and the fenders themselves are also about 50% bigger in gauge. But my point is that with slicks or semi slicks, branch pick up is far, far less of a problem than with knobbies. I presently use ~54 mmThunderburt mini-knobbies under the same fenders, with about an additional cm under each fender — so, about 2 cm rear, 3 cm front. OTOH again, I’ve seen an errant fallen cotton wood branch get into the spokes and lock up the front wheel on a fenderless bike; so the problem is not limited to fenders. Said branch locked the wheel, said bike did an endo, with bike and rider rotating in majestic semi-slo-mo to full vertical on tippy-tip of front tire, but said rider did a magnificent save and, while coming to a complete stop, didn’t even fall over. On Mon, Dec 22, 2025 at 5:40 PM Guy Jett <[email protected]> wrote: > Rene Herse has a page on Requirements for good fender installation > <https://www.renehersecycles.com/requirements-for-good-fender-installation/>. > Seems very thoughtful. Jan recommends an absolute minimum clearance of 20 > mm between the tire and any bridges and the fork crown. And *30 mm as an > ideal*. Velo Orange states that a 10mm vertical clearance is OK but, for > safety reasons, I would be skeptical V-O does recommend a lateral > clearance of 10mm to 12mm <https://velo-orange.com/pages/choosing-fenders> > (with an absolute minimum of 8mm. That's helpful. Both these vendors sell > only metal fenders. > > Rivendell takes a different stance, preferring plastic fenders by > SKS/Esge/Blumels. One advantage is the the safety release for front > fenders that many come with. These release if anything tries to jam the > front fender. In addition, they carry Portland Design Works safety tabs > for attaching to metal fender stays, and also spare clips for SKS. > > All of the above have recommendations as to which width fender for which > width tire. > G.A.Jett > > On Mon, Dec 22, 2025 at 3:12 PM Eamon Nordquist <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> It's highly recommended to have quite a bit of room between fenders and >> tires. Trying to squeeze the biggest tire you can physically cram under a >> fender can be dangerous. It becomes too easy for a piece of road debris to >> get caught between the tire and the fender. I've gone over the bars from an >> accordioned front fender before - piece of branch got caught and pulled >> into the fender. It's scary and can happen terrifyingly fast. I like 1.5 >> to 2 cm of clearance ideally. Rivendell suggests up to a 38 with fenders, >> and 43 without. If you want bigger, maybe a Roadini is not the right bike? >> >> Eamon >> Seattle >> On Saturday, December 20, 2025 at 5:10:25 PM UTC-8 [email protected] >> wrote: >> >>> I’m looking to get some wider RH tires for my 2025 Roadini. I have the >>> SKS fenders on now with 39-40 (measured) tires and still seem to have quite >>> a bit of room. If RH sold 42s, I’d get those but they don’t. It’s either 38 >>> or 44. So I’m thinking the 44s might actually work but I’m wondering if >>> anyone has tried this? My rims are Velocity Quill which are quite wide at >>> 24.5 so it could actually measure to 45. Oh, I’m talking about smooth tires >>> by the way. I will carefully measure before I buy, but it’s always nice to >>> hear others’ experiences. 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