Review: Ass Saver Win Wing Gravel

 

I found a batch of Ass Savers Win Wing Gravel on eBay for about $10 each (plus shipping). At that price I bought a whole bunch of the gravel model and installed them on all my bikes and even a couple of my kids' bikes. The contraption looks flimsy and not worth $28 Amazon charges for them, but the installation is a cinch, and to my surprise it had sufficient clearance even with 700x40 Continental Terraspeed tires! A friend took the above pictured Roadini off pavement on the Montebello traverse and I didn't hear any scritch-scritch sounds coming from the fender, which is one of the most annoying things about riding off pavement with fenders.

Ok, does it work? I've been using them on various rainy commutes and I have to say it works as well as my previous, heavier fenders, and I definitely don't get a nasty stripe up my back. The fender does seem to direct a steady stream of water and dirt at the sidepull caliper brakes, but my brakes don't work any less well and it's California so I don't expect the Win Wing to stay on the bike all year.

At full price of $28, it feels like a rip-off. It's just a bunch of plastic and a rubber strap. But for $10 each I think it's good value. I probably should have bought more and given them to friends, etc (I'll grant that most of my friends, being Californians are hard to talk into riding in the rain), or to have as spares, but my kids definitely bike to school every day and it's worth it to keep their backs and pants clear of dirt if not dry, since I have a hard time getting them to wear rain pants.

Recommended if you can get a good deal on them. Though I guess to be honest the SKS clip-on fenders cost about the same but have the distinctive problem that they don't work well with the Garmin Radar, while these work great with the radar.