90s close/mudguard clearance frame Q

[Jiveman60]

I'm cobbling a bike together around a frame that short drop brakes work on. But it does have mudguard eyes as well.
I seem to remember back in the 90's space wasn't a problem. It's not the end of the world, I'll get around it. Just trying to work out if I'll need deep drop set on their minimum?

 

[grantoury]

I guess the deep drop brakes would give a bit more width space to a mudguard. But otherwise I don't think it matters much?

 

[M_Chavez]

There's a sweet spot where you can use short reach brakes + guards + 23mm tyres (perhaps even 25mm if they are slightly undersized).
The first line of Kineses Grand Fondos were built to this spec.

Perhaps, you can have the best of all worlds - short wheelbase, 25mm tyres, the power of short reach brakes and just enough space for the guards!

 

[4th in the devil]

We used to put up with short reach brakes and mudguards. Usually fine on the workstand but there was always a bit of rubbing out on the road especially if the road was muddy or gritty. This was annoying at best but on one memorable occasion the rubbing on my bike was actually a slow erosion of the rivet on the front mudguard until it failed, jammed the front wheel and sent my flying over the handlebars on a descent. I moved to a winter frame with a bit more clearance after that!

 

[jim haseltine]

I'm from the same era. We used to trim guards, modify bridges and other fittings to gain more clearance - even if it was just a millimetre.
The gap between the tyre and fork crown on my Kinesis is minute, even with 23mm tyres - I had to fabricate a long bracket using thin stainless strip and rivet it in place ahead of the brake to give enough space to stop grit on the tyre grinding on the guard. I also had to slot the guards to allow the brakes to be applied.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Argh flashbacks, mudguards and no effing clearance. Couple of mine are like that.

 

[pigman]

BITD the race frame was eventually relegated to winter. And guards were de rigeur because you rode as a club and didn't want to spray the guys behind you with mud. So you somehow squeezed them in

Even as I ride today with buddies, full guards and a rear flap is essential. Turn up in winter months without and apart from the (friendly) verbal abuse you're relegated to the back in anything but pan dry conditions

 

[jim haseltine]

And they were a training aid too - when you removed the guards in spring time it felt like you'd been riding for months towing a parachute.