I’m not big on fenders for normal use but during Fall and Spring it can sometimes be good to have a little protection for the rear, and the bike bag, and the frame. Sometimes the roads can be a bit wet or I am not sure if there might be a sprinkle of rain.
So I may throw a fender/mud guard on my road bike to keep crap off my back and bike bag, and now that I have a gravel bike there is even more chance of lots of spray and mud being thrown up.
I have several fenders including some I have made myself, they work fine but I can’t say that I am 100% happy with any of them. Some aren’t big enough, many vibrate and others just look dorky while doing just an okay job.
But this Makelen Bike Fender is probably the best fender I have tried. No, strike that – it IS the best bike fender/mudguard I have ever tried.
In three basic aspects, I suppose – it seems to nicely cover most of what I want to protect from dirt and crap – for the most part, it also looks nice (as nice as a fender can look), and it doesn’t vibrate a lot.
In fact, I guess I would say that this fender looks somewhat cool. At least as cool as any fender can look!
The plastic is patterned in a fake carbon fiber pattern, and it is pretty stable, as much as a piece of plastic probably can be, I think due to its shape. There is an option (which I don’t show in the photos) of not having the tailpiece on – the tailpiece sweeps back and extends the length of the fender/mudguard. But instead of having a shorter ending piece—both choices of ending pieces come with the fender and can be snapped in easily.
Oh, a little correction on this I suppose – the shorter ending piece is if you want to use this as a front fender, but you could also use the shorter piece on the end of the fender for use as a back fender; it just wouldn’t protect your back and saddle and bike bag as well but it is about as long as many quick plastic fenders that are made for just the rear. Having the longer tailpiece is better and a good bonus, but it could be used as a shorter fender on the back just fine. Maybe cosmetically some people might like the shorter look.
The entire installation process is really easy to carry out. It comes with rubbery adhesive protective pads for the mounting arms that connect to the upper chainstay. These seem to be good quality and stick well to the arms. 
The zip ties that come with this fender are really heavy-duty and large, I thought at first they were too large but once they are attached and the ends are cut off and the tabs that lock them are pushed around to the inner part of the chainstay (but still away from the tire) – the whole thing looks fairly good, it all fits together well on the bike.
But about the zip ties… I want to be able to transfer it to another bike so the only issue for me is cutting the zip ties so I can move it to another bike. This has to be done carefully with mini-side cutters that I use for electronics, so as not to mar the fender plastic. And of course, it should be done at the point where there is a small space to get the tool in rather than against the chain stay bars of course.
I might suggest that instead of using the zip ties you use something that can be used and re-used as needed, unless you plan on leaving these on your bike(s) year-round. About this next…
I also ran into another little issue having to do with the use of the zip ties. While transporting my gravel bike via the hitch mount carrier on my car I realized while looking in the rear view that the fender was bent back from the wind at highway speeds. I quickly stopped and fortunately, the fender is very flexible and resistant to breaking or permanent bending so it was fine once I stopped. But I did need to cut the zip ties and remove the fender for carrying the bike on the car.
I solved the whole issue with a simple solution – which also is what I wanted to do for moving it between bikes; taking these velcro cable/cord ties and cutting them down the middle, and using them to mount the fender through the mounting arms in place of the zip ties. This worked great! And looked nicer than the white zip ties also. It takes a little bit of maneuvering to fish them through the slots where the zip ties go, but this was helped along by using a little piece of cardboard to slide them through and this allowed me to wrap the ends more favorably and cosmetically nice. You could use any type of velcro strips here, as long as they were thin or you cut them thin enough.
Attaching the Makelen fender to the bike is easy and just requires a little eyeing of the location and adjusting the angle of the part that attaches it to the chainstay, keeping in mind where it connects to the fender itself. This is a little knob system that takes a minute to mess with and get the correct angle for both sides at the same time as you are attaching the fender to this bracket. You of course have to get both legs of this bracket at the same angle, which is easily checked by the handy angle graduations on the bracket itself, which help you dial in the same precise angle on either side.
The snaps can be a little ornery but you want them secure and not to be unsnapping on you. It took a minute but worked fine once in place. And these can be carefully squeezed to adjust to another bike. I guess I wouldn’t want to be doing this all of the time but a quick transfer from one bike to another once in a while seems reasonable and works just fine.
I used this both on a road bike with 28-30 c tires and also on a gravel bike with 34 c tires, which is wider than it specs for. No issue with this on the very slightly wider tire and there is plenty of clearance, both in the aspect of not touching as well as being some leeway if there is some mud on the tires.
So I don’t have any complaints or negatives about this at all. It does what it is supposed to, and I suppose for some putting the chain stay part onto the fender connector and getting the angles and snapping it all into place might be a little challenge.
But for me, it was just a few minutes and no big deal.
Note – this does not fit on bikes with v brakes or any brake or anything that obstructs that location on the chain stay.
I do want to mention that I am very much a DIY and like to figure things out so a casual person trying to put it on might take a few extra minutes and be annoyed, I suppose.
I am not, and think the Makelen Bike Fender is the best quick fender that I have tried.
