FOX Mudguard: In search of the best mudguard of 2024

FOX are amongst the largest and most popular suspension brands on the market, and they offer an in-house mudguard for their forks. For the 2021 season, their Mudguard was designed together with the updated forks. What are the advantages of this and is the Mudguard as convincing as the forks themselves?

For an overview of the test fleet head to the group test: The best Mudguard 2024 – 8 models in review

Price: € 36 | Weight: 93 g | Length: 350 mm | Manufacturer’s website

Wenn Federgabel-Hersteller wie FOX Mudguards entwickeln, passen diese nur auf die hauseigenen Modelle. Solltet ihr eine Gabel eines anderen Herstellers haben oder sogar eine ältere FOX-Federgabel, wie die 36, 38 oder 40 aus dem Modelljahr 2020, ist der Mudguard leider nicht kompatibel mit eurem Setup. Abgesehen von einer geringen Kompatibilität hat das aber auch viele Vorteile. So werden die Mudguards um einen Gabeltypen herum designt, wodurch sie gut zu montieren sind und optisch schön zusammenpassen. Auch der FOX-Mudguard geht von seiner Formsprache schön in die Gabel über. Er sitzt bombenfest und wackelt kein bisschen, da er ja nur auf eine Art Federgabel passen muss. FOX möchte für seinen 350 mm langen und 93 g schweren Mudguard 36 €. Er ist noch klein genug, um recht unauffällig auszusehen, kann aber in vielen Bikeparks schon Probleme beim Transport der Bikes verursachen. Neben der XL-Version, die wir getestet haben, bietet FOX zu diesem Zweck noch eine kleinere Standard-Version für 6 € weniger an.

Fitting the FOX Mudguard

Before fitting the mudguard, it’s best to check whether your fork is compatible. If you don’t know which model year your fork is, just take a closer look at the lowers. Compatible forks have a bleeder valve on each side, as well as two small threads in the back of the fork bridge. For the installation, the bleeder valves must be unscrewed with a 13 mm socket. Caution is advised because the heads are very shallow, making it easy to slip off and leave unsightly scratches on the valves. Once you have unscrewed the bleeder valves, remove the plastic spacers, which is easily done by hand. Put them somewhere secure and remember where that is because you’ll need them again when you’re not running a mudguard. Next, insert the bleeder valves into the eyelets of the FOX Mudguard, thread them back into place and tighten. Finally, you can secure the Mudguard to the fork bridge with two small screws. The installation takes quite a long time compared to the other models. The plastic spacers are quite easy to lose, too, which makes it difficult to quickly mount or dismount the Mudguard in the parking lot.

Because of the compact height of the valve head, you can easily slip off, which can leave unsightly scratches on the valves.

The eyelets on the Mudguard replace the plastic spacers. But be careful not to lose them if you ever want to use the fork without a mudguard…

The FOX Mudguard on the trail

Thanks to the elaborate mounting interface, the Mudguard sits very securely on the fork. It’s not surprising that it doesn’t rattle. The form-fitting interface with the suspension fork also offers good protection for the fork seals. However, the most important thing for a mudguard is that it keeps the dirt out of your eyes. In this respect, you can’t go wrong with the FOX Mudguard, though the protection isn’t on quite the same level as the longer MUDROCKER from SKS. Despite having the same length, the FOX offers more protection than the foldable mudguard from Slicy, which is partly due to the greater width of the FOX Mudguard.

Conclusion on the FOX Mudguard

The FOX Mudguard interfaces seamlessly with compatible forks, which makes it pleasantly quiet on the trail. It doesn’t offer as much protection as the best mudguards in the test, which we don’t see too critically because it still offers sufficient protection for most situations. It’s just that the comparatively long and elaborate installation of the FOX Mudguard makes it fall behind the competition. For those who want to keep their mudguard on the bike permanently, we recommend the shorter model because it doesn’t interfere with chairlifts and can stay on the bike.

Tops

matches the fork beautifully
no rattling
decent protection

Flops

some rivals provide even more protection
cumbersome installation

For more information, visit the FOX website.

For an overview of the group test: 8 mudguards in comparison

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Words: Sebastian Dirscherl Photos: Simon Kohler