Joe, I can certainly appreciate spending too much time worrying about aesthetics when you should be riding. Plus, this year in particular, I hope we all "need to get out more." I think you have a great looking bike that doesn't fall into a easily classified niche and the attendant (perceived) aesthetic roles that come with that kind of classification. It doesn't call out to me for fenders, and I don't think the rack is going to change that. Like Robert says, getting the rack level is far more important!
IMHO, certain bikes DO need fenders (regardless of racks or other accessories.) For example, a 650b rando bike looks absolutely naked without metal fenders to my mind. Like...they should be tagged NSFW on Instagram. But I also need to get out more. Brett, in, in Portland. On Monday, December 14, 2020 at 10:05:22 PM UTC-8 Joe Bernard wrote: > I need opinions on this matter because I've wrestled with it enough to > think I might be bonkers loony and need to get out more (probably and yes): > > This is my Riv Custom (pictured below) and it's about to get a Nitto RBW51 > rear rack to support a gray Medium Saddlesack. To go along with it I'm > thinking of adding fenders even though I don't particularly need them, and > find them to be a bit of a fussy headache. Here's my dilemma: I think racks > need fenders. Like it looks wrong if you just have a bag-support rack and a > bag over a bare tire. I know this is a thing with gravel/camping bikes now, > but my brain is stuck on the 'full touring bike' look of the olden days > which always had racks and fenders together. So whaddyathink? Do they need > to go together to look "right", or is my drop-toptube low-kicker Rivendell > already non-traditional enough that it doesn't freaking matter? > > Joe "he needs to get out more" Bernard > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/4516463c-0379-4c4d-a874-a40c70a617edn%40googlegroups.com.