Surely a mudguard is just a mudguard? Well, after some seriously wet riding with this bad boy, we can safely say that the Mojo Powa Fender is a cut above the rest, despite its pretty opinion dividing looks…
From Dirt Issue 124 – June 2012
Words by John West. Photos by Steve Jones.
A rough prototype was first developed by Fabien Barel’s mechanic Paul Walton, and when Chris Porter from Mojo cast his eyes on it he could see the potential. Fabien, Paul and Chris then got down to collaborating on developing the fender and getting it out there to the public. Not only for use at muddy World Cups, being down in the Welsh valleys Chris knows only too well how nice it is to be able to see while plugging away on a muddy ride – so the fender is pretty relevant for us in the UK.
It’s totally made and packaged in the UK too, which does go somewhere towards justifying the massive £60 price tag, something that Mojo aren’t ashamed of, and they are happy in the fact that only people serious about wet riding will be shelling out the cash.
Fitting brackets are only available for Fox forks at the moment, covering the whole range from 32s up to 40s, with RockShox brackets on the way. The fitting is remarkably solid and isn’t going to be going anywhere in a hurry, which in turn means the guard doesn’t do any clattering around and stays just where it should, all done with a 4mm allen key and taking no more than a minute to fit or remove. The bracket is the key to this design. With the fender being attached to the fork arch (as apposed to under the lower crown) this means that mud and water are pretty much trapped.
With multiple uplift days at the Forest of Dean on the fender, in some pretty disgusting conditions, the most we could get onto our goggles was three tiny drops of water on a run, most of the time getting nothing at all. Fender off on a back to back run though and our lenses were looking like they’d been left under some mud–shitting seagulls for a couple of hours. The difference is huge and clearly defined. Even when moving around on the bike the guard still seems to erase any kind of spray from the trail into your face. We couldn’t find a compromised position. The dripping of muddy water from the guard at the end of a run is another sign it’s really doing its job. Days of riding in some seriously wet conditions have been transformed by this cleverly shaped bit of plastic, so much so that everyone that has ridden it has said they would actually buy one – a pretty bold statement. Some more understated graphics and RockShox/Marzocchi fitting kits being available would mean every box was ticked for us. As a mudguard, as mental as it might sound, we’re talking benchmark here.
£59.99
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