Product Review: PDW Dave's Mud Shovels

During the seasonal transition periods in the Spring and Fall, riding a fatbike can get a little messy.  Mud, sand, slush and puddles can get a rider all wet.  To combat this and keep riding dry and comfortable, Portland Design Works has made Dave's Mud Shovels.  These lightweight, quick-install fenders are wide enough to keep water, mud and muck from being flung all over your legs and backside from those big fatbike tires.

The Dave's Mud Shovel rear fender installs in seconds with an adjustable clamp and is long and wide enough (22.5" X 5.5") to keep your backside dry on the messiest of rides.  The angle of the fender can be adjusted to fit all makes and sizes of fatbikes.  MSRP $28.

The Dave's Mud Shovel front fender installs quickly with rubber straps that attach to the downtube of the bike.  It is long and wide enough (19.5" X 6.5") to keep your legs dry and clean when riding through the wet stuff.  The rubber straps accommodate a wide variety of tube diameters.  MSRP $20. 

When the mountain bike trails are closed during the spring thaw, I like to hit the gravel.  This allows me to keep riding until things dry out, but it can get a little dirty.  PDW's Dave's Mud Shovels become part of my necessary riding gear at this time of year.  Mud, water, wet sand and sloppy crushed limestone hit these big fenders instead of me.  My riding apparel would be filthy without them and I wouldn't be warm and dry.  At the beginning of winter, those wet snowfalls are another prime time for using the Mud Shovels.

These fatbike fenders are reasonably priced, lightweight and they do the trick to keep you dry.  Both fenders are easy to remove and clean up quickly with just a rinse and a wipe down.  One area that the rear fender doesn't cover very well is at the confluence of the seat stays, top tube and seat tube.  I usually have my frame bag strapped on and it always gets soaked and covered with dirt as the spinning tire throws a steady stream right on to this area.  Good thing my bag is made with water-resistant nylon and zippers keeping my gear dry inside.  Other than that, the benefits of these fenders far outweigh this small negative.  If you are an all-weather fatbiker, I would recommend Dave's Mud Shovels for all of your messy rides.

Note:  Please do not ride wet mtb trails, this causes ruts, trail damage and takes many hours of volunteer time to repair.  Allow trails to dry before use.  Your local IMBA chapter will thank you.

The front and rear Portland Design Works Dave's Mud Shovels are available from the PDW website, Penn Cycle and other fine bike shops.

Disclosure:  Portland Design Works provided the review samples for this article, but offered no other form of compensation for this review.

Product Review: Gup Gum Gear Bottle Cage Coozie

Winter cycling requires a rider to hydrate just as much as during warm weather rides, so slushy or frozen water bottles can be a nuisance.  To help extend the amount of time it takes to freeze up a water bottle, Gup Gum Gear handcrafts the newly redesigned Bottle Cage Coozie right here in the Twin Cites.  This product is fashioned to fit around standard water bottle cages and uses 3/8" thick closed cell foam for insulation to significantly extend the time it takes water to freeze.  Each Coozie has a heavyweight nylon exterior and medium weight nylon interior with holes for bottle boss bolts.

The front panel flap on the Bottle Cage Coozie pulls down for easy installation and removal.  One of the nice features of the Coozie is that it hugs the water bottle allowing removal and placement of the bottle back into the cage without any interference at all. 

My busy schedule lately has not allowed me to ride as often as I would like, but I did get a chance to test the Bottle Cage Coozies several times in varying below freezing temperatures.  For shorter rides usually lasting 1½ to 2½ hours with temps in the teens and twenties Fahrenheit, my 21 oz. water bottles remained ice free.  To extend this test for many hours, after a 2 hour ride with temps in the low 20's, I strapped the bottle cage/Coozie/water bottle combo from my ride to a pole outside and left it to the elements.  When starting this test, I filled the bottle with cold water from the refrigerator instead of using room temperature water.  I wanted to see how the Coozie would perform with water that was already around 40° F.

My results, after the 2 hour ride the bottle was free of ice.  After 6 hours and a temperature reading of 25° F when I checked the bottle, a thin layer of ice had started to form on the inside walls of the bottle.  At 13 hours I checked the bottle again, the outside temperature now was 20° F and the water in the bottle had frozen significantly, but not solid.  I was able to squeeze the bottle breaking up the ice from the sides allowing me to drink from it.  Colder temperatures than this test will speed up the freezing process but still allow a cyclist to get in several hours of riding without their bottles freezing up to the point that drinking from them is not possible.

*CamelBak Podium bottle with Jet Valve was used during testing.

Image Credit: Gup Gum Gear

Image Credit: Gup Gum Gear

Neil from Gup Gum Gear did his own testing on the effectiveness of the Bottle Cage Coozie and posted the above two photos and his results on the Gup Gum Gear Facebook page.  These are the results from his test:

"Cage Coozie comparison: A couple bottles from Saturday's ride. Green bottle was in a fork mounted coozie from 9:30am til around 2:30 pm. The white bottle was in a seat tube mounted cage (read: vertical) from 9:30 til about 1:30, then the cab of the truck - parked til 2, then driven home with the heater on. Outside temps were between 10 and 20. On the green bottle, the minor valve freezing was easily removed with a whack on a hard surface and was then completely free flowering. The ice inside was very minor. Both bottles were straight tap water; no additives.  The effectiveness of the coozie should be plain to see."

Image Credit: Gup Gum Gear

Ride longer without your water bottles freezing up as quickly with the insulating properties of the Gup Gum Gear Bottle Cage Coozie.  And they are not just for winter time use, I plan on using them during the summer to keep my water cold on those hot days.  My conclusion, these Cage Coozies are an effective way to significantly slow down the icing up of my water bottles on cold winter rides allowing me to stay hydrated as needed.

The Gup Gum Gear Bottle Cage Coozie can be ordered from the Gup Gum Gear Shop page for $25 each.  All Black Coozies are ready to ship and custom colors can be made to order by contacting Neil for a list of currently available colors. 

Disclosure:  Gup Gum Gear provided the review samples for this article, but offered no other form of compensation for this review.