For many years I have never bothered with mudguards on my succession of mountain bikes and my now latest, a 'hybrid', which as many know, is in the style of a mountain bike but smoothed up a bit for road riding, not quite so straight handlebars and narrower wheels with smoother tyres, etc..
Flaps on a true mountain bike always look a bit cumbersome and anything more than a simple small mud shield, then very easy to lose your 'cred'.
Problem for me, is that I live rurally which is where I choose to live and following country lanes, it's impossible to avoid what is on the road after a herd of cows has crossed usually at milking time. Let's not be crude, but yes, that kacki and sometimes very sloppy stuff!
It was important for me riding a one thousand pound bike, I didn't want it looking like a shoppers dogcart if fitting mudguards.
I overheard on a cycling forum one day, their talking about mudguards and the name Beaver Tail came up and how good they were.
I bought some. They are fabulous!
What struck me from the outset, how well designed they were and not just from a practical point of view, the width actually covering the tyres but they looked great aesthetically, in fact splendid!
Very easy to fix with their single point fixing with a simple clip as well for the rear guard to clip the seat down pipe and very happy to find them rigid enough not to flap about.
And to cap it all, a very inexpensive way to resolve my 'back' problems.
Yep, I thoroughly recommend the Beaver Tail mudguards.
I bought theses for my 26" wheel mountain bike with front suspension. They fitted well, back and front, and although the screws were on the long side this could be easily rectified.