Kinesis’ Fend Off light brackets are a satisfyingly simple accessory that enable you to mount bike lights or GoPros directly onto your mudguards without the need to bolt on brackets.
Made from 3D-printed ABS plastic, they snap securely into place, hugging the profile of Kinesis’ much-admired alloy Fend-Off mudguards.
Mounting bike lights on your mudguards offers several key benefits.
Aesthetically, it avoids cluttering your bars – important if, like me, you build bikes solely for the purpose of garnering Instagram likes.
More practically – and this is what drew me to the mounts in the first place – it enables you to run a handlebar or saddle bag without blocking the beam of your light.
This is a recurring issue with Carradice-style saddle bags – my preferred style of bike bag.
While it’s possible to clip a light onto a bag, there’s no guarantee it will be aimed correctly – i.e. in the line of sight of a driver. A typical clip-on light designed to fit a loop on a bag also isn't secure enough to put my weary mind at ease.
Out front, the mount enables you to mount a light and handlebar bag, again without cluttering your bars or obstructing the light’s beam.
The brackets come in three versions:
- Front: A horizontal tube mount for band-on lights
- Rear: A vertical pillar mount for rear lights, angled so the beam runs roughly parallel to the ground
- Front/rear: A GoPro-style three-prong mount
- A supplementary pillar is available to attach to the GoPro mount, enabling you to mount a band-on light and adjust its angle to your heart’s content
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The last of these is of most interest to me. All bike lights worth taking about feature a GoPro mount option.
Wherever possible, I opt for a GoPro-style mount as they make it possible to mount a light on the underside of an out-front computer mount, avoiding the faff of straps. The same is true here.
Unfortunately, that option wasn’t available when Kinesis sent me these to test, but I can still see a clear use case for the band-on versions.
One caveat: I wouldn’t hang a heavy front light from the mudguard unless you add an extra stay to support the forward extension – otherwise, you’ll be on a shaky trip to wobble city.
And at that point, you may as well have drilled a hole and fitted a 'proper' mount anyway.
In reality, I suspect most riders will be interested in mounting rear lights, especially if they use bikepacking bags on a mudguard-equipped bike.
Drill at your peril
It’s worth acknowledging that there are already accessories available to mount lights to mudguards, but most – if not all – require some degree of permanent modification.
Often the best source for niche accessories, Velo Orange’s E3 mounts, for example, are a great solution for dynamo lights, but require you to drill holes into your guards. Likewise, for the many mudguard dynamo light brackets on the market, such as those from Litemove.
Those work – and can look a lot cleaner than Kinesis' clip-on mounts – but the permanent alterations void any warranty. Most also don't play nicely with battery-powered rear lights unless you can find a mount that works nicely with the profile of a mudguard.
Alterations might not matter to you – as I mentioned in my piece on commuter accessories I couldn’t live without, a well-cared-for set of mudguards can last years across multiple bikes.
For example, an old set of Velo Orange mudguards I have is still going strong after eight years and a half dozen bikes, but they bear the scars of old mounts that no longer suit the current setup.
That’s not a huge issue on a workhorse commuter, but I understand why someone might not want to drill into their guards on a smarter road bike.
I expect these clip-on brackets will be a much easier, more appealing option for most riders.
