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Simple but effective, the Ass Savers Win Wing keeps your bum dry by harnessing the power of physics to make a light and minimal rear mudguard that nevertheless works well. It looks handily placed to make it into our best mudguards buyer’s guide too.
Sitting really close to your tyre, the Ass Savers Win Wing is in exactly the right position to catch water that’s thrown off the tread at a tangent. This is handy because as anyone paying attention in GCSE or O-level physics will remember, that’s the direction that things travel when they’re thrown off a spinning object. (It’s also why those shorty mudguards you saw on cheap ‘racers’ back in the 70s and 80s were useless. They were supposed to stop water that was flung radially off the tyre, but that’s not what happens.)
It Just Works™ and in terms of what it’s like to use there’s not much more to say, except that it’s also stable and rattle-free.
The Win Wing comes in two parts, a wishbone that mounts on your seatstays and a blade that clips on to it. You mount the wishbone so there are just a few millimetres clearance over your tyre, then clip on the blade so it sits at -10°, 0° or +10° to the wishbone.
The idea is that you get it in such a place that it puts your back from the knees up in a sort of ‘rain shadow’. That means you want it horizontal or slightly tail-up. A tail-down position will let water past from further down the wheel.
The wishbone’s held in place with two polyurethane rubber straps and you’re rightly encouraged to reef them up good and tight. That done, it’s possible to move them up and down the stays if you really shove hard, but they don’t move in normal use.
The downside of course is that the Win Wing doesn’t stop water from your back tyre from spraying up at anyone following you. This is a great aid to staying dry on solo rides, but please get your full-length-mudguards-equipped bike out for group rides.
There are loads of rear mini-mudguards out there, including the Zefal Shield Lite M that Stu reviewed, which costs just £6. The best of them include the £12 Zefal Swan guard that Ash rated very highly and the SKS X-Blade mountain bike mudguard that Shaun liked nearly as much. There have been loads of others that we’ve liked over the years but this is a product category where being good seems to be no guarantee of longevity.
The Ass Savers Win Wing can hold its head right up among this company. It’s as effective and simple as any of them, albeit at £22 it’s at the top of the mini-mudguard price range. Oh, and if you run tyres fatter than the 38mm upper limit of this version, there’s a Win Wing Gravel for you.
If you’ve got a bike that just won’t take mudguards, or you want a guard that you can pop on your best bike for the occasional damp solo ride, the Win Wing is for you.
Make and model: Ass Savers Win Wing
Size tested: Road (tyre width up to 35mm)
Tell us what the product is for and who it’s aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
It’s a mini-mudguard that has its own mount and does a very good job of keeping your bum dry.
Ass Savers says:
Full backside rider protection from the knee and up
Patent pending Wishbone attachment system
Attaches in seconds to every bike, requires no tools
Ultra-lightweight at 64grams
Suitable for tire widths up to 38mm
We have yet again rewritten the rules of fender design with our new, ultra-lightweight, clip-on performance mudguard – the radical Win Wing.
The Win Wing Road fits practically any skinny tire bike, protecting the rider in even the worst conditions. Ideal for winter training or if you want to add some comfort to your puristic urban ride. The Win Wing won’t rattle or jam, and with only 64g, you won’t even notice it’s there.
Based on the principal of Tangential Coverage, the Win Wing catches the spray by shielding the upper rear quarter of the wheel, protecting your critical areas (thighs, butt and back) and drastically increasing your comfort. And when comfort can be had without a weight penalty, that’s what we like to call a ‘win-wing situation’.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
Ass Savers has several times more words of tech info about the Win Wing than there are grams of material in one!
Technical data
Measures: 375x85mm
Weight: 64g
Material: Blade – 0.9mm PP (Polypropylene), Wishbone holder – glassfiber reinforced PA (Polyamid or Nylon) and Strap – TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane).
Tangential Coverage
The key to understanding how the Win Wing works lies in physics: water and mud leave the wheel in a straight line from the tangential point of release. By shielding only the upper rear quarter of the wheel, the Win Wing eliminates spray from reaching the critical areas of the rider with a minimum of material.
Mount right, mount tight
For the Tangential Coverage to work properly, the mudguard needs to be installed very close to the wheel. Aim for 5-10 mm tire clearance for maximum coverage.
The right angle
Just as important as a tight fit is the angle of the blade. There are three different settings to compensate for the angle of your seat stays. Choose the one that allow a horizontal or a tail-up position. Avoid a tail-down angle as this will reduce the efficiency of the fender.
Strap it hard
The straps are made from ultra-tough TPU and should be pulled as tight as you can comfortably do by hand. If you experience that the mudguard is not stable, try to use the next hole in the strap.
Anti-Jam
As sturdy as it is, the design of the Win-wing allows it to flex in case of an accident and it’s constructed to not jam in case of large chunks of nature get stuck to your wheel.
Anti-Theft
If you like to keep it attached to your bike permanently, the Win-Wing can be secured to your bike with a standard zip tie, through a designated slot, making it easier to resist for people with sticky fingers.
Reliable
Thanks to its sophisticated simplicity and careful choice of materials, the Win-Wing is virtually indestructible. With only four components (competitors use as much as 40 components) it’s not that much that can go wrong. The glassfiber reinforced wishbone holder is both flexible and tough and the rubber straps are virtually indestructible.
Pre-folding
The secret to transforming a flat piece of plastic into a functioning mudguard lies in the pre-folding prior to use. All the scoring lines have been carefully engineered to achieve locking mechanisms, self centering abilities, spring loading and material endurance. Please take the time to properly read the instructions/see the instruction video to ensure the best performance.
Sustainability
The black blade is made from 80% recycled PP and the Win Wing has been designed for efficient shipping and easy recycling. Each component can be purchased separately, making repairing and upgrading convenient. The Win-Wing is 100% Made in Sweden in ISO 14001 certified factories.
Rate the product for quality of construction:
8/10
Everything’s tidily moulded and pressed.
Rate the product for performance:
9/10
It keeps your bum dry. Nuff said.
Rate the product for durability:
9/10
It’s early days, but the wishbone, straps and blades all resisted a bit of simulated abuse.
Rate the product for weight (if applicable)
9/10
Rate the product for value:
6/10
It’s worth £22 for such a simple and effective way to keep your bum dry, but that price is a bit higher than most of the competition.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Very, very well.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
Ease of fitting, stability, keeping my bum dry.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Nothing.
How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?
There are loads of rear mini-mudguards out there, costing from just £6 for the Zefal Shield Lite M. The best of them include the Zefal Swan at £12, and the SKS X-Blade at £25. There have been loads of others that we’ve liked over the years but this is a product category where being good seems to be no guarantee of longevity.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
This is an excellent mini-mudguard and pretty much the only thing stopping it getting 10/10 is that it’s £22 instead of, say, £15.
Age: 56
I usually ride: Scapin Style My best bike is:
I’ve been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, club rides, general fitness riding, mtb,
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