Finishing With Fenders

Front Fender Comparison.
SKS is at Left. PB are Installed

So there you have it. In the final analysis, Buddy wound up with a Planet Bike SpeedEZ Front Fender using the SKS Stays, and an SKS Rear Fender. If I were starting out from scratch, what would I do? Well, comparing them, the SKS Chromoplastic fenders are pretty similar to the Planet Bike Cascadia Fenders, except they're about $10 cheaper and lack mud guards. The stay design is different, with the PB fenders using two separate stays while the SKS use one long one with the eyelet loop integral in the middle.

Rear Fender Comparison. SKS is at Right (Installed)

As you'll note, the stay design is similar enough that you can use either fender on either stay. I prefer the SKS stays because they don't take up as much room as the PB stays, which are much like those that Bluemels used back in the 1960s. SKS DOES offset that with a "safety" plastic breakaway thingie for the front fender which none of the bolts provided actually work with. The plastic thingies are sitting on the table.

When it comes to the fenders themselves, the photos make them look more different than they do in regular light. There is a slight bead in the center of the SKS fenders that make them a touch more rigid.

If I believe Peter White, the SKS might have a bit of a durability edge. Myself, I think you could flip a coin and do equally well. Because of the stay design, I'd tend to favor the SKS fenders and add a mud flap of my own. Since I started out with the PB, I'll stick with their mud flaps and replace the fenders if and as they crack over time. I'm sure I can put a PB mud flap on an SKS fender if necessity so dictates.

OTOH, I'm still using Bluemels fenders I got back in 1972 (on Frankenbike), so maybe Peter White's claim that fenders are life limited items is not really true.

One BAD thing about abandoning the "rubber bungee" approach. Attaching the stays did cause paint chipping which will have to be dealt with in good time. Bikes had better paint in the olden days. The paint on the Motobecane will probably outlast human civilization.