After seeing this
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gallery/article/specialized-2012-mountain-bikes-first-look-30937?img=1&pn=specialized-2012-mountain-bikes–first-look&mlc=news%2Farticle#14

I got to wondering why the DCD died a death? Why did it not evolve into something a bit posher than it was?

It worked fairly well to be fair, suppose it could be all the swirly stays etc. hmmm.

Chainstays and fashon i would say. I had a lemon yellow one on my old GT. When it got nicked some bike thief was treated to a whole host of not-quite matching colour choice add-ons 8)

Only bike I’ve had that it would have fitted on since is a steel singlespeed, since all the others had big, square or wierd-section hydroformed (yes you kinesis) chainstays.

I remember the Ging Chain Device which had a cog on it, unlike Dave’s Chain Device with the chain rubbing over it that created a lot of noise.

The Ging chain device worked with swirly chain stays. 😉

I guess they sort of died maybe because the ones that mounted on the front cogs were better? I’m only guessing..

i’ve never understood the point of the bottom roller anyway, just run a shorter chain, shirly?

nah it was way better than just a shorter chain.

I had one, purely becuase Martyn Ashton had one on his giant trials bike. I fitted mine with a ging cog to avoid the rubbing rumble noise too. The idea being the narrower ging cog would ‘float’ on the DCD axle from left to right with the chain line … until the axle wore a bit anyway …

Those were the days eh?

I suppose the idea was that rather than piling all that responsibility onto the rear mech spring, the roller kept the chain engaged with more teeth on the bottom of the chainring irrespective of chain tension, making it less likely to jump sideways off.

I always favoured the Bullet Brothers chain device – in fact, I’ve got a nos purple anodised one ready to go on my Kona Lava Dome.

I had one on my Schwinn too, but that got nicked…

Do they have any sort of retro value these days?

I’ve got one in the shed somewhere…

I had one, purely becuase Martyn Ashton had one on his giant trials bike

No you didn’t, you might have had one because Martyn Ashton had one on his Cannondale , or because Martin Hawes have one on his Giant but not Ashton on a Giant.

Yes, I am that sad, and yes I had one too. A red one, it was useless but I thought it looked cool.

Oops. Ah yes. That bit of marketing worked didn’t it?

Cannondale Volvo wasn’t it? Blue with yellow bits and a union flag DCD.

Had a red ano one on a red painted frame. JUST not matching. Was great 😀

i reckon a nos one would have value .. some retro builds would need one for sure. mind you i bet you can pick em up fairly easy.

had a number of em..
and they worked..

these days mechs are supposed to have better tension (if you believe all the bollox adverting) so they are not needed..

personally am not convinced

that new xtr one with the clutch thing looks good though eh?
hope we get the trickle down technology.

The likes of blackspire stinger and other lower roller devices suggest that the DCD’s failing was its mounting rather than not being needed.

I had a Bullet Brothers which worked well, probably still got the arm somewhere but the spring snapped long ago.

Not mine, google image threw it up from a 2yr old STW classified

Had this, have no idea what happened to it, felt as though it needed more side-to-side movement, like an upper jockey wheel, wasn’t very good with 3 chainrings up front, but did work very well!

I like the look of that new rubber one on the new Specialized.

Don’t Bionicon have one similar?

My God! A Ging! Haven’t seen one of those since about 1998!

I made my self chain device out of an old jockey wheel and a light bracket. I’ll have to get some pictures up.

munge-chick – sure thats my photo…

Could be! Saw a guy commuting in oxford on a bike with a DCD today-rest of the bike was period too with classic nineties bombers 8)

Just looked in the shed….found a red anodized Ging and a black DCD…Bonus!!