[Closed] Another chain device question...

No it won't.

get a proper chainguide with a top and bottom guide.

you shouldn't need a bash for XC

*bump*

Gamut P30, works really well and is very light

you shouldn't need a bash for XC

😆

this always makes me laugh and comes up time and time again. When mountain biking was [i]just[/i] riding around off road - before XC, freeride, all mountain, DH etc - teeth got knocked off outer chain rings. If it never happens to you when riding "XC" then count yourself lucky, slow, careful or nowhere near any rocks (or all of the above).

Someone will be along soon to disagree 😀

Don't always need a bash ring but if your bike gets really, really ragged then I'd say go for something like an E13 LG1 or MRP G2. They come with the 'bit' of bash ring which is required to protect your chainring and you definitely won't drop your chain and are nice and light.

this always makes me laugh and comes up time and time again. When mountain biking was just riding around off road - before XC, freeride, all mountain, DH etc - teeth got knocked off outer chain rings. If it never happens to you when riding "XC" then count yourself lucky, slow, careful or nowhere near any rocks (or all of the above).

Someone will be along soon to disagree

Obviously the simple things in life amuse you 😛

But yeah, I'll disagree. Luck doesn't come into it. if you ground out a 36T bashring regularly on your XC rides you need to think more about line choice and technique. FWIW I rarely ground out any of my DH bikes either, and they have very very low BBs. I can think of only one DH track I've ridden in the last 10 years where hitting my bashguard was actually required to ride the fastest racing line Any other hits have been from mistakes/bad line choice.

I do agree XC = all mountain = freeride = riding around off road = whatever new marketing phrase is coined to sell more bikes to mincers after a bit more gnar terminology.
but DH = DH riding/racing/practice on DH specific tracks and I'd categorise freeride comps differently too along with Dirtjumping, street, trials and park.

if you ground out a 36T bashring

...and this is the bit that makes me giggle. I have NEVER lost teeth from grounding. It is always from rocks pinging up and hitting the chainring. I could show you several "XC" trails in the Peak District that are loose and rocky enough to ping rocks up regularly. Eventually they hit and sometimes they hit hard. I don't believe for one minute that line choice or skill will help

...ooh, no, I did lose teeth once from grounding. But that was falling/riding off a concrete block so technically I was going down to meet the ground rather than the ground meeting me

Bollox!
it's down to your own clumsiness and lack of skill!
if your chain was actually on the 36T outer ring, how would the chainring lose teeth when it's the chain covering it that will be deflecting the rocks? you'd bend the chainring/cranks more3 easily!

"in the peaks" makes me laugh (well..more that not actually laughing at all closer to rolling your eyes/shaking your head thing)

BTW it's a skill to set up a drivetrain so as to rarely drop a chain without a chain device and also being able to spot it coming off and rescueing it as quickly as possible while riding.

it's down to your own clumsiness and lack of skill!

Maybe I am a numpty rider. A lot of people are, and my point is that as a numpty rider riding "XC" "in the Peaks" (what's so funny?) I have broken teeth off chainrings. I - and many others - can justify it. Why is that so hard to understand? As it happens I don't think I am a numpty rider nor do I think my riding pals are, but we nearly all have bash guards and all have the bash guard scars to show they are worthwhile.

I'm having problems with my drivetrain at the moment so for a beer or two I'd be more than happy for you to come and set it up for me. Come and show me how to be a better rider whilst you're at it. I've been angling after some skills training.

I didn't think I needed a bash guard for the riding I do - that I call XC - but in time I realised I did. Some people think you don't. Just wanted to give the OP some balance

since you haven't told me how the teeth broke off if covered by the chain, I'll tell you.

the chain wasn't covering it.

it would cost you a fair bit for my travelling expenses but I might be able to help from here. what's your set-up?

bike?
Chainrings?
cranks?
cassette?
mech?

learning to feel/notice a dropped/dropping chain is just practice, as is learning how/when to pedal it back on quickly and safely. after a while it just becomes second nature.

Great stuff! Here goes:

Whyte 46
Blackspire 36t "outer"
Deore 22t inner
XT hollowtech cranks
I think the cassette is XT too. Not sure what range - I'd have to check
Mech - SLX shadow

The main problems I have are:

1. Chainsuck, 95% of the time shifting from big ring to little ring e.g. approaching an uphill switchback in the big ring and wanting a quick gear drop (I'm generally about 1/3 up the cassette so not in lowest gear). 8/10 times I can rescue it but those other 2 times really irritate me (especially when mates overtake me)

2. Chain dropping off the little ring. This happens again when wanting to "drop" gears quickly for an uphill or techy section and the chain goes a bit too far. The stop is set as far as it can go

3. Indexing - I had this nailed for ages (Gore Ride-On cables) but up in Fort William a couple of weekends ago it started playing up. To be honest I just need to spend some time fettling 'cos I'm usually OK at sorting indexing.

I notice your comments on chain devices. I do get a lot of chain slap on the swing arm and had thought of a Blackspire stinger, but sounds like you might have some better ideas.

PS on particularly wintery/gritty days the chainsuck can be regular even when just pedalling, but I've put that down to stiff links and can [i]usually[/i] sort it out on the ride

well.. it sounds like you have quite a lot of things to check. Here are a few ideas:

firstly, your chain is probably too long.
stick it in 36T and largest sprocket, dump the air out the shock and bottom it out, now shorten the chan as much as is physically possible. Don't worry that the mech is stretched almost flat in this gear.

are your chain, cassette and rings worn? sounds like they might well be. if you can see a slight hooking shape on one side of the teeth that will be at least part of your chainsuck problem so replace that but from what you've said about striff links your only option may be actually be to replace the whole lot. have you replaced any one part recently?
stiff links should not be a recurring problem with a chain even a relatively neglected one.

what front mech are you using? SLX double? - that might be the best one to use for your set-up IMO, but sounds like you don't have it set-up quite right if it's dumping the chain inside the granny ring. Do you know how to set-up a front mech? ie. optimum height? angle? and limits?

since you are using a double, you could easily get away with running a slightly wider chainline by spacing the HTII BB differently.

You probably don't need a lower roller

indexing problems are almost always down to either something bent (mech/hanger/sprockets) or sticky cables. new cables are cheap. 😉

you have a monumentally high BB (for my liking 😉 ) so sticking the lightest smallest diameter, most open bash guard you can get on there will help with mud clearance.

You don't say, but you should also be able to run a short cage MTB rear mech
(or medium Road mech)

Parts wise, if you do need to replace the lot I'd recomend Deore 22T & 36T rings as they are cheap, work well and last. any SRAM chain (**** all difference in function) and a mid level shimano cassette (they all work the same but mid level are less prone to individual sperockets bending (and obviously cheaper too)

Great stuff. Cheers for this.

I'm usually pretty careful about replacing bits "in sync" if you like. My front mech is the stock mech which is for a triple. I did have some issues setting it up for a double so maybe I'll have another look at that.

Indexing? I used to suffer loads from cheap sticky cables hence why I went for Gore and never had a problem...until now. I wonder whether something did get bent in Fort Bill. I'll check that too.

The chainline - although a bit tricky to measure accurately - is 50mm. Is that not as wide as it should be?

{EDIT} rear mech is medium cage

Thanks again. I've returned from Scotland with a bike that can be ridden but has too many niggles now 🙁

yeah, 50mm does sound fine. strictly speaking for optimum performance chainline should be within a certain measurement (something like 47-50mm for a 135mm rear end) but you can space it to be slightly outwith those measurements if using a double upfront but whether it helps or not will be dependent on what spread of gears you use most (basically you'd want the chain at the least extreme angle across the gears you use most).