First long ride on the road bike at the weekend and I dropped the chain once. Totally my fault with trying to be too clever (long downhill followed by a sharp uphill so changed front and rear at the same time) but in untangling things I was worried about the carbon frame and the damage it was doing.
Has anyone got any experience of chain catchers for the road and whether they're worth the money?
I was worried about the carbon frame and the damage it was doing.
From the above quote the yes. Same thing happened to me and the next day I bought one and haven't worried about it since.
Given they're cheap it falls into the 'may as well' category for me.
Not road, but kept getting chain suck on my C456 and it's cut a nice chunk out of my carbon 😥 . Stuck a lizard skin patch over where it might do it again, it did it again and took the patch off with it. Ah well, the thing has loads of scratches and worn bits on it now, just don't care now 😀
For actual chain drops, aside from (okay MTB) a bash, I'm using an n-gear Jump Stop. Just a simple gadget that clamps to the seat tube and helps stop inward derailment where the mech cage fails to do the job (or in my case where you have no front mech).
Great on a cross bike and when you have to swap a wheel quickly, which is why they are now common on pro bikes one less thing to do when swapping a wheel.