Looking at going for a thick thin chainring on my downhill bike. Anyone done this and dumped the chainguide, is it workable without a chainguide, or am I better also getting a topguide as well?
I am not the most rad downhiller so probably won't put the system under the kind of stress some others would.
Just keep a top guide. No harm in it. And on a downhill bike, the weight saving of not having one is pretty pointless.
I use a Blackspire Einfacx top guide, never lost a chain once (with Hope Narrow/Wide)
If be more concerned about mullering an expensive ring on a rock with no skid or bash
No way I'll take the guide off my dh bike even with a narrow/wide and clutch mech. For the sake of a few hundred grams it's going nowhere and it's got the bash guard to boot.
Big fan of the narrow/wide on my trail bike and never lost the chain at all despite trying hard. Don't want the first time to be cranking in to a big gap jump though!
I've got a fat/skinny and a clutch on the trail bike.
Wouldn't even consider it on the DH bike.
Cam Zink managed Ok at Red Bull Rampage with this setup
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I was planning to try it. But I've not ridden the dh bike for months... I think I'll leave the taco and top guide on but remove the roller as that seems to be where all the noise and resistance and general hassle comes from.
I have already broken 1 tooth completely and broke half of another on my trail bike.
I shall be trying out a NW ring without a clutch on my 170mm travel semi-gnarpoon, with a road cassette, that should mean minimal chain length, but it will still need to accommodate some chain grow of course...
TBF even SRAM don't quite have enough faith to completely exclude a chain device from their s****y DH group set despite the "x-sync" ring and clutch...
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If I encounter no drops I'll be surprised, if its only an occasional annoyance I might consider adding a clutch mech, if it just doesn't seem to work, then I will probably go back to some sort of chain device...
Someone has to give it a go I suppose, Doubt you'd want to be gambling a race run on it though.
How many cranks do you think cam zink put in at rampage?
Maybe a few but not as many as you'd need on your average dh track
You're probably more likely to drop a chain when you're not pedaling I reckon, which is most of the time in my case...
I can see me ending up with a short cage zee mech...
As some others have said its more about not destroying chain rings than dropping the chain.
Having taken a big chunk out of a couple of E13 polycarb bash rings on the dh bikes I would rather have something solid to hit than an expensive chain ring