[Closed] What do you actually hit your bash ring on?

I think I bent a big ring once, years ago. But otherwise, never hit owt. I use triple on all my bikes.

mine was always getting pranged, I mostly rode techy, rocky trails (practically trials in some places) now I don't ride MTB at all cos my thumb/wrist hurts too much, but weirdly road/ cyclocross is ok.

The boot lip dragging my gnarl machine out before I shredded the trails yo

always scrape the rocky drop on the cwmcarn DH course on my 5. HTH. i'm obviously not going fast enough.

only ever touched my 44T once, on the descent from minch moor at innerlithen on a massive rock. but thats it, never ever before or after that one instance.

Even on my play bike, never touched the 36 ring and as a consequence use an LG1 with no "taco" or anything

I use mine for scraping over niche singlespeeders blocking the trail...

Frequently on the tandem. That runs bashrings the largest of which is 36 and they are battered to heck, Dalbeatie I think we got 5 strikes on them

I run my solo with two chain rings but I don't bother with a bash

larger full sus bikes and tandems benifit from bash guards..........
they are however mostly redundent on most peoples bike............
place there for pose value....... 8)

A friend of mine smashed his E13 bash spectacularly to bits by bottoming out on a rock at massive speed. It was pretty damn rad.

Tandem has quite a long wheelbase though 🙂
That off the road bit Del? I can see the issue there but yeah, you should be clearing that. I ...errr.....walk it 😳

Top step of mmmbop.

The bash on my Pitch is well battered! Flying rocks and the odd grounding on logs and the like mainly. It's actually cracked all the way through!

I must admit to a perverse pleasure in attempting to ride any log or tree that everyone without a bash has to carry their bike over, too
🙂

No idea what I hit mine on, but took a massive slice out of my E13 at the mega this year. Needed to take a saw to it to smooth the thing down

SOunds messy Fortunateson, anything left of the bike/him?!

aye - that's the one. 🙂
edit - whoops, been away for a bit. the drop off the fire road, yes.

The bash rings take a good hammering on our tandem too.

You'd think we were trying to smash some of the rock steps if you followed us round Afan....

bash rings serve a double purpose innit.

removing the big-ring gives you more clearance, and means you can use a shorter chain, so you can run the chain tighter, so it falls off less. and you can use a shorter cage rear mech, so that gets bashed less.

so if you decide to remove the big-ring, putting a bash guard on will protect the middle ring from being bashed, and it'll help stop the chain falling off to the outside of the middle ring.

i've just looked at my bash-guard - it's been battered.

wot he said ^
and it stops you cutting holes in your leg, like my mate did.

wot he said ^ 😉

dunno but mine are chipped and erm bashed quite a bit on my xc and dh bike

only notice doing it on street stuff, walls or planters etc

I see the logic about running 2 rings so you shorten the chain and mech. It'd be neater but I prefer having 3 rings w bash, and my point is I rarely hit even that.

Must just be that I don't have a go at rocky steps and log crossings. Maybe I should try 😛 Used to have it on the commuter to stop me trousers getting chewed up mainly.

So what I'm getting is
Step drops
Logs
Street tricks
Trials

99.97% of the time I don't do those 🙂

The boot lip dragging my gnarl machine out before I shredded the trails yo

Kimbers thats because I end up making you avoid rocks I drag out into the trails with my wheels. Remember that one?

I roll more than lift so the smooth fat 36 bash is helpful on scary drops. It's a bit pitted but not too bad. I haven't missed the 44.

I've smashed a (36T) E13 bash in 2 in a rockgarden at Fort william DH track (could tell you the exact rock if you know the track well :wink:) and I've bent, cracked, dented many many others and bent a fear few BBs/cranks over the years riding DH bikes whereas on my hardtail I never hit the bash on anything ever, it's a tiny superlight alloy one only there to stop the chain coming off the outside of the (36T) ring.

Rocks, roots, a dog, flying stones.

Mine hits quite a lot of logs in the woods especially on the full susser when the rear end is compressed. Was also usefull on the woodwork at Whites Level before the ^ shape bit got worn down by all the big rings gouging it. I think I've hit it on a rock once maybe.
Anyway a bash is 32-36t and an outer is 44t so you're not going to hit is as much anyway.

Mainly a fashion thing

Yep that's why I put mine on. 😮

I can see if your sus compresses the BB drops a lot...which is worse the more travel you have

[img] [/img]

But the front wheel has to travel over any potential nasty rock first, so I don't see how it's really possible at speed. Maybe pyramid shape rocks?

Nave managed to flick big rocks up at my bash when travelling at speed off the front wheel. Still not sure how I stayed on the bike though

if its the rock im thinking of then yes it was rather big graham

Fuss and nonsense 😉
[img] [/img]

Something ain't right there

Fallen trees as I to like doing the 'I can ride over it whilst you have to get of and carry' thing.

5 holes in the back of my leg says i should have switched sooner!

the bash(s) on my dh and jump bike are HAGGERED though. rocks, flying rocks, and more rocks.

just fitted double and bash to xc bike.

come up to yorkshire and ill show you some trails where you grind out your rings if you like? (odd phrase) its never going to happen at a trail centre!

Mainly a fashion thing

Oh what a load of drivel...! 🙂

Rocks, logs, drops that I'm not doing fast enough.

Also safety aspect as mentioned above, I still have scar from a chainring going in my arm.

I only have a bash on my 6in bike though, normal triples on my 4in FS and HT.

"just fitted double and bash to xc bike."

Way to go. Both my 5" FS and HT have that setup now.

The problem with the dinky taco ones is that they don't help keep the chain on. Get a nice thick chunk of plastic on there. You know you want too.

^ cheers mate.

after 9 years in the peaks i cant really see what a big ring is for any more on an xc bike. it made much more sense in lincolnshire....

I like to blunder clumsily through rock gardens. Also in the Lakes you get loads of rocks flying up off the front wheel. My bash guard is pretty beaten up.

I've also gone had the bike land on me and gouged my leg before so I prefer to cover up pointy chainrings.

I never used my big ring anyway apart from on roads.

Moved to a double and bash in June. Due to general incompetence in rock gardens and over logs etc its now well battle scarred with 3 gouges and loads of scrapes. Gives me a bit more confidence in those "oh sh*t, should I be attempting this?" moments.

And don't talk about the pedals

I bash mine less on DH stuff than I do on climbs - big steps, logs that kind of thing at slow speed where you can't. DH, again, its the slow techy trialsy stuff that catches you out - alpine singletrack, Hebden tech etc.

Second the point about not having spiky things to rip your legs to shed when you crash too.

I have a double and bash on my FS (36t) and thats mainly to stop the chain falling/bouncing off the ring and to stop the apperance of any more scars on the inside of my right leg. I still have a triple on the HT though and wouldn't want a bash on there but i use my bikes for different riding.

First time at Afan I dropped it awkwardly off a step on the black run and folded the big ring over. I've run a bash since. The triple is pretty redundant except for things like the HONC when it goes back on. The extra clearance/protection for when you cock something up or are testing the water (smacked it at the Cwmcarn DH course road roll in the first time) is nice...

The naysayers just need to Gnar-the-**** up a bit 😉

Oh, and there's a massive log crossing near abbots pool in Bristol that unless you are riding god status, basically requires you sliding over on the bash with neither wheel touching the ground for a split second. 😀

I bash mine on lots of things, by the look of it. The biggest bonus is the shorter chain means less chain slap on the swing arm.

People's experience of the usefulness of these seems to vary a very great deal. It's impossible to judge on the forum people's skill level and degree of gnarl and whether the guys who don't hit their bashes are very skilled or just mincing, whether the guys with wrecked bashrings are particularly 'core or just very clumsy.

I ran one for a while, and it certainyl got some knocks in it, although I don't remember how. That led me to suspect that it was quite soft and was getting gouged by impacts that wouldn't necessarily have done the chainring any harm. And I found the jump between 22 and 36 rings slowed me down when climbing. So I'm back to a triple at the moment, although I don't use the big ring much. So I may end up changing back. Surrey, some tendency to mince. 🙂

I moved away from a bash to save weight and because I found I did use the big ring. Being in the big ring helps the chain stay on, and if you do clip anything with the ring, which I rarely seem to do anymore, even in places like the lakes, the chain and the ring combine to stop any breakage.

I'm pretty convinced most people fit them for aesthetic / fashion / fitting in reasons

People's experience of the usefulness of these seems to vary a very great deal. It's impossible to judge on the forum people's skill level and degree of gnarl and whether the guys who don't hit their bashes are very skilled or just mincing, whether the guys with wrecked bashrings are particularly 'core or just very clumsy.

Surely skill level has nowt to do with it? If you fit one, and it's useful, then that's all there is to it! 🙂

Some people hit their legs off their big rings, where a Bash ring would have done so much less damage!

[img] [/img]

If all you ride is trail centres - you do not need a bash ring.

I'm pretty convinced most people fit them for aesthetic / fashion / fitting in reasons

You could just as easily say most people have a big ring for those reasons.

EEwww, I feel strangely light-headed...

If I had a bash guard I'd hit it off 1 particular step on the 1st half of GTress black (goat track??) - it'd save me some bent / broken teeth. 💡

[i]Surely skill level has nowt to do with it? If you fit one, and it's useful, then that's all there is to it! [/i]

On the pure point of "is it useful?" this is obviously right. But these discussions are always conducted on the basis of whether you [i]should[/i] need one if you're riding "properly". 😉

Mine are pretty much beaten up, the 3 off them.
On the switch beatn up from rock flying and big step and all.
On the hoss it have been scratch on numerous occasion on logs as peter said it was nice to go over it when jey-hey Xc boys got stuck with the big ring.
On the HJ same as the switch.

Compared to my mates who seem to break stuff every ride, my bikes survive pretty well. I think I ride with a bit more 'mechanical sympathy', mainly cos I know if I break stuff it will cost me £££s. So maybe I'm just avoiding the stuff that will scrape my bike to bits. GTFU = $ 😛

I can see if you live somewhere rocky they are a good call. djglover you're right about using the chain itself to protect the big ring. Trouble is I found the only time I bash things is when I'm not in the big ring, and going slowly!

1 possible plus of a bigger bash ring despite it sticking out more, is that it has a larger radius, so creates a straighter path for whatever it's rubbing against. What do you reckon?

Also what about this for triple bashs....would save weight but perhaps better for log crossings than rock strikes?
[img] [/img]

But these discussions are always conducted on the basis of whether you should need one if you're riding "properly".

🙂

If I have one, I can ride over big logs. If I don't and I do the same, I damage my big ring. 'Properly' is nowt to do with it either. To ride MORE, maybe..... 😀

My bash rings get bashed a bit, admittedly less now I only ride HTs, the old MRP on my DH9 was mullered by the time I got rid of it, generally it was rocks that did any real damage, anything where you’re landing onto a field of rocks does it in DH, not so much slow techy stuff as the suspension isn’t compressing enough, I remember a few years ago (3 maybe) I did a dragon at Mountain ash where they’d changed the start, one pedal stroke and off a smallish drop and right in the middle of the landing was a nicely buried protruding rock, I watched 50 other riders all plop off the start and put their bash straight into that rock, and I did the same… Gethin is good as well if you want to give your bash ring a bit of a workout…

I don’t actually have a bash on my current DH bike at the minute, the BB on my Exalt doesn’t get quite as low as a bouncer would, and the Middleburn ring fitted is quite chunky so it’s not an issue, although I did bend the previously fitted shimano ring (somewhat thinner) by putting it straight into a tree in a crash.
The 32t bash on my trail bike does catch the odd log or stump despite being quite compact, and gets dragged over stuff on the ups/woodwork I guess it all comes down to how adventurous you are, I’ve never bent a triple, but then I never really attacked stuff in the same way when I used a triple…

As for the triple Vs double thing, it’s a pretty pointless debate, it horses for courses really.
I have been considering either upping my 32t to a 36t or getting a triple with some form or bash, I will say this though on group rides the fellas with triples only seem to use them to chop along on smooth flat (Boring) sections, and higher gearing doesn’t make them any faster on the DH bit’s, plus we’re all effectively pushing the same gears for the up’s so the net benefit is pretty minimal…