What have people got to work on a Santa Cruz VPP bike, I’m thinking about going 1×9 on my Blur LTc.

I have 1×9 on mine with an MRP chain guide, just the single one at the top £39. But I think I’m going back to 2×9 as my legs were knackered from yesterday. I use 1×9 on my Lynskey hard tail but its nice and light. The superstar guide is just as good at £14

I was thinking of a MRP G2 mini sl

MRP MiniG2 on my Blur 4X. Nothing needing to be done to it at all. Just bolted it on and away I went.

Thats what i like to hear. Is there much noise? rubbing?

Nothing. Runs almost silently (can hear a very quiet whirring as the chain goes over the jockey wheel). Just need to make sure the bolt on the back of the lower part of the device clears the lower pivot on the lower link but if the device is setup correctly, its at the perfect angle to do that.

Does the chain device protect the lower pivot enough then?

Erm. Protect the lower pivot? No but thats not its job 😉

Can post pics later if I remember?

that would be awesome Davey! What i mean is that when you take the big ring off whats protecting the lower pivot? Does the skid plate of the guide?

I’ve put a thin aly bash guard on my vpp tracer on the inside of the middle ring sandwiching the chain between the two bash guards like the widget. It’s as silent running as you can get at the front and clean looking with nothing bolted to the seat tube or bb. It has iscg mounts and I fitted a blackspire stinger but it was a crap fit and I hated pedaling with the chain tension on the roller. It’s fine on a DH bike but on a trail bike it wound me right up. The extra bash weighed 65 grams after machining and drilling some of the meat off it. 1×10 36, 11 36. Can do pics if anyone is interested in doing the same.

yes please 🙂

It does Neil. Runs a Taco so gives the same amount of protection as the e13 bash I was running before.

From experience of running 1×9 and now 1×10 for the last three years, my current favoured set up is to just run a top guide and not worry about the bottom guide/skid plate unless I am heading to the alps.

The drag that the lower guides tend to introduce is noticeable for trail riding and although it adds more security, if the chain does come off of the lower part of the chainring when using just a top guide, it usually just remounts back on when you pedal forwards.

I say ‘usually’ because the MRP 1×9 backplate is so flexy that it’s quite easy for the chain to get pushed down between the ring and the backplate, in which case the whole drive train fowls and ends up being a right faff to get the chain back up. You effectively have to push the back plate away from the chain ring and then yank the chain up again to remount it.

The e13 XCX doesn’t suffer from this problem because it’s backplate is about twice as thick as the MRP’s so it’s much stiffer.

You can also achieve the same outcome by mounting an e13 LG1+ and then just unbolting the lower guide and the skid plate. This is how I have my AM bike set up so that when I do want to run the lower part, it’s easy to bolt it back onto the bike.

Finally the inner geek in me has worked out that a 32t front by 11t rear, at 90 rpm is just under 20mph, which for anywhere that I’m concerned about how fast I’m going, is usually more than fast enough.

Yes you spin out on long smooth fire roads and tarmac, but I personally am then not worried about gaining speed. Everywhere else, 20 mph is more than fast enough and the 32t front by 36t rear is low enough for everywhere in the UK.

Here you go neil.

Nobody cares 😥

Reminds me of a yoyo 😛

You’re not supposed to use Taco style bashguards on Nomads (and probably Blurs too) as they invalidate the frame warranty.

I use a Gamut P30 device for 1×9 on my Nomad and it works spot on. I did have to file the mounting bolts down though so they cleared the granny ring tabs.

My Blur is 3ish years old, an ex-team frame and has been re-powdercoated so the warranty isn’t something I’d be too bothered about.

had an email from sc uk and they say there’s no warranty issue with fitting a 1×9/10 chain guide

A chain guide yes Neil but probably not a taco.

Sorry, taco?

The bit that says e 13 is the taco. If bashed hard it can damage the bb shell and some manufacturers say if used they will void warranty.

DaveyBoyWonder any chance of seeing your MRP and how its set up? Tried a stinger last night but it really doesn’t look like its going to work that well, looks like it’ll have to be one of these i reckon.

Been using an E13 lg1 for more than a year on my nomad. Hit the bash/taco lots but not the lower link. It is a mk1 though so I don’t know if the link is higher/lower than newer models. I have no notably issues with drag either. Fast setup aswell..

got any pics handy????

I’ll just link and save me the embarrassment of no pictures popping up..

=http://www.flickr.com/photos/61254273@N03/

FFS!
Nomad1
nomad2
Nomad3

I run a double and bash SLX on my LT2. It’s an SLX 22/36 with an 11/34 cassette. For the kind of stuff I do I would never think of going 1×9 or 1×10 – would be much too limiting.

My bike is almost 3 years old, and the SLX setup about 2. I’ve never once dropped the chain and never clouted the BB, even though the state of the bash guard can testify to the amount of rocky riding I’ve done.

What’s the reason for thinking 1×9?

Not sure if you are asking me, CM, but to me its a matter og realising I didn’t need the double and bash for what I rode. Took the double and bash of for a trip to Spain with uplift and gave it a shot without when I returned. To be honest I ride 70 percent uplift on my Nomad but have ridden The Wall and Whytes (to refer to something most know/have done) without too much hasle. I’m not super fit but as someone mentioned earlier a 32 in the front does it for me aswell- If I want to ride faster its usualy a question of letting of the brakes a bit.

I have dropped the chain a few times, not right off but down to the granny. Annoying though. I like the simplicity of running 1×9 and with the right chain guide you can also save some weight.

I’m also not mega fit but a winter of commuting has left me fitter than last year. Whatever happens i’ll keep the rings, mech and shifter aside.

The dilema is do I go for the MRP lopes SL which is the lightest and I know will fit but cost £100. The other option is to take a risk and get a superstar for a third of the cost but I’m not sure will fit right…..

Neil, you’ve got an LTc with, IIRC, some nice kit on it. Saving a few quid for what may be a bodge is not the way to go!

Just seen this Neil. I’ll try and get a pic over the weekdend as I need to do a bit of work on the bike after last weekends hammering.

would something like this work?

home made-
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam2442/5354204131/]14012011285[/url] by sam2442, on Flickr

The superstar one does not fit, its because of the huge BB shell, I dont think the Lopes one would fit either.

MRP does as far as i know, DBW has one fitted to his 4X, should be the same fitting. Its the lower pivot that’ll be the issue.

The superstar one does not fit, its because of the huge BB shell, I dont think the Lopes one would fit either.

Kind of wish I’d read this before hand. Just spent an hour or so trying to fit the ss plasma guide to my mrk1 nomad. Looks like to get it to fit I need to file off the granny tabs from the crankset….grrrr….

Kind of wish I’d read this before hand. Just spent an hour or so trying to fit the ss plasma guide to my mrk1 nomad. Looks like to get it to fit I need to file off the granny tabs from the crankset….grrrr….

No problems fitting a chaindevice to a MK 1 Nomad here, though I didn’t buy any cheap tat!
You shouldn’t need to file the granny tabs, 1mm B/B spacers are your friends…

I’ve just finished the design for a BB mounted Backplate for the silentguide from straitline.

If it works and I can get someone to machine a few, it will make a cheap guide. The top and bottom guides are only £16 from CRC. So with a smallish cost for the backplate it should be great, cheap and quiet. 🙂

When will this be ready Dave? Stinger doesn’t work 🙁

1mm B/B spacers are your friends…

yep tried that, but it meant the raceface cranks I’m planning on using then were too tight on the bb to rotate easily. Are shimano cranks a little more tolerant to slightly less spacing?

(bonus question – will XT chainrings fit a RF deus crankset ok if so I might swap them over?)

I could be interested in the silent guide ‘mod’