Using it freeriding, would love some reccomendations 🙂

CNC

Could anyone elaborate as to why? I’m thinking the cnc one will be more prone to snapping?

CNC certainly look a lot nicer IMO

Polycarbonate tend to slide better on impacts.

IME plastic ones break and crack more often than metal ones

What do you think is stronger metal or plastic?

We once made these funny wheels for clearing land mines ,they were plastic, a particularly tough plastic ,I tend to think plastic is tougher and absorbs energy better, however maybe a tough grade of aluminium would also work just fine rather than a high tensile grade…..heads off to see what I can cnc machine next

Well I’m thinking thick chunky plastic will be a lot more impact resistant than thin metal?

I have cracked and seen cracked a number of plastic ones but never a metal one

PVD breaks every kind of bashguard he’s tried,quite interesting to watch his battles with stuff

Junkyard – lazarus
I have cracked and seen cracked a number of plastic ones but never a metal one

I’ve bent various metal ones, and I’ve cracked plastic ones.

Take your pick imo. my preference is static plastic guard behind the chainring

I recently noticed cracks appearing around the bolt holes of my Blackspire plastic one.

If it did break while I’m out I’d be stuck, because the bolts would be too long to hold the chainring in place without the bashguard!!!

For this reason I replaced it quickly with a metal one.

Definitely polycarbonate – have a look at your inbox 😉

I decided to go with polycarbonate on the grounds that anything I hit that hard I’d rather the force went into breaking the guard rather than possibly damaging my cranks/bearings/bb area. A mate stacked his alu one onto a boulder and twisted the spider on his cranks by a few mm. You could barely see it by eye but you could tell when pedaling or changing gear!

I’ve been through 3 polycarbonate ones in the last 7 years and they have all failed around the bolt holes (usually just one) but never came off or broke in a way that left me unable to pedal (plus I still have a granny ring for real emergencies).

I treat them as a sacrificial and deliberately weak link in a chain of much more expensive parts.

One problem with polycarbonate is that certain chemicals (such as oils and solvents likely to be found in chain cleaners and lubes) can cause the plasticisers to migrate from it, leaving you with a very brittle object. Some manufacturers do mention this in the instructions, but you’ll have already bought it by then,and how many people actually read them anyway?