fathomer – depends where/what you ride
id not be doing without a guide if i was a downhiller, but i seriously doubt if you ride the peak at speed you’d struggle knock it off the chain with a clutch mech, well i haven’t and although im not the fastest going im not the slowest either
id say my last 2 rides with it on have been pretty testing, certainly i doubt i will ever ride much rockier than where i do so for me it works, if i lived somewhere flat i actually think you’d probably get away without even a clutch rear mech
it says it all when the olympic guys were running xx1 with no guides, do you really think those guys would have risked chain drop if they hadnt got confidence in it?! speaks volumes to me and the course was pretty rocky in places where it could have come off
its just one of them things that ‘works’*
*cant vouch for the longterm yet though with wear 😆