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Narrow/wide rings

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,920
borcester rhymes
People using them...what do you do for a bashguard? Do you not run one? Integrated iscg mount? conventional ring bash?

thinking about un derailleuring but don't want to lose rock smashy confidence.
 

mattmatt86

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2005
5,347
10
Bleedmore, Murderland
I bought this guide for 20 bucks shipped on PB



Got out the dremel and cut the top half off and trimmed it up a bit to make it less bulky/lighter





Mounted it to the bike (didn't even have to take anything off, just slid right up and put two bolts through the chainring)






Took all of 15 mins, cost me 20 bucks and has saved my chainring numerous times.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,920
borcester rhymes
I don't have mounts so i'd have to go BB mount, and that's lame. I was thinking about destroying the aluminum bashguard that I have, and running either a dual or single "taco" setup. It's just nice to have confidence that you can lift the front wheel and eat just about anything, but with 30t being the hot ticket, I wonder if I even need to worry.
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,288
5,028
Ottawa, Canada
This is my setup:



SixC triple crankset, granny removed, 32t WolfTooth ring, Straitline bash. I would have liked to run one of those AMG or similar, but the Mojo HD has no ISCG tabs. Either way, this setup has been bombproof since March. I've dropped two chains all year.
 

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,882
447
I gotta say I'm impressed with how my 30t raceface ring works. No chainguide, bash, anything. I may try to make a little bash, just in case, but so far the clearance has been good enough not to whack any logs.

edit: I just realized that your east coast roxzors may pose more of a threat than our west coast decomposed logs, so a bash may be more of a priority :p
 
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jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,596
5,894
in a single wide, cooking meth...
No bash for me, and so far (well over 6 mos), no issues. Good number of front wheel induced rock shots to the BB area of the frame, but no damage to the ring. I also rarely hit my chainring on logs (thankfully), but on a the few occassions its happened, no problem.
 

JustMtnB44

Monkey
Sep 13, 2006
840
113
Pittsburgh, PA
I haven't run a bash guard in a while with no issues here in western PA. On my Spitfire I currently have 1x9 with a MRP Lopes SL guide in the front which works well, but is a bit noisy. I am going to get a wide/narrow ring up front, a Shimano XT clutch rear derailleur, and try it with no guide or bash and see what happens.
 

Carraig042

me 1st
Apr 5, 2011
732
353
East Tennessee
I have been using a narrow wide chain ring from RF on my new Troy since I got it with a clutch derailleur. It has not fallen off once yet and no chainguide. I have done lots of xc trails and a couple dh jump trails. It seems like a great system.

-Brett
 

mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
I have a narrow/wide chainring on my DH bike. For a bash, I have an MRP G3, which I just removed the upper guide, leaving a bash (and tensioner). A buddy did the same mod, but with a G2 guide which leaves him with only the bash. So, that's basically pretty similar to an MRP XCG (which you can get in BB mount). It's pretty much mattmatt's idea above of taking a standard chainguide and removing parts to leave you with just a bolt on taco.

Also, you can get an old chainring, remove the teeth on a belt sander if you have one available, or get a standard bash ring. Or, if you want something that looks lower profile (and lighter) than a standard bash, Shimano has a 1/2 bash:

 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
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borcester rhymes
yeah I'm not worried about retention. A single ring on an xc/trail bike, clutch der or not. I might be the last person on earth with a front derailleur, so losing some weight (lots of weight) would be pretty cool, and the heavy aluminum bash I have is probably part of that. I'm just wondering whether people are getting away without running a bash on a 30t, otherwise I'll continue to run mine or try and make some kind of hack job.

That saint piece is exactly what I want, but it doesn't appear to be available as a single unit.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,559
24,182
media blackout
yeah I'm not worried about retention. A single ring on an xc/trail bike, clutch der or not. I might be the last person on earth with a front derailleur, so losing some weight (lots of weight) would be pretty cool, and the heavy aluminum bash I have is probably part of that. I'm just wondering whether people are getting away without running a bash on a 30t, otherwise I'll continue to run mine or try and make some kind of hack job.

That saint piece is exactly what I want, but it doesn't appear to be available as a single unit.
i have a triple crank on my xc bike.

if you want some old saint bash guards to hack apart i have a box of them. hell, for a 6 pack i'll cut it up for you.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,920
borcester rhymes
bash rings in 36t run at more or less 100g. that's heavy to you?!
156g, which is a third of a pound. I'm not necessarily a weight weenie, but the though of losing almost a pound off my ride by ditching the shifter, derailleur, cable, and one ring is nice. Losing even more via a bash would be pretty cool too. I might cut up my saint or SLX thing, but the saint covers a 42t..
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,288
5,028
Ottawa, Canada
:rofl:


must spread ....
same here... must spread.

anyways.... sammich: I recommend ditching the rest but keeping the bash for now... you're still losing 2/3 of a pound. and it works well. I'm having my dropper post worked on right now, and the simplicity of having no cables coming from the left side of my handlebar is marvellous...
 

sbabuser

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2004
1,114
55
Golden, CO
I had to ditch the front derailleur on my trailbike before I could stomache adding an extra cable for the dropper post. I am pretty happy w/ the Blackspire der guide. It's not silent, and I'm sure adds some drag, but under 150g and ensures that I don't drop a chain. I can tell by the number of gouges on the bash taco that it's saved my chainring a goodly number of times.
 

blindboxx2334

Turbo Monkey
Mar 19, 2013
1,340
101
Wets Coast
I am pretty happy w/ the Blackspire der guide. It's not silent,
mine isnt silent.. but its about as quiet as youre going to get it with some friction and a dirty chain that probably should get more attention then i give it..

im actually really impressed with mine on the big bike.
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
I've been running a single ring with a clutch and the simple e13 top only guide all year with zero issues. No dropped chains. No bash.
The chainring isn't as fragile as you might think with a chain on it. As long as you aren't going full speed into rocks it will be fine.
If you do, it's really only a couple bucks in the grande scheme.
 

Kanye West

220# bag of hacktastic
Aug 31, 2006
3,740
470
If I had to be the mayor of a couple million Canadians I'd probably smoke crack too.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
sweet! With that, all I'd need is a new crank, bottom bracket, and direct mount chainring!
My bad. I thought you were already running light carbon cranks due to the statement below:

yeah I'm not worried about retention. A single ring on an xc/trail bike, clutch der or not. I might be the last person on earth with a front derailleur, so losing some weight (lots of weight) would be pretty cool, and the heavy aluminum bash I have is probably part of that. I'm just wondering whether people are getting away without running a bash on a 30t, otherwise I'll continue to run mine or try and make some kind of hack job.
 
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manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,644
1,214
Nilbog
3 months on a wolftooth/xtr crank/saint short cage clutch setup here. No dropped chains, plenty of logs slammed, ring is great.

Personally havent ridden a bash in about 4 years and we have lost of stuff to bash into, just dont see the need.