What's the deal with chain guides?

[strawjack]

My friend is looking to convert to 1x and looking at new bikes some have a chain guide and others do not. What determines the need?

Santa Cruz has a mix..Nomad has one, the 5010 does not. My kids new Special Enduro has one.

[kidwoo]

Get bike.

If chain falls off, get guide.


Stock bikes including chainguides or not is based more on perceived use more than anything. Santa Cruz for example thinks you'll ride the nomad on rougher terrain and bounce around a lot more. The rub of course being that the 5010 will actually rattle around more since it has less travel.

Some frames/designs toss chains worse than others. Narrow/wide rings are good, and so are chainguides. At the very least one of the lightweight top only guides will do the trick and not add too many precious grams.

[strawjack]

Get bike.

If chain falls off, get guide.

Succinct and simple. Perfect, thanks

[bsavery]

Just get one of these unless you need a bash guard. Done.

http://www.oneupcomponents.com/colle...ucts/top-guide

[HankScorpio]

With a clutch derailleur and a narrow/wide chain ring there isn't really a huge need for a chain guide unless you have a full suspension bike that requires a longer chain or if you're riding insanely technical terrain.

[strawjack]

Just get one of these unless you need a bash guard. Done.

http://www.oneupcomponents.com/colle...ucts/top-guide

Yeah, he needs a bash guard as a lot of our climbs are up over boulders that we don't always clear. Going 1x will certainly help, but another friend had to buy a guard for his 1x, so...

With a clutch derailleur and a narrow/wide chain ring there isn't really a huge need for a chain guide unless you have a full suspension bike that requires a longer chain or if you're riding insanely technical terrain.

I don't know about 'insanely', but we do ride techy terrain. No big air drops, but just a lot of granite with steep drops that you can roll off or wheelie off depending.