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Single speeding w/o a bash guard?

3K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  elrancho66 
#1 ·
I'm wondering what Phoenix riders' experiences have been when riding a single 32t (or so) chainring without a bashguard. Any taco'd chainrings? Broken teeth? Dropped chains? I'm not an aggressive rider, but I do mainly ride the rocky Phoenix Mountain Preserve area, and don't want to get stranded miles out, or replace chainrings every other month.

Being a fan of 180mm cranks, my plan is to run a 3/32 single speed chain (like the KMC 610) to minimize dropped chains, with Middleburn or White Industries 180mm cranks with a 32t chainring, King cog, no bashguard (none availabe), and no chain guide. Is this a half-baked idea? Am I better off sticking to my Trutative Stylo 1.1 180mm cranks with bashguard, and maybe upgrading to a Shimano XT or XTR 180mm crankset (and ditching the outer rings and installing a bashguard)?

I'm gonna yank my Trutativ bashguard and ride without it and see how it goes, but am wondering if others have tried this.
 
#2 ·
I've used the race face atlas cranks sans bash guard with minimal problems for 2 years until the arm pressed into the spindle finally broke free (they had seen some action so it was probably time). I ordered a new evolve ss crank and left the bash guard on. The 2 main problems with not using a bash guard is yes you will bend/brake teeth on trails like national and you will have to keep on eye on your chain tension as the guard does tend to help keep keep the chain on the ring. I will admit the look is cleaner without the guard though.
 
#6 ·
No bashguard here. I'm running old skool Kooka 5-arm cranks with a Blacksphire steel chainring and SRAM 8-speed chain. I've had this combo for 4 years on an old Trek single-speed conversion and now my Biachi Rita and I've never dropped a chain or bent a chainring.

Honestly, I've never understood bashguards on a single speed. Seems like a lot of extra weight for little or no benefit.

Thx...Doug
 
#11 ·
No bash guard needed IMO

Ryder1 said:
I'm wondering what Phoenix riders' experiences have been when riding a single 32t (or so) chainring without a bashguard. Any taco'd chainrings? Broken teeth? Dropped chains? I'm not an aggressive rider, but I do mainly ride the rocky Phoenix Mountain Preserve area, and don't want to get stranded miles out, or replace chainrings every other month.

Being a fan of 180mm cranks, my plan is to run a 3/32 single speed chain (like the KMC 610) to minimize dropped chains, with Middleburn or White Industries 180mm cranks with a 32t chainring, King cog, no bashguard (none availabe), and no chain guide. Is this a half-baked idea? Am I better off sticking to my Trutative Stylo 1.1 180mm cranks with bashguard, and maybe upgrading to a Shimano XT or XTR 180mm crankset (and ditching the outer rings and installing a bashguard)?

I'm gonna yank my Trutativ bashguard and ride without it and see how it goes, but am wondering if others have tried this.
I have been running SS with and without bash guards for 11 years and IMO a bash guard is not needed for most types of riding. Breaking teeth on the chainring is rare since the chain does a good job of protecting the teeth, but I have slightly tweaked my chain on some severe direct hits, such as going over large rocks and logs ,,,,,,,,a bash guard in this situation does help obviously. Dropping the chain should not be an issue ever if you have a dialed in chain line,,,,,,,,,usually the chain will drop off to the inside of the chainring if the chainline is "off", so the bashguard wouldn't help anyways. I have SS's setup with 180mm White's, Paul's, Truvativ Stylos, old Race Face's, old Cook Brothers and a funky set of 176 Curves, they all are performing just fine...........:)
 
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