I’ve only dropped the chain on my 1x gravel bike 2 times in thousands of racing miles. But one of those was during my A race last year on a very rough descent and it very easily could have ended my day with the way the chain doubled over itself. Ended up being a minor delay, but I see others running chainguides and figured it’s probably worth the insurance.
I like Wolftooth stuff and I’ve seen others running this version, but would love to hear any opinions before I spend $50. Anyone have good or bad experiences with it? Is there a better option out there? Any issues running a chainguide in general?
I run their LoneWolf chainguide. Because you know… two hairs lighter than the gnarwolf and all that In almost 5K miles on that bike, I dropped a chain from a chainring once. Maybe bad luck, maybe operator’s fault (could have left too much of a gap after swapping the chainrings, which I did not long before that happened), who knows.
I have it. I’ve never dropped a chain with it on. I started getting confident that it wasn’t needed, so I took it off, and have twice dropped my chain without it (in both cases with a worn Wolftooth 1x ring).
Two thumbs up for me. One of those products that works so well you doubt it’s even doing anything, until you realize it is.
I’ve heard good things about the GnarWolf, and Wolf Tooth stuff is usually solid. If you’ve already had a dropped chain mess up an important race, a chainguide seems like cheap insurance.
In almost 5K miles on that bike, I dropped a chain from a chainring once. Maybe bad luck, maybe operator’s fault (could have left too much of a gap after swapping the chainrings, which I did not long before that happened), who knows.