Author: Ty
Date: 30-04-03

Ok time for a full review, I received my new Evil chain guide with the clear Makrolon® Bashguard mid last week along with some FSA V drive cranks and a Truvative DH BB. I was super keen to see what the guide looked like on the bike so I built it up right there on the counter of the shop, I got it all together then found the instructions in the bottom of the box.  

The guide went on so easily that instructions really weren’t necessary for a hardtail, but they do give some tips for mounting on a duallie with different BB widths (listing the number of spacers required etc) and setting it up for longer travel bikes. After mounting the guide I expected to see my chain line had gone to hell but the shim system kept it nice and tight.

Once it’s all on you can really see that there is no chance for the chain to get out of there, the top and left hand side is boxed in by a plastic guide and the outer side is held up tight against the bash guard. On the bottom a sealed bearing roller wraps the chain about an extra 30 degrees around the ring and it is also squeezed between two plates, this bottom roller fits up tight under the chain stay to protect it against smacking on rocks or getting damaged grinding.

So the industrial designers and engineers have done a good job but the proof was going to be in the riding. First off I went out shuttling with some of the other Farkin crew members, the guide worked flawlessly, it was much quieter than I had expected with all that plastic having such tight tolerances and at times it was easy to forget it was on. It just worked, enough said.

Last weekend I also had the chance to give it a bit of race testing, it turned out to be a wet weather test with heavy rain before and during the race making a river out of the track. Again I never had to think about the guide. In one of my practice runs I thought I’d give that flat Makrolon® bashguard a run for it’s money by landing bashguard first onto a pointy rock (I didn’t really mean to). I almost paid for it with my teeth but the guard only had the smallest of scratches. I felt disappointed with my effort sto hurt it. The only time the guide started to make its presence known was when all the mud started to dry and there was some scraping sounds, but you get that, it’s Makrolon not Teflon.

The real test came late one afternoon when I decided it was time to hit up the skate park.  I’ve been trying to learn to sprocket grind on a blackspire alloy guard but the aluminum is actually quite soft (as aluminum is) and I would lose speed and not be able to grind very far along a flat surface, no more than 2 meters. Also after about 15 grinds the alloy plate suffered greatly, being slightly bent and very badly eaten away.

The first grind I tried with the Evil I knew I was on something different, it didn’t ‘bite’ into the coping like I was used to and the bike flew out from under me, dumping me square on my arse, at that moment I knew I was onto a good thing. I messed around at the Skate Park trying to break the thing for about and hour before I returned home to inspect the damage.

The cement and metal did take their toll on the bash guard but the rest of the guide was in perfect condition and the lower roller assembly wasn’t even touched (I’ve broken or bent many bottom rollers before).

I think I will be very happy with this chain guide for a very long time. I admit I was quite abusive with the guide but I was still pleasantly surprised as to how well it held up.
Good design and innovative new materials pays off.
4.5 out of 5

Big thanks to Gavin @ Ashgrove Cycles for bugging the guys at Norco everyday till I got my chain device

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