I am looking to upgrade my cranks and I want to do a chain guide/tensioner at the same time. Do I need to get a chain guide that matches my cranks? Or can any chain guide bolt up to my bike? I have never messed with one and I know nothing about them.

These are the cranks I am looking to get:

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/CR302A06-Race+Face+Evolve+Dh+Cranksets+08.aspx

Would this guide work with these cranks:

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/CG409B20-Truvativ+Shiftguide+06.aspx

And whats the deal with the wide range of pricing on the guides? Thanks Guys

well it depends. The cranks are great, but they are DH cranks. do you plan on running a front Der? if you do then the shift guide will be fine as it works with a 2 ring setup with a front der. if not then I suggest going with something like this http://www.beyondbikes.com/ItemMatrix.asp?ic=17230&GroupCode=PG-510&MatrixType=2&agent=Froogle&utm_source=Feeds&utm_medium=GoogleProduct&utm_campaign=Froogle thats what I use and it works like a champ. you will have to lose the Bash ring, and make sure you have ISCG05 tabs and you will be good, and you can not beat the price!

these cranks are better:
http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/CR303A00-Shimano+Lx+Fc-M582+Crankset.aspx
although race face has good customer support, the shimano has a better design because it has a finer spline on the drive side and they are much lighter weight (stronger to boot). i've had those same cranks on my DH race bike for 4+ years with 0 issues.

chain guide choice will depend on the bike and what you want to do with it. do you have ISCG tabs? if so which standard. truvativ guides suck honestly, thats why they are so cheap, they bend easily, parts come loose and fall off etc. buy an e.13 guide, much better quality and design. if you want to keep your front derailler, buy the Dual Ring Security, if you only need one chain ring buy the LG1. MRP makes comparable guides to e.13 but they are usually priced a little higher.

If you are on a budget, that truvativ guide will work. The e13 guide is superior, and you do need to know what type of bb tabs you have, if you don't have iscg tabs (you'll know when you see the bb, its obvious) you can use the truvativ supplied adapter plate or sometimes they just use the bb to mount. As far as cranks those shimano lx cranks are nice (I have a set on my hardtail) but not an an ideal choice for dh unless you are lightweight or not riding hard, some racers run that type of crank (typically xt or xtr) to save wieght (on a dh bike), but they replace them often, those race face cranks would compliment a dh, freeride, jump bike nicely.

Prices fluctuate greatly, the newer lighter stuff is more expensive, and the simpler older stuff is less. That truvativ unit will hold you chain on, but no bash guard and it uses a metal bushing (rather than a teflon plastic) and it will make annoying squaking sounds, I had that guide on an old hardtail of mine and I started carrying a bottle of tri flow around on rides because I could not bear the squaking, just a gripe. Properly adjusted that truvativ unit will not throw a chain.

so you can run that chain guide with a front derailer? i thought chain guides were for single cogs only up front. i'd love to have a chain guide on the front of my bike with my 3 cog. so this is possible now?? i haven't been keeping up on reading the latest and greatest bike info. i just ride.

I have owned the external BB version of both the Race Face and the Shimano cranks. The Shimano are far superior for several reasons. The first is there method of bearing preload. It relies upon a collar that pulls the non-drive crank arm onto the spindle as opposed to the Race Face that relies upon shims to apply preload. Trust me, unless you are lucky it will take you at least an hour of fiddling with spacers to get the Race Face set up correctly.

The bigger pro to the Shimano cranks is that the crank arms clamp onto the spindle as opposed to the RF which use a press fit. The press fit will eventually wear out leading to slop and a trashed set of cranks. That being said, the Truvativ have a good low budget offering, but Shimano is IMHO superior in all facets.

As far as chainguides go you can buy ones that are meant for single ring applications, and ones that are meant for dual ring applications. Honestly you probably don't even need the biggest ring, replace it with a dual ring guide + bashguard and you will get better ground clearance with less of a chance of trashing your chainring.

I'd stick with e.13 chainguides. They tend to be the best engineered, the lightest weight, and are still a competitive price. You really can't go wrong.

The bigger pro to the Shimano cranks is that the crank arms clamp onto the spindle as opposed to the RF which use a press fit. The press fit will eventually wear out leading to slop and a trashed set of cranks. That being said, the Truvativ have a good low budget offering, but Shimano is IMHO superior in all facets.



Pinch bolts on crank arms are NOT superior at all. If installed properly any press fit will work better than something with a pinch bolt. Truvativ cranks have a huge benifit, no bearing preload. They do not have to be adjusted at all so you never have to worry about the preload being correct.

Pinch bolts on crank arms are NOT superior at all. If installed properly any press fit will work better than something with a pinch bolt. Truvativ cranks have a huge benifit, no bearing preload. They do not have to be adjusted at all so you never have to worry about the preload being correct.

In this the case the pinch bolt design is superior. The press fit may be great and all but if it wears out after 5 presses then what good is it? It takes that long to get the spacers right setting the bearing preload as it is.

And the Truvativ cranks do have bearing preload. The installation instructions call for torquing the bolt holding the non-drive crank arm until there is no longer play in the system. Essentially the same thing as the Shimano design except Truvative relies upon the spindle bolt to hold the crank arm on as opposed to pinch bolts on the arm.

I have a Race Face DH 2 speed with bash ring. You can have.

In this the case the pinch bolt design is superior. The press fit may be great and all but if it wears out after 5 presses then what good is it? It takes that long to get the spacers right setting the bearing preload as it is.

And the Truvativ cranks do have bearing preload. The installation instructions call for torquing the bolt holding the non-drive crank arm until there is no longer play in the system. Essentially the same thing as the Shimano design except Truvative relies upon the spindle bolt to hold the crank arm on as opposed to pinch bolts on the arm.

First off there is ablsolutely NO bearing preload adjustment on Truvativ cranks. The arm and the spindle pinch the inner bearing spacer and orient the crank but do not do anything to the bearing.

Pinch bolt is not superior plain and simple. The design of a press fit does not have a limit on how many times it can be installed if it is done correctly and that is a FACT.

First off there is ablsolutely NO bearing preload adjustment on Truvativ cranks. The arm and the spindle pinch the inner bearing spacer and orient the crank but do not do anything to the bearing.

I'll concede you that one. I assumed Truvativ BBs worked the same as Shimano.

Pinch bolt is not superior plain and simple. The design of a press fit does not have a limit on how many times it can be installed if it is done correctly and that is a FACT.

In theory a press fit is superior if it is done correctly. In my years of experience with press fit cranks I have never run into a case where the press fit did not loosen with time. Unless Race Face (or Truvativ) has made changes in the past couple of years to remedy this problem I would have a hard time recommending them. Additionally I have witnessed numerous cases where the self extraction necessary to remove the arms stripped out the threads rendering the cranks useless. Therefore for this application I still maintain that the pinch bolt design is better than a press fit.