When I built up my Norco Truax last year with my existing build kit (steel SLX cranks, 22/36 rings, SLX 2X front derailleur) with a Heim roller guide and a bashring, occasionally I'd get a drop to the granny gear on rough terrain...or some chain issues when momentarily back-pedaling. So this year I decided to get the MRP 2X taco guide (see pic). I've had mixed results with it. One issue is that MRP decided to make the plastic assembly that encases the pulleys with super soft and flexible plastic...so on really fast rough sections, the chain manages to squirm itself out of the guide entirely (the pulley is slammed all the way forward on the mount).
The front der mount on the Norco is directly on the chainstay, which is a generally good idea for a long-travel bike, but it also means it's impossible for me to mount the front derailleur any lower than in the pic. This means that the top of the metal cage (which helps reduce vertical motion of the chain) is way far above the ring. I fabricated a black plastic shim to help fill that gap (see pic), which helped but didn't solve the issue. I can see a couple of options:
1. Throw the MRP guide into the trash, and buy an E13 double shift guide...but are those any stiffer/better than MRP?
2. Buy a 38T ring (e.g. blackspire super pro), which would let me avoid the smallest rear cogs...that seems to keep the chain tension high enough to help. Side benefit is that a larger diameter chainring would reduce the distance to the top of the front der cage
3. Switch the drivetrain to a 2X10, run a clutch XT rear derailleur....if this were my main bike I could justify the $$ but I'm also building up an XTR 2X10 Bronson, and would like to get more use out of this current drivetrain
4. ??