[nitronaught6969]

hey guys, im new to the forum and im looking for some tips on buying some new stuff. first ill start with my bike: rocky mountain switch sl, marzochi bomber, hayes nine brakes. i currently have a sram x-9 rear derail. and a race face crankset with 3 chain rings. i want to get a 2-ring crankset, a better, low-profile rear derail., and chain guides. while im at it i would like to get a nice cassette, chain, and possibly a bb? im looking at e-thirteen chain guides, and shimano 105 short cage. any input would be great.

 

[w00dy]

If you get an Evil DRS with a bashring that should pull the front of your setup together quite well. 105 is a good choice for the rear end, but with a short cage derailler you'll be limited in how large in range a cassette you can run. It won't be able to take up the chain slack from 2 rings up front, a wide range cassette, and the suspension.

Personally I'd recommend going with a single ring up front, a 105 der in back, and a cassette with the widest range you can find. Any new chain will be an improvement if your old one is well-used. You should always replace your chain and cassette together.

 

[Rob K]

Which Raceface crank do you have? And what sort of riding are you planning to do the most of?

FWIW, I'm running the Raceface Evolve DH cranks with 22/36 ring (originally the cranks came with 22/32 but I swapped it out for the 36T), e.Thirteen bash guard, BlackSpire "Stinger" tensioner.



I run a Shimano drivetrain just because for me to move into SRAM would require swapping out everything. Maybe on my next rig :biggrin:

That said, on this particular bike I run LX components because I'm not too concerned about precise shifting like that of the XT and XTR and I find myself replacing the rear derailleur at least 12 to 18 months from basic wear and tear, crashing, banging them into things, etc; and it depends on how active my riding is that year.

I use to buy nothing less than XT but it started to add up when I found myself replacing the rear all the time and for my DH/FR/AM rig, I just need it to shift; if it misses a shift, no big deal - it ain't an XC racer

The inexpensive LX rear affords me to spend $$$ on tires, wheels, brakes and other parts that I don't want to scrimp on.

I do, however, run the XT rear cassette. Mainly because I can disassemble it completely and re-gear it. I also have a set of XT shifter pods that I got new off a guy from eBay really cheap but I've been too lazy to swap out my LX pods

Recently I picked up an '07 Saint setup which mounts to the axle thus moving it in closer to the wheel. It's also a beefier setup and does require a special axle (which Mavic finalley came out with) and new shifter pods. I probably could have spent the money on a SRAM setup had I really thought it out.

As to running a short, mid or long rear cage will depend on the rear cassette you use. I'm running a 34T granny (believe it or not, I do climb on my 38 pound rig) and I could probably get away with a short cage because I no longer have the 44T third crank ring but I'm running an LX long cage mostly because that is what my LBS had in stock at the time.

And as for chain guides themselves, usually those are single-ring setups.

I have (and use) the BlackSpire Duel Slalom chain guide setup on my Azonic DS-2 bike with a 36T ring, an old school (2001) XT short cage and a SRAM rear cassette (2000-2001 circa) with 32T being the largest. The cranks are Shimano XT, however.

The other is MRP WC with a 40T ring.

e.Thireen makes a great chain guide setup so give them a serious look too.

Not sure if this helped at all... If not, my apologies... oster_oops: