[magohn]

Hello all,
First time poster. I have a Santa Cruz Blur 4x (2005) with less than 100 miles on it. For all of these miles the e13 chain protector has made a horrendous racket. It rattles against the top guide in all gears except the very smallest. And I mean rattles!!!! People actually turn around when I approach from behind as the bike sounds like a chainsaw approaching

Is this normal? Any suggestions on how to fix?

Thanks all, magohn

 

[PhilipW]

Hello Magohn,
It sounds like you may have a setup issue. When installed correctly, our guides run nearly drag free and are extremely quiet. Which specific model guide do you have? With LG1 style guides, a racer trick is to line the inner portion with fuzzy velcro to both help clean the chain and keep noise down.

Velcro also works fairly well as a lightweight chainstay protector, and can be used other places on the rear triangle to silence chainslap.

If you continue to have issues, feel free to shoot me an email with pictures of your setup.

Cheers,
philip @ e*thirteen/theHive

 

[magohn]

Hello Philip,
Thanks for getting back to me so promptly. A little history:Back in 2005 I purchased the bike as part of an insurance pay-out but never got around to riding it - it literally had less than 20 miles on it. Full-forward to today and I have dusted off the bike and started riding.

The bike was built for me by the bike supplier and so I have always assumed the chain-guard was supposed to be loud. However, as I ride the bike more and more I have decided it cant be so. The noise sounds similar to when we would attach baseball cards to our bike forks as kids so that we would get that engine/rattling sound as the spokes hit the baseball card. Very loud and off-putting. It gets louder as I select larger cogs (on the rear) and the chain gets less straight-aligned with the front cog. However, there is a rattle of various degree in all gears. The noise appears to be coming mainly from the top guard.

I took the following pic with my phone - is there anything else I can provide to help?

Thanks so much for your attention, magohn

 

[PhilipW]

\
I took the following pic with my phone - is there anything else I can provide to help?

Thanks so much for your attention, magohn

The guide is tilted too far back. The top slider should be at the 12 O'Clock position over the bottom bracket shell when the bike is on level ground. If that does not help the issue, the top slider can also be adjusted so that the rearward bolt is in the lower bolt hole. Additionally, the height of the top slider should be 3mm above the top of the chain when seated on the chainring. You can determine the 3mm height using a 3mm allen key.

Additionally, if the lower roller is not aligned with your chainring there can be additional noise. The 05 gen SRS used a polycarbonate plastic roller...our newer guides use a softer, more specialized compound that is quieter in comparison.

Cheers,
philip

 

[magohn]

Thanks Philip - when I get home I will check out your suggestions and report back.

magohn

 

[Arkayne]

e13 customer support

 

[magohn]

Hi Philip,

I went home and made your suggested adjustments. I could not get the guide to the 12o'clock position because there was not enough room in the mounting bolts eyelets to turn the guide that far. What I did do was turn the pedals as I moved the guide and found a sweet spot where the noise was greatly reduced. I then placed velcro in between the chain and the guide (great tip!) and this further reduced the noise. Thought there is still noise.

I think what I really need to do is take the crank off and really see how this device is mounted and works. Currently, the front chain-ring hides the mounting options and I dont think the bike shop mounted the guide correctly.

Do you have a PDF available on mounting this particular guide?

Thanks for the great info - much appreciated...magohn