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1/3/2025
Location
Vancouver, BC
CA
Hey all, planning to get a chain device for a bike I'm finding has kickback as well as suspension interference. The bike is a 170/160 linkage driven single pivot, I ride both tech and fast flow trails. I'm happy to accept some dead zone at the beginning of the pedal stroke, but ideally this would be adjustable in some way.
I've tried the O-Chain N non-adjustable and liked it well enough, but wondering if anyone has compared against an O-Chain R, Rimpact and the e-13 Sidekick hub? Considering all of them as viable options currently, just wondering if anyone has tried more than one and found one was better or worse. I don't mind building a wheel, but a crank-mounted solution is slightly preferred just for ease of installation.
Thanks!
Poll
plz describe kickback thx
Kickback as I experience it is feedback in my feet as the suspension cycles, as well as resistance when going through suspension travel. Kickback comes from the chain growth inherent in some suspension designs interfering with rear suspension as the cassette engages. Team Robot had a great article about this: https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/can-pedal-kickback-denier-see-light
Either Ochain reduces feedback to my feet. Sidekick hub works well but maybe feels different in a way, not as soft feeling or vibration deadening. The rear hub rolls incredibly smooth/fast.
Personally I didn’t like rimpact because the spring tension was too high and feels weird to pedal.
Rimpact feels slightly weird to start with . After a couple of rides i totally forgot about it and it feels amazing descending . Would highly recommend
How Your Chain Interacts With Your Suspension - The Tuesday Tune 31
Waiting for WRP to release their center hub 👀
Active Vital forum member @jeff.brines did a good review of the Sidekick: https://youtu.be/qLQcnI8ftLY?si=gNZWz2pPEnWglsKR
Id strongly recommend giving one a try. In addition to the pedal kickback benefits, the hub rolls incredibly fast (due to the pawls being retracted when not engaged) and is also near silent. For me, the riding experience improvement was the most notable thing Ive done to my bike since dropper posts became a thing. Near second is the Vorsprung Smashpot. Im less fit than I used to be but posting better DH times since I started using those two products.
Bumping this topic, and curious if anyone's ridden OChain-R vs. DT Degrees of Freedom hub.
I'm considering adding something to my Bronson to calm down the chain slap / tug on big compressions. I've used the original OChain on a bike that had a ton of pedal kickback and very high Anti-Rise & Anti-Squat - helped a fair amount there. Most of the time, I don't feel the need for something like that on the Bronson v5 as the kinematics are much more refined, but every now and then there is a big compression or series of them that really gets the chain flapping and unsettles my feet on the pedals (I ride flats). So I was thinking of adding a device to calm it down. Sidekick is a non-starter for me because of my personal experience with E13 product reliability. I'm a big fan of DT hubs so their setup is appealing except it would mean buying a whole new hub and relacing a perfectly good wheel, plus changing the setting requires removing the wheel and freehub. OChain-R is appealing in that I can quickly externally lock it out for flowy trails, won't require changing the hub, and I know from experience that it does significantly reduce chain noise via the elastomers. The downside with it is service and creaking.
I’m kinda waiting on the DT DEG System to come together with the hub.
For me, I'm not willing to drop the dough on any of this right now, though I'm sure they make a noticeable impact. Agreed that ethirteen products are non-starters; I could not tolerate pedalling a spring with RImpact; I don't see the DT solution as practical unless your bike/wheel happens to come with the DEG hub; and that leaves OCHAIN, which I'll probably wait to get SRAMified.
I have to assume that SRAM's ownership of OCHAIN will result in improved availability and, hopefully, pricing in the US. Further, I'd imagine there is room to improve the design further to reduce the service interval as well as improve its industrial design language to better fit the SRAM portfolio.
Not really a help on chain damping device comparisons, but I find that for some reason with Santa Cruz farmes the chain slaps me in the calf and generally makes a racket in the rough.
I put a STFU chain guide thing on there (just a single loop) and it helped immensely. Much cheaper as well.
Would you mind posting a photo of how you did that? I actually have an STFU sitting in my drawer but held off on installing it because I was hesitant to cut off fins on the stock chainstay protector on something that may or may not help. I ride right foot back, and have definitely noticed the chain slaps my crank arm. I put a bit of mastic tape on the end of it that helped a tiny bit.
It's crazy that it doesn't. It's (as far as I can tell) the same number of parts, made the same way, just with slightly different shapes...
I also have an STFU waiting to go on a bike, maybe it's time to get off my arse and install it.
STFU is amazing. Helps so much. STFU plus OChain is an incredible combo and highly recommend it
I have an O-Chain R collecting dust because I didn’t realize there were no 30T compatible rings for shimano HG available for it 😭. If anyone knows of one that works holler at me.
I asked DT a couple months ago too, they said no plans.
So you have to already have a DEG 240 or 350 hub , if you don’t have one it’s $350 or $500 depending what one you wants. Then another $200 for the DF system to put in your hub.
O chain is sounding better and better at $400 and I can run it on any rear hub
The major benefit of the Ochain R over all of the other options – at least as far as I see it – is its external control of the float angle, i.e. you can set it to 0° while climbing then reach down and open the dial for the descent. If I were looking for one of these devices and the additional maintenance wasn't a concern, it would be my pick.
This is on a smaller bike, an Xtra-TallBoy 🙂. It's about 150mm of travel w/ 10-45 cassette and 32t ring.
I believe I tried to get the smaller DH style STFU to work, but it wasn't big enough to prevent rubbing at the top or bottom of cassette. Just zip tie it on over the fins to get the height/position right before you cut out a spot for it. Height depends on cassette and chain ring size.
Did you try a 30t like this?
Where the ring itself is threaded and there is a standoff from the 104bcd spider. RaceFace and Praxis Works used to make them, maybe others as well.
What crank is it for . I need it for an XO downhill setup
Nice, thanks. That's enough to get me started. I tried test fitting the larger trail one on the underside like some of the DH guys run, but it hung down comically low and flopped all over. The taller size was needed for the full size cassette.
Here's my setup. I have a 11sp XX1 drive train so I made the guides smaller with velcro tape. Ninja fin on the underside for extra silence.
What I like about ochain vs hub is that ochain is always at the degree you set it. Low engagement hub can be 1 degree or 16 depending on where the racket is at the time. I think they need to work together and fine tune the ochain and hub free play.
Is the ninja fin something you homebrewed or a product? I suspect a lot of the noise and chain flailing is on the underside. The stronger clutch in the Transmission derailleur helps vs. the old Eagle ones, but OChain would definitely help more with this in my experience (since it reduces the actual chain movement rather than trying to deaden the hits).
Was hoping for the RF one just since it was cheapest but no 30T 104BCD anywhere I could find
. And not sure if the standoffs are enough to keep it from interfering, I think they would need to be pretty long.
NSB said they were thinking about making one explicitly compatible with OChain if enough people beg for it...
SRAM 3-bolt. DM me if interested.
https://ninja-mount.com/en/products/chainfin-by-ninja-mount
I don't know where those prices come from, but I got a set of limited edition pink 350 hubs for 270 EUR.
The DEG upgrade is around 100 EUR. I also plan on getting an HG cassette, because I',m building a DH bike from the parts I have around and a Shimano 10 speed transmission with road cogs is cheap and efficient and I already have some parts of it.
I am curious how it will fare, compared to the O-Chain N I have on my Slayer and totally love.
Mx
This no-name Amazon 30T chainring fits the Ochain R.
It moves the chainline 2mm inboard. It doesn't work with Shimano 12sp chains, but works with other 12sp chains.
I've only got two rides in with it and the change in chainline isn't ideal, but it's livable.
From my knowledge, there are a ton of Chinese 30T 104 BCD alloy rings that are very similar to the Race Face one above, with threads in the rings themselves. I might even have some around, but that won't help you. What is of help, though, is that they are pretty easy to source and I am sure somebody already made a stock stateside and is selling them on eBay or Amazon or somewhere.
Garbaruk also makes some, if you want to pay the extra buck.
Here's some direct links:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007351912416.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006264882254.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002476203226.html
Good luck!
Mx
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