Andre!
I dont' want to keep you up any later, but (for morning) I can tell you the Hebie Chainglider -- and your account of it on this forum, and comparison to other chain cases including the Utopia -- looks ideal for my needs. It would be especially nice, it would seem, in the desert playa, where it would greatly protect the chain from the talc-like dust wheb dry, and the clay-ike goo when wet.
However, I hestitate due to several impediments that worry me --
1) The potential for noise in use. I like my bikes as quiet as possible, and I am concerned a chain case that effectively glides over the chain might also be noisy. It'd be kinda neat of it sort of "hovered" over the chain instead.
2) The difficulty in getting a good fit for the gearing combos I might find best.
3) This link, right here... http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=43859.0 ...where allusion is made to the Hebie Chainglider damaging Rohloff hubs. Apparently, their construction (perhaps glass-filled and therefore somewhat abrasive?) can ride directly on the side flange of a Rohloff and, with time, cut through it like a lathe.
That would not be good.
Andre, what are your thoughts on these concerns, and what suggestions do you have for overcoming them? I'd like to see a Hebie Chainglider in my future, but I am a bit worried. I'd hate to slice the end off the Rohloff like so much dry salami.
Best,
Dan.
First of all, forget the Utopia Country chain case. It won't see out a day of cross-country service. It is made stupid-light, including in some of the permanent parts. Also, you might have difficulty getting the necessary consumable service parts; those four bellows are not supposed to last longer than a year, and they won't last a day in contact with any desert flora.
Secondly, forget the Dutch plastic chain cases. Those are big, and noisy, and vulnerable to stones. I wrecked two against lampposts. They're also heavy. Metal in that design might survive a few years but the weight and the noise... Forget it.
Really, the only chain case you should even consider is the Hebie Chainglider. It's flexible, small, relatively light, and tougher than old boots. It is also a superior design, intrinsically, theoretically, and in practice, as well as in execution, to any of the others, including the traditional Dutch styles. By a mile.
To answer your specific questions, there is no additional noise from the Chainglider. The article quoted in this thread was written by someone who most likely has never used a Chainglider;' it reads like street corner gossip. Noise from a CG is an indication that it requires to be adjusted, and even this noise is a faint whirring. You adjust the Chaingilder until there is no noise, by adjusting the length, pushing the arms in differentially to the sprocket cover. (No, those ridges are not saw guides, they're locks.) I don't know quite how it does it, but it appears that the rear fitting holds the main run of the Chainglider clear of the chain.
My experiment with running a chain in only the factory lube without extra oil takes on additional importance here.
![](http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/kmc_x8_sm_factorylubeonly_700km_hebiechainglider_clean_inside.jpg)
That Chainglider isn't new, it's done 2700km. It was last cleaned 700km earlier when the zero extra lube chain experiment started. I think we must conclude that, if the CG were to rub against a chain, without lubrication, there would be markings after a 700km. There aren't. Refer to the photo. It now stands at over 1100km without extra lube, but I had it open a couple of weeks ago and there was no point in taking photographs as it looks the same.
I don't see your problem with a good gearing solution. You can, from memory, have any of the 15, 16 or 17 tooth cogs. You can choose among chain rings with 38, 42 and 44 teeth. You have to decide whether huge diameters of toothed rings for the same gearing will give you greater longevity or lower cost per mile than covering smaller diameter gears. I think you will find it no contest, and the Chainglider's tendency to eliminate maintenance will be a very strong additional benefit.
The Hebie Chainglider may once have scratched some Rohloff hubs. But the sprocket cover has been redesigned since then so that there is now a specific Rohloff rear end to the Chainglider, and that problem is long solved. I just now also made a visual inspection of my Rohloff hub, on which the Hebie Chainglider has run over 3000km, and there's not a scratch on it.
The real problem with the Hebie Chainglider for you, in particular, is not noise, gearing, or casing damage. For 11 months in the year, I can just about guarantee, from experience, that a Chainglider will be a superior solution for you, whatever you do, to a bare chain. (Ditto for virtually all the other posters here. I'm absolutely amazed at the resistance.) But in the other month, when you go into the desert, a problem may arise. It is whether the Chainglider will fully exclude the fine dust in which you ride on your desert tour. It seems to me at least possible that the fine dust will enter through the opening at the sprocket end, and form a grinding paste with any wet lube you use inside the Chainglider, which from there will spread through out the tube it forms, which elsewhere is pretty well sealed against itself. I have no way of telling whether this is a real possibility; the Chainglider shrugs off my lightly dusted roads, and rain too, as you can see in the photograph where the outside of the Chainglider and the bike has a fine film of dust, and the mudguard shows splashes of wet, yet the inside is pristine; not exactly a tough test!
Andre Jute