A FULLY ENCLOSED CHAINCASE THAT WORKS
Part 2
(Part 1, in this above, outlines the types of chaincases available, and describes the Hebie Chainglider and several types of Dutch plastic chaincases. Part 2 continues with the Utopia Country chaincase and the conclusions.)
UTOPIA'S COUNTRY CHAINCASE
The Utopia Country chaincase is on a different planet to any of the rest. For a start, Utopia, who care nothing for price if it compromises their unbending standards, designed it to be the best. Not the best in class. Just the best, period. It consequently costs about four times as much as the expensive Hebie Chainglider.
Utopia's Country has 38 or 68 or a 168 parts, depending on which promotional leaflet you read. It isn't intended to be fitted or serviced by anyone except a trained dealer. Nonetheless, Utopia will sell all-comers a Country, and ditto spare parts. You will need the spare parts because to keep the weight down and, in particular, to keep the thing dead quiet, Utopia have designed it with consumable parts. According to the manual, the Country requires partial rebuilding every 2-4 years, depending on mileage.
The Country is different from every other enclosing chaincase on the market. Conceptually it consists of an enclosure for the chainwheel with holes only on each side for the pedal axle, an enclosure for the sprocket with holes to each side for the axle and the axle nut, and two plastic pipes which carry the chain between these enclosures. The devil is in the details. I'll come to how it is actually mounted, which is the important consideration for the Rohloff-equipped Thorn owners.
Utopia's Country is assembled on a lightweight metal framework. Where the pieces fit together, to stop them rattling, they are joined with automobile rubber rivets and a variety of grommets. The only access for the owner is a very small hatch held in with one hex socket head screw and plastic clips; it slides on part of the metal frame and is a pleasure to operate once you have practiced a little. Through this hatch you can oil the chain and by split-link remove the chain from the sprocket in order to drop the wheel. Utopia doesn't offer instructions for fitting a new chain to the Country, or for taking it apart and rebuilding. I repeat, such tasks are intended to be left to the dealer. (Utopia give a ten year guarantee on their frames, which depends on an annual inspection, so the dealer sees the bike once a year and at that time can do what requires to be done, if anything, on the Country.)
Now for the bracketry of Utopia's Country. At the front there is a sort of metal spider inside the Country, to which the plastic backplate is held with screws. This spider fits around the pedal axle and is held firm against the frame by the bottom bracket cup; you thus need a bottom bracket capable of handling a chaincase. There are also hints in the Utopia literature that their Country is designed specifically to work with Kinex bottom brackets, but Kinex are available everywhere and are of excellent quality. At the back there is the familiar socket inside the chainstay, to which a bracket is bolted and onto this bracket is in turn bolted the metal frame of the sprocket cover. I'm sure that Utopia will supply the bracket (they are accustomed to supplying custom fittings to adapt components to their bikes), so all you have to do is work out how to attach the bracket firmly and permanently to the chainstay of your bike.
The rest of the Utopia Country in essence floats in thin air, held up by the chain. There are two tubes, described by Utopia (in German, they have no English literature whatsoever) as of "PE"; Utopia makes a highly-regarded reclining (rather than recumbent) bike with a long chainline, and they've brought over these pipes from successful practice on the recliner. These are not just any old tube you can cut to length yourself. They are flared at the ends to retain the joining pieces (see below) and the material is apparently selected for longevity even with the chain rubbing it constantly. Over the flares fit four tiny, soft bellows. The four bellows are tied to the front and rear roundels and to the PE pipes by eight common tiewraps.
UTOPIA'S COUNTRY CHAINCASE IN USE
Silent, utterly silent. Also very resilient. The Utopia looks spidery next to the Dutch chaincases, even next to the Hebie Chainglider. But in use it is as tough as old boots. It makes the Dutch chaincases, to whose little noise one gets used, sound like diesels on their last legs, and once you ride a Country you understand the people who say the Hebie is noisy.
There's a price, of course, for light weight, full enclosure, sturdiness and silence, all at once. Colin Chapman of Lotus used to say, "Reliability, light weight, low cost, choose only two." The Utopia Country is expensive, half the price of a whole bike for less plutocratic consumers. And, like a Rolls, the Country chaincase must be maintained, rebuilt every two to four years. Certainly at least the exposed thin, soft bellows must be replaced. There are four of them at EUR5 each, plus postage from Germany. The rubber rivets are also offered in Utopia's spares list (22c each), so they too may be consumables.
Utopia, the leader among Germany's baukasten (custom bike builders), was the first manufacturer to specify Herr Rohloff's brand new hub. So it is not at all surprising that you can order their Country chaincase to fit three of the four Rohloff gearing combinations they offer. I think what that works out to is that the chainwheel can have 38 or 44 teeth, and the sprocket can have 16 or 17 teeth, as long as you stay within the Rohloff gearing guidelines in which the 38x16 gearing ratio must not be transgressed. My Country chaincase is the 38x16.
The bike on which I have the Country chaincase has about 1250 miles on it. Through the hatch the chain and sprocket, with the manufacturer's grease on the chain plus a few drops of Oil of Rohloff at 500km intervals, looks new. I clearly don't have enough miles on the combination to make a comparison of wear; it looks like we'll exceed the 2000 mile mark at which my other chaincases give up the drivetrain, but by how much is another story.
WHICH CHAINCASE DO I RECOMMEND?
Depends what you do with your bike and where, and how much you are willing to pay for refinement.
Let's start with hard cases. If you're a downhill racer or a mudplugger, or ride anywhere tree trunks might reach out and snag your bike, only the Hebie Chainglider will be cost-effective. Surprisingly, I think the Utopia Country, being more flexible, may survive abuse as well or possibly better than the Chainglider, but sooner or later you will trash it, and then it is four times the absolute amount of money that will get you a new Chainglider.
If you're a world tourer, those plastic Dutch city bike cases will be smashed before you're out of the Balkans; they are only clipped together. A Chainglider might make it, and would be preferable to the Country for the moment, sure to arrive and more than once, when you're trying to change a chain in a monsoon; just too much on the Country to disassemble, and too fiddly. The Country is definitely one to service on a workstand in a comfortable, warm room, with a mug of tea already coming.
I think nothing of riding on farm lanes and across pastures and ploughed fields with the Country or any of the other types of full chaincases. At this point it becomes a matter of personal choice and budget -- and skill, if only to a tiny extent.
The Hebie Chainglider, if you can get one to suit your choice of chainwheel and sprocket and the length of your chainstays, is a no-brainer to fit.
So, if you're smart cyclist (I'm not, but I cycle in whatever clothes I happen to be wearing, normally khakis), one of the Dutch plastic chaincases can be fitted with a little work, and very likely is the cheapest option here. As a bonus you can with a little searching get the colour you want. I have a two-tone blue one on my blue and silver bike, and one in silver, smoke and black on a black, silver and gold bike. By contrast, the Country and the Chainglider come only in black or silver (and that depends on what is in stock unless you want to face a long wait). Besides, these Dutch plastic cases are in common plastics that can be painted, something that is not at all guaranteed with the Country and the Chainglider. The Dutch plastic chaincases have zero maintenance cost if you don't somehow smash them.
If you want the most refined chaincase, and you don't mind the initial outlay and the routine maintenance every few years, the Utopia Country chaincase is simply the best.
WHICH WOULD I BUY AGAIN?
If I had to consider the cost, and it would fit (it won't fit my custom bikes) I would buy Hebie's Chainglider. I would reject the Dutch plastic chaincases, the Gazelle because it is flimsy despite having screws, the one on the Trek because it is just too obviously generic and crude.
If I commuted (I don't, I work in my study at home), I'd choose the Hebie Chainglider for its sturdiness.
Hobbes
