The excellent Blackspire Twinty 2X chainguide combines secure chain management with quiet-running durability in a refreshingly easy-to-install unit.
Blackspire score points straight away for a full range of ISCG, ISCG 05, SRAM and standard BB mounts in 32-36T or 36-40T big ring sizes, plus red, blue, white or black colours. Included washers make spacing easy and the lower tensioning guide is a trough design, not so dependent on perfect alignment.
A lack of rollers means nothing to squeal or jam, but the ‘proprietary polymer’ has proved impressively tough and mud-proof so far. Chain noise is a minimal mumble with no obvious drag through the pedals.
It works with or without a bashguard, with only one chain loss incident so far, and the skid plate on the single-piece 6061 alloy frame shrugs off sumping incidents. The whole 164g unit is made in Canada, too, if that sort of thing interests you.
This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.
