leelikesbikes.com - Gamut USA chain guide

Posted June 10, 2004
Cool product: Gamut USA chain guide

A few years ago racer Juan Graziosi found the available chain guides too complex and heavy, and he started making guides for himself and some friends. His dad, Eduardo, had been creating parts for race cars and aerospace for more than 35 years, so the know-how and tools were just laying around the house. Juan's guide worked well, and people started asking for some of their own.

Soon Gamut USA was born. The mission: to create the cleanest, simplest, lightest chain guides on the market.

The guide is indeed easy to set up. I usually dread any operation that involves my bottom bracket -- it seems like chain guides usually require machining as well as voodoo -- so I undertook my installation with caution. I went slowly and timed it, and the entire process took less than an hour. That includes all disassembly, converting from three rings to one, axing my front derailleur, flipping the guide to accommodate my BB shell and all reassembly.

The upper guide automatically overlaps with the bash guard, so that's a no-brainer. The lower roller adjusts in and out on a bolt with a lock nut. Slick. Both the guide and roller are white Delrin, which gives you less friction than orange polyeurethane, but the roller does make noise.

Gamut claims the open design -- the chain isn't surrounded like in a Mr. Dirt or Evil -- means dirt and grease won't accumulate and gum up the works.

Gamut guides are not built for bashing into things; these are races guides. The Gamut is about half the weight of an MRP setup. Gamut's G45 and G54 models weigh a claimed 245 and 254 grams. (The G54 has a thicker bash ring for downhill use.) By comparison, a MRP's System 1 MiniMe weighs 380 grams while the System 2 World Cup comes in at 540 grams. (source)

The guide fits 36-40t rings, and comes in either 4x104 or 5x120 bolt patterns.

Gamut's racers say they have been running the guides with no issues. I used the guide in the Big Bear super-D (fast and rough!) and my chain stayed on no problem. I've been running the guide for XC in Colorado's rocky Front Range without hassles. In short, the guide is light, simple and keeps your chain on. In my book, what else do you need? If you don't bash into stuff, this guide could do the trick.

The Gamut guide retails for $139, but you can jump on the online promotion for $99.99.

www.gamutusa.com

By the way, a lot of companies claim to put their blood into their products, but Gamut actually does. While Juan was cutting aluminum sheets, the saw kicked back and almost chopped off one of his fingers. Despite panicking every time the blade catches, Juan is still hard at work making these guides. As he says, "There's only one Gamut chain guide, and I have nine more good fingers."

(I made up the quote, but that's the kind of thing Juan would say).

Disclaimer: Gamut gave me a guide to try and a t-shirt to wear. The t-shirt was easy to install, and I have not thrown a chain while wearing it.

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