The main function of bash guards is that they increase the life of the bike chain and prevent the teeth of the crank chain from bending and damaging when you are riding through two or three feet high bumpy trails that contain knocky rocks, lying old trees, and small barriers.
when you pass the front tire of your bike, the chain, and the crank chain are stuck and hit rocks, and trees, installing a bash guard will prevent your bike from all these irritating moments and troubles of the sloppy trails.
Bash guards are the small accessories of bikes including BMX, MTB, and dirt bikes which are attached right beneath the frame between both the pedals parallel to the earth’s surface.
Bash guards also give extra protection to the lower surface of the bike frame from hitting small flying stones. when you are riding downhill at a fast speed and suddenly you crashed your bike by hitting a rock, tree, or any other thing, the bash guard will break into pieces and protect the bike chain, chainring, and bike frame from scratching and damage.
Benefits of installing bash guard on MTB:
Riding a mountain bike on a routine basis, yes bash guards are useful and helps a lot in preventing major things. it makes your ride easier and faster through the narrow trails and plays important role in increasing confidence level: let me share some of the helping points of bash guard.
- Bash guards are used to installing for those trails which are much hard, bumpy, and risky trails.
- Pushing the pedals of MTB many riders complain about injuries and small scratches by hitting the right feet with the chain and the crank chain, installing a bash guard acts as a protective barrier for your right feet.
- Riding a mountain bike through the narrow trails of MTB, the chain of your bike slips, and the pulling force of both feet creates tension in the chain which increases the chances of falling and dropping of chain, both chain guide and bash guard prevent dropping of the chain.
- Spending a few dollars on a bash guard saves your hundred bucks and prevents your bike chain and chainring from damage while riding on the hard terrains.
- For beginners riders, bash guards are useful and if you want to save your bike chain and chainring and you want to increase the life of the teeth of the chainring, it would be better to install a bash guard under the chain.
- Bash guards have a weight of fewer than 100 grams, their installation does not affect the speed of your bike.
- Bash guard can cover the lower teeth of the chainring completely, their size is small and long in shape and does not cause any disturbance in your ride.
- Bash guard is helpful for both uphill and downhill trails and especially for long trails more than 2 thousand kilometers.
- The bash guard can cover 7 to 8 lower teeth of the chainring of your bike.
The shape of Bash Guard( How it Looks):
Bashguard is not designed in a single specific shape, there are hundreds of bash guards which look different from each other in their style and shape some are oval, round-shaped, pointed heads, and long rod-like shapes with different dimensions.
It totally depends on your own selection and choice for buying a bash guard for your bike chainring, all of these shapes are available on amazon.
Most of them would fit properly under the chainring but the best method of choosing and finding a bash guard for your bike would be that you have to remember the size of the chainring and then it would be easy for you to get one from the online market or any local MTB shop.
How to get a bash guard for a bike( Cheap or expensive)?
There are many online markets and the most popular one for MTB accessories is amazon, before buying you can search completely and choose best looking and stylish bash guard so that it looks cool on your bike.
Bash guards are not expensive, you can get cool and expensive ones within the range of 50 to 100$. less than 50$ bash guards are also available on the Amazon, it totally depends on your pocket money, and how much you can afford to get one.
Do Bash guards affect the speed of mountain bikes?
As you have seen that bash guard is included in the smallest accessories of mountain bikes, which clearly shows that the weight of the bash guard does not affect the speed of the bike. its weight does not exceed more than 100 grams because of its small size and holes which are made when these are manufactured.
There is no kind of negative effect of installing a bash guard on the bikes when you are riding with your friends even if you cannot see a bash guard that is installed in your friend’s bike chainring because of their small size.
Bash guards are helpful and suitable for any type of terrain which includes downhill, uphill and long trails.
Material of bash guard and which is best?
Bash guards are made and manufactured in many materials which include:
- Steel
- Aluminum
- Plastic
When choosing a bash guard these things cause confusion that which one is best for my bike chain.
if you are thinking about the plastic material bash guard then experience and practical research say that plastic bash guards are the number one cool guards for a mountain bike.
the reason is that the main work of a bash guard is to protect the chain and chainring from hitting the lower bumps and earth surface, so when you have a sloppy trail and suddenly the central part of your bike got stuck with some old tree, rock, or any bump that may be poured rock, so in this case, both tires of the bike are touched with the earth surface and the bash guard is not hit with a larger force
the main function of a plastic bash guard is to provide protection this is the main reason that plastic bash guards are lesser in weight as compared to the steel and aluminum ones, but if you have got a hard terrain with unlimited bumps then upgrade your plastic bash guard with the steel one.
For hard and rocky trails steel bash guards are recommended because these are firm, and rigid as compared to the plastic bash guard because of their quick response to absorbing bumps arising from the center of your bike.
Aluminum bash guards are for easy trails like cross country and your own made trails with lesser bumps.
Installation of bash guard within the crank chain:
The bash guard contains a spacer, washers, nut bolts, and an instruction paper where you can see pictures of the chain guide and bash guard and their proper attachment method.
First of all, install the spacer in place of the leg pedal by removing the crank chain and pedal leg with the help of a torque wrench and Allen key. bash guard spacers differ in their type and their spacers are also different from each other, some have three places for nut bolts and some have just two places to tighten the nut bolts of the bash guard with the spacer.
After inserting the spacer within the pedal leg again install the pedal leg and crank chain, the spacer should be installed in such a way that the bolt holes of spacers should be placed in the top upward position.
Now take the bash guard and nut bolts, align the bash guard by pointing in the forward direction and insert the washers and bolts within the hole of the spacer and tight them with the Allen key, again check the bash guard if it is moving up and down then tight again by applying an extra force on the Allen key.
You can also install a bash guard without removing the pedal leg and crank chain, but it is a must to insert the spacer within the pedal leg which needs removing and uninstalling the pedal leg and crank chain.
Useful points to remember when installing bash guard:
The bash guard stays closer to the chain and chainring, always install the bash guard at a few distances away from the chain and chain guard, this distance should be 3 to 4 millimeters. it is necessary to keep this point in mind because a bash guard is a cheap thing and the chain and chainring are expensive materials of MTB, otherwise, the bash guard creates a risk factor of touching and rubbing with the chain which causes damage.
Bash guard creates direct contact with the earth’s surface, when hitting bumps of the terrain the nut bolts of the spacers become loose which needs to tighten again with the Allen key because it is a major problem bash guard will move forward and backward after hitting and it looses its actual position of installation, for this purpose always carry a small pocket Allen key with yourself to get rid of these types of small irritating problems.