You have way too much time and effort invested in your riding to get needlessly dropped at the worst possible moment due to a dropped chain. You may have everything adjusted absolutely correctly and still have a dropped chain as a result of a culmination of circumstances (e.g., 'emergency' shift under load on washboard pavement, etc.) Not to run a chaincatcher simply as insurance is crazy.

Andy Schleck et al have fantastic mechanics...



Some of the frames available today are paper thin at the oversized carbon BB shell... Thats the one place where lots of manufacturers have saved a lot of weight by using a multi part form for modling that lets them do a far more detailed job (meaning less material laid up in a more controled fashion that gives all of the stiffness but thinner walls).


There are several frames now that I wouldn't run without a catcher...

I guess you could always ask your mechanic to take full responsibility for a dropped chain and any damage and then call any shop that won't take full responsibility "bad", but a chain catcher weighs very little and the weight sits in almost the perfect spot to have the least felt impact...

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

Is your bike carbon fiber? If so, put one on. You can gouge the bb shell fairly well if you slip the chain while simultaneously putting out some force. I know. I gouged my C50 really well with a slipped chain. It has nothing to do with "good mechanics". I had a catcher on later that day after a visit to the shop.

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So long, and thanks for all the fish.

there are plenty of instances where the quality of the mechanic is not at fault. sometimes it's environmental factors, a swerve, a shift in the rear simultaneous w the front shift, a bump, an anomaly. sometimes it's a combination of parts-fsa crank, kmc chain, shimano everything else, chainstays 1cm shorter than specified by shimano. sometimes the frame places the derailleur farther forward or behind the crank than optimal. sometimes the front derailleur was designed in chicago. manufacturer tolerances stack up.
i like the new red chain catcher. you can get it separately, without getting the front derailleur, and put it on any braze fd.
with frames dropping in weight and pros having to fill up with lead to be legal, more and more frame companies will be integrating them into the frames, like the trek damone. at the same time, having the chainrings spaced further apart a-la current shimano has helped a lot...

on a steel frame I don't see the need of a catcher, on my carbon frames i wouldn't dare riding without them. just a form of protection of the frame rather than securing the chain

Has anyone lost thier chain or got a chain catcher on a Di2 bike?

Matty goss dropped a chain in a sprint during the TDF... You can't get the chain back up using the shifters either.. Di2 brings it up way to fast.. It gets jammed up..

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http://fairwheelbikes.com/cycling-blog/ ... ee-z5.html

@konky, all the Di2 bikes in my collection have chain catchers on them. That is one of those 'marginal gains' things. Interestingly, the regular appearance of chain catchers (in my collection, anyway) began in about 2003. I would be interested to know if that coincided with the introduction of the Dogfang...

Shimano's 7970 installation video demonstrates that you can re-engage a dropped chain - check it at 26:54
http://vimeo.com/5782244

But at that point you've dropped the chain and may have already damaged the BB area.

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Or worse, get dropped in the Provincial Championship road race on a course tailor-made for you with the best legs you have had in 5 seasons and no chance in hell of ever making it back to the lead group on the descent before the flat, where you will bake in the sun, alone, until abandonning, dejected, then looking back 20+ years later at the only chance you ever had in your life of a Title...

Yes, but you have a huge collection of high end bikes and wheels, and a wife who rides ... and a girlfriend who rides ... and?

So you are saying you dropped your chain in the the provincial championship road race? And you couldn't shift the chain back on - did it get jammed in the bottom bracket shell region?

Different life...

I do not have a chain catcher on my Di2 bike. Have never dropped a chain on the Di2 bike. I do have chain catchers on every other bike I own. Probably need to get around to putting one on the Di2 bike.

I run rotor rings so i think that it is a wise investment. you can always drop a chain if you hit a pothole when down shifting no matter how well adjusted your fd

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Evo 5.63kg SL3 7.045kg viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110579" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

are the 'dog fang' types effective chain catchers? or should I get a more rod-shaped one?