Stories posted under Pinkbike Community blogs are not edited, vetted, or approved by the Pinkbike editorial team. These are stories from Pinkbike users.
If a blog post is offensive or violates the Terms of Services, please report the blog to Community moderators.
Straitline Silent Guide Review
After riding the Silent Guide for the full season I'm so happy with it I decided to write a review about it.Unsecure image, only https images allowed: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_T1GfTodPSEs/S1C46k0wX2I/AAAAAAAACNM/Tjk-IfIZvBM/DSC_0151_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800
I was very suspicious of the Silent Guide at first, many of my friends still are. My initial plan was to buy an SRS+ for this season but with each passing week I was getting more and more curious about the Straitline product. E13 has very thin back plates in their new models and that got me worried. I assumed with a similar weight and no moving parts the back plate on the Silent Guide will be thicker. I decided to give it a chance despite the relatively high price. The package arrived. Everything was enclosed in a very nice box.
Inside it you will find:
- The Guide itself
- 7075 machined bash guard
- Laminated setup guide
- Spacers for different frames and chainline adjustment
Unsecure image, only https images allowed: http://wideopenmag.co.uk/images/IMG_0159wo-595x446.jpg
First thing that surprised me was the great build quality, I'm used to chain guides being done with less flash. It's also surprisingly light. I use a 36-40T model but the 32-36T one is only 3g heavier than the LG1+ with taco (yes that's with bash for SG) at 184g. The back plate as predicted was much thicker than the skinny 2010 e13 one.
The installation:
It was surprisingly easy. Unless you are mechanically illiterate the setup guide will walk you through the process in no time. You just need to put the correct number of spacers according to your bike setup/frame and align the guide so that it creates some chain tension (proper positioning explained in the guide as well). You also get some micro spacers for fine tuning.
In Use:
One word. Awesome. I started the season on a completely new bike so I didn't really focus on small parts that much but after some time I was surprised how insanely quiet the guide was. All my friends were telling me it was going to be louder than a fog horn but it lives up to its name. It's by far the most stealth guide I've ever heard (or rather not in this case). The first part of the summer was extremely muddy and I've had no problems with clogging, even during a flood! Actually I'm yet to have a problem of any kind with it. The drag is minimal, probably smaller than my previous guide and smaller than e13 type guides with a cog. The sliders don't wear almost at all. There is a period of initial wear but it's minimal and after that the slider stays in mint condition.
![photo]()
Durability:
If you hurt it you would probably hurt any guide. I dropped around 1 inch/2.5cm in bb height from my last bike and I tend to hit the ground on a fairly regular basis. It was a long summer and even direct hits to the guide body (not the bash) didn't hurt it much. I used to scratch the rocks in the famed Maribor rockgarden a few times a day for a week with no effect. It's still not even dented, only scratched. It will probably outlast your bike!
![photo]()
Conclusion:
Buy if if you can! It's lighter than other full bash guides and almost as light as the lg1+ with less issues, better build quality and for the fans of bling you can color coordinate it with your bike as green isn't the only option. Straitline offers aftermarket Black, White, Blue and Red sliders.
One last word of warning for new gen Saint crank users. You need to order it with a special bash guard designed around oversized tabs it comes with.
I was very suspicious of the Silent Guide at first, many of my friends still are. My initial plan was to buy an SRS+ for this season but with each passing week I was getting more and more curious about the Straitline product. E13 has very thin back plates in their new models and that got me worried. I assumed with a similar weight and no moving parts the back plate on the Silent Guide will be thicker. I decided to give it a chance despite the relatively high price. The package arrived. Everything was enclosed in a very nice box.
Inside it you will find:
- The Guide itself
- 7075 machined bash guard
- Laminated setup guide
- Spacers for different frames and chainline adjustment
Unsecure image, only https images allowed: http://wideopenmag.co.uk/images/IMG_0159wo-595x446.jpg
First thing that surprised me was the great build quality, I'm used to chain guides being done with less flash. It's also surprisingly light. I use a 36-40T model but the 32-36T one is only 3g heavier than the LG1+ with taco (yes that's with bash for SG) at 184g. The back plate as predicted was much thicker than the skinny 2010 e13 one.
The installation:
It was surprisingly easy. Unless you are mechanically illiterate the setup guide will walk you through the process in no time. You just need to put the correct number of spacers according to your bike setup/frame and align the guide so that it creates some chain tension (proper positioning explained in the guide as well). You also get some micro spacers for fine tuning.
In Use:
One word. Awesome. I started the season on a completely new bike so I didn't really focus on small parts that much but after some time I was surprised how insanely quiet the guide was. All my friends were telling me it was going to be louder than a fog horn but it lives up to its name. It's by far the most stealth guide I've ever heard (or rather not in this case). The first part of the summer was extremely muddy and I've had no problems with clogging, even during a flood! Actually I'm yet to have a problem of any kind with it. The drag is minimal, probably smaller than my previous guide and smaller than e13 type guides with a cog. The sliders don't wear almost at all. There is a period of initial wear but it's minimal and after that the slider stays in mint condition.
Durability:
If you hurt it you would probably hurt any guide. I dropped around 1 inch/2.5cm in bb height from my last bike and I tend to hit the ground on a fairly regular basis. It was a long summer and even direct hits to the guide body (not the bash) didn't hurt it much. I used to scratch the rocks in the famed Maribor rockgarden a few times a day for a week with no effect. It's still not even dented, only scratched. It will probably outlast your bike!
Conclusion:
Buy if if you can! It's lighter than other full bash guides and almost as light as the lg1+ with less issues, better build quality and for the fans of bling you can color coordinate it with your bike as green isn't the only option. Straitline offers aftermarket Black, White, Blue and Red sliders.
One last word of warning for new gen Saint crank users. You need to order it with a special bash guard designed around oversized tabs it comes with.
Author Info:
Member since Sep 17, 2007
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
[wiem, że powinienem tutaj po angielsku skrobnąć ale nie mam siły myśleć]
Inna sprawa, że ten plastik ślizgowy jest zajebiście ciekawy. Nie ściera się i nie psuje łańcucha. On przylega non stop czy jest minimalnie oddalony?
E13 jest dobre ale ma cienki backplate (nawet stare lg1 miały) i rolka dolna jak duzo jezdzisz w błocie moze podziękować za współprace