TM Designworks Factory Edition Chain Guide: 2WheelTimes.com Review

By Michael Hannas

Anyone who has owned a Kawasaki KX450F or KX250F knows about the machine’s voracious appetite for the stock chain guide rubber. After getting sick of replacing the shredded stock rubber on my 450 every couple of rides, I decided to try a different approach. I heard my enduro racer friends raving about the plastic TM Designworks Factory Edition “Solid Body” chain guide and decided to drop the $65 and order one up.  Since I had the new chain guide as well as a new chain on the way, I figured I could get one more ride out of the stocker even though the rubber was already pretty much worn through. It was a good thing I had the TM unit on the way because that one last ride turned my stock aluminum chain guide into a two-piece unit as the chain sawed its way completely through what was left of the rubber as well as the bottom of the aluminum chain guide!

The TM Designworks Factory Edition “Solid Body” chain guide is a solid plastic unit that incorporates the traditional rubber slider portion and aluminum shell into one integrated hard plastic piece. It is designed not only to last virtually forever compared to the stock slider but also to resist bending from contact with rocks or logs. Since it is plastic it is able to flex a little and return back to its normal shape instead of bending and causing your chain to derail. I guess that’s why you see them on the machines of so many pro GNCC and Enduro racers. They also come in lots of different colors to match your brand of choice; we chose a sweet Kawi green for the KX. Mounting was fairly straightforward, just remember to use the longer bolts that come with the chain guide since the TM guide is wider than stock and the stock bolts are too short to use with it.

The TM Designworks Factory Edition chain guide works exactly as advertised.  This thing just takes a beating and keeps coming back for more. After months of riding it barely even shows any signs of wear on the inside, just a few scratches and chunks on the outside from gnarly rock impacts. After a couple rides I stopped even bothering trying to avoid rocks on the chain side, I’d just let the TM guide bounce me off them! I thought it would be brittle since it is made of such a hard plastic but nothing seems to faze it. There are a lot of products out there that make big claims but fail to deliver.  This is not one of them! The TM Designworks chain guide may not actually be indestructible, but I don’t know what you would have to do to it to destroy it. I’m pretty sure it would have to involve some type of explosives.

The only squawk some folks may have with the TM guide is the noise factor, although it wasn’t a problem for us. Since the TM unit is constructed of hard plastic instead of the softer rubber used by the stock chain guide, it makes a little more chain noise while you are riding. It is barely even noticeable when you are on the gas especially on a four-stroke, only when you are decelerating or coasting downhill. It didn’t bother us a bit and even if it did it would be a welcome trade-off in exchange for not having to replace the chain guide rubber every other ride.

There is no doubt about it in our book: if your dirt bike eats chain guide rubbers like candy, the TM Designworks chain guide is definitely worth every penny.

Go to www.tmdesignworks.com for more info.

 

Report Card: TM Designworks Factory Edition Chain Guide