Tested: AXP Xtreme Chain Guide – fighting off the rocks
Six months of testing in some brutal off-road conditions proved AXP Racing’s Xtreme Chain Guide can take the serious punches dished out by rocks, protecting the chain, sprocket and swingarm.
It’s hard to imagine putting a bike part through a tougher test than the chain guide has to suffer. Apart from the rear disc guard round the other side, the chain guide is one of the most vulnerable components on an enduro bike.
AXP Racing’s Xtreme range of products includes this chain guide which combines with an additional swingarm bolt guard to combat the battering that rocks and more can dish out to that lower back end of our bikes.
Enduro21 has fitted this one to different test bikes, in different riding conditions since late 2022 to bring this ‘real world’ review of how it stands up to the toughest challenge.
They say:
Made for enduro and hard enduro use, the AXP Racing Xtreme Chain guide and swing arm protector are two products in one designed to protect not just the chain and rear sprocket but the fixation bolt heads “like nobody on the market”.
Machined from a whole using UHMW plastic, which offers a better durability and protection for your chain and sprocket. Adding the optional extra reinforced swing arm guard completely covers the fixation points to protect the bolt heads.
As used by Sherco Racing team on the Rally bikes, and by Wade Young and Mario Roman in Hard Enduro. Made in Europe with a USA and European patent.
We say:
This Xtreme Chain Guide has been bolted onto two different test bikes for around six months now and has ticked off two, tough extreme enduros in 2023. The first was a brutal test on the bike (and rider) and is basically where it got so battered.
Straight off the bat, that one race proved the reason why you fit good protection for hard enduro. It was a solid dose of the most extreme rocky riding conditions on glass-like limestone bedrock with a relentless tendency for the bike to slip into, off and down between, behind and under rocks.
Scroll through our IG reel to see the kind of thing…
The main body of the guard is 20mm thick plastic or UHMW, ‘ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene’. It is the same material AXP use on many of their products including the Xtreme sump guard.
The USP of the plastic material is the tendency to help the bike slide past obstacles
The additional bolt guard is sold separately and fits with this guard only to cover the swing arm tabs (bolt heads) and essentially help the bike to slide past obstacles instead of catching.
The additional swingarm bolt guard is sold separately and fits with this chain guide only to cover the swing arm tabs (bolt heads) but in this test it proved a very sound, bolt-on extra. Combined, the whole thing protects the lower end of the swingarm and the bolts, stops the rear sprocket getting dished, chain being derailed and generally acts like a buffer between the rocks and the bike.
One thing to note is the clearance is pretty tight for the chain and if you fit a larger rear sprocket. We had a plan to fit a bigger 53 tooth sprocket but it was too big and fouled on the guide.
Fitment is easy enough and took around 15 minutes for us. You have to split the chain to remove the standard chain guide on a KTM/Husqvarna/GASGAS.
The guard consists of two parts (shown split in half below) which bolt together with parts supplied and use the existing mounting points on the swingarm. The optional swingarm guard then bolts to the chain guard, hiding the normally exposed mounting bolts.
Verdict:
After all that clattering of rocks the chain block, now it’s off the bike, has done an awesome job of deflecting the battering. It looks pretty battered but we can only imagine the difference of sticking with the standard OEM guide. The swingarm, chain and rear sprocket show no impact marks from all the punishment we dished out.
All-in, the AXP guard did its job of protecting and deflecting and then some.
Cost: €82.50 (swingarm guard €40 extra)/$99 ($48)
Fitment: Both guide and swingarm protector come in range of colours and fit most GASGAS/KTM/Husqvarna/Sherco models (plus there’s a range of guides for other manufacturers).
Full disclosure: Enduro21 counts AXP as one of our advertisers and, like a lot of the products we get to test on bikes, they sent us the chain guide FOC. BUT, equally like everything else, they send it with no obligation to write a glowing review or otherwise.
The deal is we fit it to a bike, test it in enduro conditions and are honest about the results. Hopefully you can see that.
Photo Credit: Enduro21
