Maximizing Gear Shifting Performance

The information here details our best practices when it comes to setting up the B-Tension on your 12-speed derailleur. Due to the Druid and Dreadnought’s high single pivot design and idler pulley, correctly setting your derailleur’s B-Tension is critical and will ensure smooth and consistent gear shifting.

The tips shown here will work with any derailleur and not just [12-speed] Shimano derailleurs. Depending on your set up, the only tools required to complete this is a 2 or 3mm allen key.

Before we get started, shift your gears down to the smallest cassette sprocket/ highest gear speed. Looking at the rear of your derailleur locate the three adjustment screws; you’ll see the high and low ‘limit screws’ (situated together) and the B-Tension screw, which is the one we’ll be adjusting today.

Adjusting B-Tension

Step 1

Start by backing off the B-Tension screw until there is no tension on the chain. You should see some slack form in your chain.

Step 2

While keeping an eye on your chain (between the derailleur’s lower jockey wheel and lower chainguide roller), turn the screw clockwise to start taking up the slack. Once the chain has some tension, we recommend completing another full clockwise turn. From here, you may need to do small increments, but that should do it and you should be ready to ride.

*It’s important to note that when you are riding your Druid or Dreadnought, the shock is at or beyond the recommended sag point (35% +) which will add tension to your Druid's or Dreadnought’s drivetrain. We therefore want to run as little tension as possible when it’s in the stand.

Further Adjustments

If you’re not seeing the desired results from your drivetrain, the chain tension on your Druid or Dreadnought can also be affected by other factors. These are: the position of the lower chainguide on your frame’s ISCG tabs (please refer to the picture below for the optimal position).

To adjust this, locate the two T25 bolts and carefully undo both to the point that the guide becomes loose. Do not remove these bolts as the washers will fall out from behind the mounting plate. Move the chainguide upwards (using the photo above as a guide) so that it adds tension to the chain and tighten the bolts to 6 Newton Meters.

Additionally, the lower ‘slider’ (which contains the roller) can be moved fore-and-aft alongside the armature that connects the slider to the chainguide, which has two positions, but these steps should be a last resort and very incremental.

Chain Length

Your chain length and the size of your front chainring can also affect this process. We recommend fitting your bike with the appropriate length chain based on your frame size and a 32 tooth chainring and a cassette with a 50-52 tooth upper sprocket. Please refer to our technical specifications for the maximum chainring sizes for your frame size.

Recommended chain lengths per frame size (please note the separate UDH recommendations):

Druid	Druid UDH	Dreadnought	Dreadnought UDH
SMALL : 126 links	SMALL : 124 links	SMALL : 130 links	SMALL : 128 links
MEDIUM : 128 links	MEDIUM : 126 links	MEDIUM : 132 links	MEDIUM : 130 links
LARGE : 130 links	LARGE : 128 links	LARGE : 134 links	LARGE : 132 links
X-LARGE : 132 links	X-LARGE : 130 links	X-LARGE : 136 links	X-LARGE : 134 links

 

Chain manufacturers typically sell chains with either 118 or 126-links. Chain links [in this case] refer to [singular] inner and outer links, and not a combination of the two being counted as a single link. Please refer to the image below:

A size XL Druid, for example, will require three inner plates and three outer plates to make a total of six links when lengthening to from 126 to 132-links total. For chains that utilize a ‘quick link’ to connect the chain, the quick link itself will count as one of the outer plates.