Versions of Dave's Chain Device

1993: THE DCD
The first Downhill races that I remember were in about 1989 at Bosley, near Macclesfield, and took place just before the day’s crosscountry races. They were quite popular, but favoured the fit and strong, with fireroads and few corners. About the same time, there was an annual series of 3 races based around the North York Moors with a downhill in the mornings. The downhill scene quickly developed nationwide in the early ’90s, and was adopted by MBUK and others as the cutting edge of MTB sport.
It became clear very early on that the bikes needed something to stop chain derailment (a common problem before suspension). I designed and tested a prototype DCD in about 1993, and showed it to Rob at H+B Metal Pressings in Scarborough. He had a quiet fortnight coming up, so we worked between 6pm and 3am in his freezing cold workshops every night for two weeks to develop the product and the tools to make it. I had anticipated total sales worldwide of 2,000, but we broke through that in the first month.
Even sold quite a few to Japan.

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