I really wanted to like Garbaruk. Their products are made in Poland. They are aesthetically pleasing. They come in many colors. And they promise SRAM and Shimano compatibility, at lighter weight and fewer dollars than SRAM’s equivalents.
Unfortunately my two experiences have been quite bad. These are anecdotes, of course, with some caveats. I’m wondering if I am an outlier or if this is typical. Both of my experiences surprised me given the positive reviews I’ve seen (eg on Pinkbike).
The cassette:
A trusted friend gave me a bro deal on a “new-ish” purple 10-52 Garbaruk XD cassette. He didn’t like the jump to the 52 and said that he only rode it once. Two issues became apparent with this (very good looking) cassette when I attempted to use it on a long travel 29er with an (otherwise standard) GX drivetrain with DT Swiss hubs.
On a standard DT Swiss 350 XD driver, when torqued to spec at 40nm, the cassette was not even close to fully installed on the hub - the endcap was flush with the 10T cog and the driver splines were still visible behind the cassette. I verified that this was not a cross-threading issue, and the cassette spun true on the hub in this position. Over-torquing the cassette got it into the right position, but made it virtually impossible to remove.
Second big issue - when back-pedaling in the second-largest cog, the chain fell off after less than one turn. Back-pedaling in all other cogs worked flawlessly. I verified chainline, cable tension, b-gap, limit screws, etc. Finally I contacted Garbaruk about the issue and they claimed that they had “fixed this problem,” but then when I asked if it was possible to replace mine with one made to spec (and I was willing to pay) they ghosted me.
So I gave up on that cassette. Next came the silver chainring:
Prior to getting the cassette I had wanted a 30T silver chainring for my hardtail and liked the look (and price) of the Garbaruk. What I had not noticed when buying this chainring is that Garbaruk doesn’t follow the 3mm boost offset spec for its chainrings - they vary the offset based on ring size, calling it “variable chainline technology.” In the case of the 30T it’s greater than 3mm - more like 4.8mm or so. They make claims that this optimizes chainline.
Whether or not that’s true, what I did notice about the chainring was that it had a “grindy” feel when pedaling - and the chain made weird grindy noises in many (but not all) gears - like the chainline was out of whack.
Things went along for awhile, though the cassette misadventure gave me pause.
Recently the chainring issue culminated in my chain partially breaking on a ride (XO1 12 speed with about 500 miles on it). The inboard plate of one of the outer links sheared off from the pin and was hanging in space. I switched to a chainring with standard 3mm offset and the chain grinding disappeared.
All in all I’m disappointed and don’t plan to buy Garbaruk in the future. Of course I don’t know for sure if these issues were entirely to do with these components - they could very well have only appeared because of the components I paired them with.
Unfortunately my two experiences have been quite bad. These are anecdotes, of course, with some caveats. I’m wondering if I am an outlier or if this is typical. Both of my experiences surprised me given the positive reviews I’ve seen (eg on Pinkbike).
The cassette:
A trusted friend gave me a bro deal on a “new-ish” purple 10-52 Garbaruk XD cassette. He didn’t like the jump to the 52 and said that he only rode it once. Two issues became apparent with this (very good looking) cassette when I attempted to use it on a long travel 29er with an (otherwise standard) GX drivetrain with DT Swiss hubs.
On a standard DT Swiss 350 XD driver, when torqued to spec at 40nm, the cassette was not even close to fully installed on the hub - the endcap was flush with the 10T cog and the driver splines were still visible behind the cassette. I verified that this was not a cross-threading issue, and the cassette spun true on the hub in this position. Over-torquing the cassette got it into the right position, but made it virtually impossible to remove.
Second big issue - when back-pedaling in the second-largest cog, the chain fell off after less than one turn. Back-pedaling in all other cogs worked flawlessly. I verified chainline, cable tension, b-gap, limit screws, etc. Finally I contacted Garbaruk about the issue and they claimed that they had “fixed this problem,” but then when I asked if it was possible to replace mine with one made to spec (and I was willing to pay) they ghosted me.
So I gave up on that cassette. Next came the silver chainring:
Prior to getting the cassette I had wanted a 30T silver chainring for my hardtail and liked the look (and price) of the Garbaruk. What I had not noticed when buying this chainring is that Garbaruk doesn’t follow the 3mm boost offset spec for its chainrings - they vary the offset based on ring size, calling it “variable chainline technology.” In the case of the 30T it’s greater than 3mm - more like 4.8mm or so. They make claims that this optimizes chainline.
Whether or not that’s true, what I did notice about the chainring was that it had a “grindy” feel when pedaling - and the chain made weird grindy noises in many (but not all) gears - like the chainline was out of whack.
Things went along for awhile, though the cassette misadventure gave me pause.
Recently the chainring issue culminated in my chain partially breaking on a ride (XO1 12 speed with about 500 miles on it). The inboard plate of one of the outer links sheared off from the pin and was hanging in space. I switched to a chainring with standard 3mm offset and the chain grinding disappeared.
All in all I’m disappointed and don’t plan to buy Garbaruk in the future. Of course I don’t know for sure if these issues were entirely to do with these components - they could very well have only appeared because of the components I paired them with.