There have been some good posts put forht that the Legacy's fixed roller guard imparts extra load on the limbs..... so I asked Mathews, here is the reply fwiw, maybe with the vertical limbs, the cables move fore/aft less?:
from arth@mathewsinc.com:
There is actually less flex put into the limb do to the parallel limb
design do to limb pitch on end of riser along with the roller guard system.
I don't follow how that could be possible when the string cannot move forwards and backwards only up and down.I guess i'd have to see a picture showing the facts.
__________________
Start planning now to be spontaneous later!
If you study the position of the roller guard, you will find that the cables are already pre-stressed close to an inch before draw. The cable slide on my Pat. moves about 1 inch during the draw cycle, which is a similar design. Therefore the Legacy's cables are pre-srtessed about 2 inches at full draw. I believe the roller guard actually improves the speed on this bow, increasing the force draw curve. Take the roller guard off and I'd bet you would see a loss in speed. In the 80's some of us locals would drill and tap a small hole in the cable guard rod and slide and secure the slide to the rod so it wouldn't move back during the draw. The draw weight went up, speed increased, sight pins shook and all kinda things went side ways, it was great back then! But there are better ways today now to get performance.
I have a Icon and the limbs do travel a bit during the draw but honestly not that much. The Icon has a certain amount of preloading as well but the limbs are not as horizontal as the Legacy.
I think both bows gain a bit of performance from the roller guide as well. It reduces friction which is a great way to increase performance. What they are doing in a sense is "precocking" the limbs therefore reducing overall perception of travel. even on a bow with less of a vertical limb design you still get the preload which in this case reduces limb travel on the draw & release.
Mathews Legacy fixed roller guard
