New Chainrings- crazy money!

bike-a-swan

Just looking at the prices for shimano chainrings, slx in particular. Based on merlin prices (http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/MTB++Parts/Transmission++Gears/Chainrings/SLX+9+Speed+Chainrings_1FK.htm) you're talking jsut shy 70 quid for a full set of rings, while the whole crankset is only £100, and that comes with a BB.

Are we getting a really good deal on whole cranksets, a really bad one on rings, or somewhere in between?

rockmonkeysc

It cost more to individually pack, process & stock lots of little bits than one big box of bits.
I was thinking about this while building my On-One and I added up what I had spent.

bike-a-swan

I can see it with whole bikes, but it just seemed a very big mismatch for cranks. I'm thinking mainly because things like chainrings are relatively easy to ship out to the retailers en masse.

Ah well

thel33ter

Buy the full crankset, then you'll have a spare BB, and then sell the arms.

bike-a-swan

I could, you know! And rose bikes do them for 80 quid. Or I could just get the middle ring, which is all I really want, from them for 15 quid-ish.

RevellRider

You think that's expensive, you should see the price for Dura Ace chainrings

bike-a-swan

If I remember correctly, I could pretty much refit my whole drivetrain for the price of one!

In fact, just checked- holy moly, I could buy an xt crankset for that. High end road tech is genuinely bonkers.

thel33ter

Ti sram XX rings ain't cheap either.. Cba to look up prices though

njee20

They're not ti. The big ring is £103, which is cheaper than XTR by about 50%. Think the inner ring's about £70, however... You can buy both rings with a new spider, ostensibly for S-Works cranks for £105, someone dropped the ball there.

At least road rings don't really wear out. My Dura Ace rings have about 20000 miles on them, my xx outer probably did 500.

The Spiderman

And why are Shimano outers in particular so expensive? An XT M760 outer for my chainset is about £60 yet a middle is about £30.Theres more material certainly but can`t belive that the production process and machining is much more for 44t as opposed to 32...........................

Anyway,when my outer ring is knackered I`ll probably,just ditch it.

njee20

More people buying middles, economies of scale and what not combined with extra material costs.

HacKage

Action Sports have the SLX full crankset for £81 delivered, sell the BB and crank arms for £25 and £40 respectively and you get your rings for £16.

thel33ter

thel33ter wrote:

Ti sram XX rings ain't cheap either.. Cba to look up prices though

I was thinking of these for some reason

http://www.carbon-ti.com/index.php?p1=news