Chainring Choices

tartanmartin

I've just noticed that a few teeth on my large chainring (compact) have been damaged, some maybe 30-40% of full length. The bike is a Focus Cayo Evo 4 with full Ultegra, bar the FSA Energy crankset. I have no idea what the standard chainrings are with this chainset.

What would be the best chainrings to get for this setup based on weight, shifting, price etc?

Or, should I go for a BB30 conversion and stick an Ultegra chainset in?

I've seen that the Praxisworks get good reviews.

jibberjim

You know chainring teeth aren't all the same length when they come out of the factory right?

It's to help with shifting....

tartanmartin

Excuse my ignorance but no. There are, for example, five teeth in a row that are shorter and with a flat top, the odd one and then another three in a row. Plus another two. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to it. Is there one?

imposter2.0

There is a pattern, obviously, but it's not uniform. Unless you actually remember slamming your chainring on something hard which may have caused such damage, then it is most likely what Jim says...

DKay

tartanmartin wrote:

Excuse my ignorance but no. There are, for example, five teeth in a row that are shorter and with a flat top, the odd one and then another three in a row. Plus another two. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to it. Is there one?

This is normal. As a rough guide, chanrings should last for 8 - 10,000miles or longer before needing changing.

cycleclinic

I recomend chainrings with teeth. With that in mind, TA Specilaties are the best (praxis are meant to be pretty good too) in terms of longevity but Stronglight rings are perfectly fine.

Any chainring with the right BCD will work. With a little finesse they all shift fine.

Bobbinogs

DKay wrote:

tartanmartin wrote:

Excuse my ignorance but no. There are, for example, five teeth in a row that are shorter and with a flat top, the odd one and then another three in a row. Plus another two. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to it. Is there one?

This is normal. As a rough guide, chanrings should last for 8 - 10,000 miles or longer before needing changing.

8-10,000 miles? Seriously? I think you missed a zero out there, 80-100,000 miles is more like it IME. Maybe I am missing out on something!

Monty Dog

I have chainrings from the 80s and 90s still going strong - I find that modern groupsets use a special alloy called "cheese" that means they wear-out after a year or two ;-) I guess that's what they call progress?