not that I can see anyway

So why haven’t Middleburn gone down the route of making

1 A Hardcoat Wide Narrow ring*

2 A Hardcoat Casette (they’d need a cassette first I suppose)

3 A Hardcoat chain

Surely with these three things in place drivetrain wear will be reduced by a lot.

* I may have asked this before, sorry.

drivetrain wear is how the bicycle industry make their profits 🙂

1. Not a big enough market to warrant them going to the expense of creating yet another option of what’s already available?

2. Unless you’re making individual sprockets and attaching them to some sort of spider (very time consuming for a small UK business) then you’d need to hack it out of a single piece of metal. Which is very time consuming, complex to design and would probably be prohibitively expensive for the mass market so difficult to justify the expense.

3. Hardcote would make bugger all difference to the life of a chain. It’s the pivots & rollers that wear out before the side plates, unless you’re really unlucky.

have middleburn released anything “new” since 1998 ? (and by new i dont mean bashing an axel into their old cranks to make it hollowtech 2 esque)

^ Road compact spiders, got one on order.

The good points made by The Pinkster aside, Middleburn are a very small outfit that appear to struggle with the demand on stuff they already make. Even if they wanted to produce more I don’t think they could without a bit of investment and expansion.

Note: This is heavily speculative on my part and not based on any direct interaction with Middleburn themselves.

have middleburn released anything “new” since 1998 ? (and by new i dont mean bashing an axel into their old cranks to make it hollowtech 2 esque)

Well, they seem to have dropped the Uno chainring in favour of the Mono spider. I suspect however that this is because they can’t be arsed to make them in thick/thin flavour, so with a mono spider you can just use someone elses chainring 🙂

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Inside-Middleburn-from-aerospace-to-MTB.html

Let’s all laugh at another British firm struggling in the marketplace through lack of support.

If everyone had justifiably bought Middleburn when their stuff was far superior to Shimano, instead of acting like sheep and just buying more Shimano, then who knows where they would be now.

we sold a bucket load of middleburn crank when square taper was the norm they were good then, they how ever dragged heels over innovation.

have you tried fitting their hollowtech 2 offerings – best hope your have narrow stays- what a pain in the tits they were.

and their chainrings shift like turd – but so did everything else when the hardcotes came out…. but shimano shift so nicely that its impossible to ignore them now.

I was a fan in 98 yes but thing is its not 1998 any more and it hasnt been for 16 years….

hope moved things forward and they seem to be doing alright ?

you’d need to hack it out of a single piece of metal. Which is very time consuming, complex to design and would probably be prohibitively expensive for the mass market so difficult to justify the expense.

Which is what SRAM do for XX/XX1, and we see countless threads with people complaining about the expense!

Let’s all laugh at another British firm struggling in the marketplace through lack of support.

If everyone had justifiably bought Middleburn when their stuff was far superior to Shimano, instead of acting like sheep and just buying more Shimano, then who knows where they would be now.

When was that exactly? I clearly wasn’t paying attention!

trail_rat – Member

have you tried fitting their hollowtech 2 offerings – best hope your have narrow stays- what a pain in the tits they were

My X-Type is fine, no clearance issues on my Stumpy FSR?

does the stumpy have wide stays – im not sure.

maybe they have fixed the issue in later models – this was one of the first pre orders that the lad who was a loyal middleburn fan had been waiting on for almost 2 years from first concept.

think it was an anthem it was going on at the time , there was no way it was going on without a welder – the axel simply wasnt long enough.

Let’s all laugh at another British firm struggling in the marketplace through lack of support.

I don’t think anyone is laughing at them. I for one think they make a great product and support them as much as I can (I have some of the first RS8 X-Type cranks) but I find their occasional lack of response to simple queries frustrating to the point where I’ve considered using other products. You can produce the best kit in the world but if you don’t respond to your customers you won’t sell it.

dirty, I did see that Article, and it’s really what prompted the whole Wide NArrow question. As for shifting, well if you go 1 X …. it hardly matters, my big bug bear over going 1 x… (either SRAM or OneUp/Wolftooth conversion) is the expense when the f..kers wear out – it becomes a lot more expensive that traditional setup

Casset £40
Chain £16
Ring = £20

vs

Cassette = £190 (sram or about £100 using conversion kit)
Chain – £16
Ring = £20

Make it all last a bit longer and it’s not an issue..

When was that exactly? I clearly wasn’t paying attention!

I started mtbing in ’96 I think.

Back then Shimano chainrings were made of cheese and anyone with any sense would use middleburn rings.

I went through some LX and a few XT rings before I went to Middleburn – I used to ride a lot in the very muddy bridleways around epsom/north downs all winter and so wear was high. Used to even run one of those plastic comb things that fitted between the teeth of your cassette to wipe off some of the mud.

I still have that Middleburn chainset with some RS7 cranks and the rings are still in decent shape.

have middleburn released anything “new” since 1998 ?

incey spider?

I started mtbing in ’96 I think.

Back then Shimano chainrings were made of cheese and anyone with any sense huge bags of money would use middleburn rings. When my entry level bike’s drivechain wore out the rivetted on chainrings meant new crank so >£100 for middleburn rs6 or 7 plus another wedge (£50-70?) on rings, vs £45 for an LX crank with 3 rings on it. Economically the middleburn may* have been the better investment but paper rounds/shop work income didn’t really stretch to that kinda kit

Have used middleburn rings since but the last middle I had got about the same wear as a shimano XT plastic and steel job, not massively superior anymore I’m afraid.

I managed to get a middleburn front hub stupidly cheap way back, awesome kit, just a pity it’s not a disc hub or I’d still be using it, still in the attic awaiting a rim braked bike to put it on.

*assuming your cranks didn’t split 🙂

ah yes , my riding buddy has the scars from the crank splitting , strictly XC rider pulling away from a road junction , crank split vertically from axel to axel. going straight into his leg

Back then Shimano chainrings were made of cheese and anyone with any sense would use middleburn rings.

Bollocks. Shimano rings shift(ed) far better, I always used Shimanos, didn’t go through that many, on the same terrain.

I also know of someone who had an exploding Middleburn chainset!

Im a big middleburn fan – all my bikes run Middleburn RS7 on square taper Shimano or Woods BBs.

But I know that really I’m using old tech, brilliantly made.

But then it suits me. I ride SS or Rohloff. Im also lazy. And dont huck. So for me it’s perfect. But for many it wont be. I work with (own part of etc) a small UK manufacturing company at the cutting edge of tech in their field, but getting market penetration is eye-wateringly difficult. Mainly because of people like me who like the reliability of tested design. But that company, market (marine craft) is probably one of the most conservative going so not surprising.

Bollocks. Shimano rings shift(ed) far bette

Bollocks back again – I going to have to call you out to not knowing what you are talking about – in 96, and several years afterwards, the shimano rings might have shifted ok, but they wore out much faster than the middleburn rings.

And middleburn shifted better then than they do now.

+1 on Shimano cheese, as were Race Face (though they shifted better than Shimano!

MB Hardcoat was easy winner (still is as far as I’m concerned)

Does anyone else do a “hardcoat” type coating??

“And middleburn shifted better then than they do now.”

rose tinted testicles.

they just shifted better than shimano at the time – shimano upped their game.

its clear to see when you look at rings from then and now. i have hardcote duos in the house from way back when (middleburn cranks all went long ago) , i have stx rc chainset in the house complete with stamped flat profile rings and i have modern shimano Deore rings……

much more profiling done to modern deore rings to allow them to shift better. middleburn rings are the same as they were

1 A Hardcoat Wide Narrow ring*

2 A Hardcoat Casette (they’d need a cassette first I suppose)

3 A Hardcoat chain

BITD Goldtec made a titanium nitride coated cassette, chain and chainring that were supposed to last ages. They cost a bloody fortune though so no one bought them.

Ah yes, £200 for the Chain if I remember.

“And middleburn shifted better then than they do now.”

rose tinted testicles.

I don’t think so – my rings from back then aren’t hardcoat and they are a little thicker in the teeth I think.

I think the thinner hardcoat rings seem to feel less substantial in the shift, and ‘hang on’ to the chain more.

ah but then that wouldnt be a hardcote ring.

yes they were ok , but wore out like nobodys business.

used to wear out 42s for fun.

yes they were ok , but wore out like nobodys business.

not for me, lasted way longer than XT.

They have a narrow wide chainring coming out.

GB

gee – Member

They have a narrow wide chainring coming out.

GB

Brilliant…………….. BUT WHEN??? That Pinkbike article doesn’t reveal a great deal, and like most industry types sitting on the fence seems to be an art form.

Sorry, have only scan read the post above, but don’t think anyone has mentioned it. I’m sure that I’ve seen that Middleburn are already making and selling a narrow/wide ring for their RS8 x-type cranks. A quick google only seems to throw up links to Activesport/Dave Hinde/Mark Antony selling them though :-/

EDIT: Should make it clear that it is the uno-style fitting. Be nice to see a 4-bolt version soon too.