Well after nearly 2years it seems I have to replace my 2 outer chainrings

The XT groupset seems to have worked great…now I have to pay XT prices to replace stuff I'm not so happy (£36 + £48 at CRC 🙁 )

Any reccomendations for cheaper chainrings that work as well? Or is the XT worth the money?

T.A chainrings – got them on my LX cranks and lasted ages so far:

http://www.cyclesurgery.com/1022896/TA-Chainring-TA.html?referrer=froogle.txt&utm_source=google&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=pid1022896

I switched to Middleburn when my XT rings wore out.

velosolo.co.uk for anodised ones?!

Do those SS ones have ramps and pins like the XT ones DD?

That's just insane money – you can buy an entire crankset for that. I'm not manly enough to wear out outer rings on a regular basis, but certainly middle and granny rings are Deore steel – cheap, tough and last loads longer. No-one can see them and you will never miss the weight saving – no-brainer.

I have to replace the chainrings on my XT chainset as well. After looking around at all the prices, ended up ordering an SLX chainset excluding BB for 60 quid a couple days ago: http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/mtb-bmx-bike/Chainsets-Shimano-SLX-M660-9-Spd-Triple-Chainset-ex-BB/SHIMCHAM300

+1 for middleburn – I really like the hardcoat ones and they last ages longer than Shimano.

As theyEye says – you can get a new crankset for £60 and that is worth thinking about!

Highpath

Nice one theEye….
Middleburn seem to get good reviews, still around £60 for the 2 though

Function wise, is there anything about XT that will make them shift better than the others?

I would def get rings with ramps and pins – I tried middle burn hardcoats without slickshifts and they were crap – trouble is middleburns with slickshift are more money – Don't get an alloy granny IME 🙂

My XTR rings were noticable better at shifting than my old XT ones but overall I have not noticed andy difference between the TA ones I got cheap on merlin and my XTR ones if thats any help 🙂

Well after nearly 2years it seems I have to replace my 2 outer chainrings

Really, you think that's expensive? Middleburn are shit at shifting, TA are nice enough but even I've broken them, and I'm not hard on parts.

Over 2 years, maybe it's OK…..up until I saw a full SLX chainset for £60 😉

That sounds like the best idea so far Mr Eye….could replace the alivio on my hardtail too! The SLX rings look almost identical to XT from what I can ascertain. SLX =£25 each at CRC

CRC are doing a set of 3 Middleburn Slick-Shift chainrings for £58

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Categories.aspx?CategoryID=575

Or £63 for the Hardcoat+Slick-Shift option.

Just fitted a set and the shifting seems flawless so far. They replaced some £50 no-name CNC rings from Merlin which hard a hard life but I got a year out of them before they bean to look like this:

hey nice one stuart, but I just went for the SLX deal above. £55 delivered with the extra voucher 😀

Incidentally, glad I haven't got XTR. RRP is
Inner: £30
Middle: £110
Outer: £150

Ouch on toast 😳

Just gone for XT (whole chainset) after a year and a half of SLX – the reason being is that XT now has a steel middle ring as well so should last better. And is shinier 😉

£270 for a new set of chainrings??? 😯

How much is the whole chainset?

What a rip-off…

Middleburn if you like chain suck.

I use Middleburn rings and I've never suffered from chainsuck. 😀