I know this is going to be a bit subjective but .....
I need to buy two new chainrings. 4 bolt pattern in a 26 & 38 or there abouts.
Hear bad things about Middleburn (chainsuck) but have never experienced this myself.
Any recommendations?
I've never experienced chainsuck with Middleburn either.
I have 😛 Got myself some of those CNC cheapos from Merlin a while back and they are ace 🙂
My middleburn rings chainsucked from new, through used, and into old. They started off by chainsucking whenever you shifted down, but after a month or two of destroying my frame, they started chainsucking whenever you pedalled. Switched to shimano deore steel, never had a chainsuck again.
TA are meant to be good as well.
Another vote for TA.
I've used them for four years now, sice I ditched a set of Blackspire "super Pro" rings, which sucked from new.
No chainsuck at all, even in filth/grit and under heavy load, but on the downside they're not exactly giving them away...
Never had problems with Middleburn.
Race Face are good too.
The CNC ones are identical to TA from merlin so TA for me as well 🙂
Shimano.
I'm more than happy with Shimano and good old Deore at that, the granny and middle ring in a 3 ring setup are steel so nice and resiliant.
I did try a Middleburn Hardcoat Slickshift outer ring but didn't get on with it at all, it seemed markedly thicker than Shimano rings , I assume that this was the Hardcoat. In the higher gears in the middle ring the chain would rub the Middleburn outer and in the middle ring, smallest cog combination the outer ring was actually lifting the chain off the middle ring.