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I looking to put a Narrow Wide chainring on my new build. After a little search to see what out there found that Hope ,R/F, E-13 etc are all around the £40 mark. However On-one and Superstar version are approx £25. So is the a difference in quality, ability to hold the chain on etc. Real world input would be great.
There's a bit of variation in design. Frinstance the Superstar one actually has a nice wee tweak that I've not seen on others, the machining on the narrow tooth is scallopped off slightly which I reckon might make it deal better with claggy mud. (not that I've had a problem with that on the Works but others have mentioned it)
Can't really speak for quality/longevity though, only got a Works and the Superstar to compare and so far no obvious differences.
Like Northwind says about the on-one ring, hope were the first to include that feature. I know though on real world use, RF, Hope, e.13 and North Shore Billet, all perform as well as one another. Can't comment on the cheaper ones, but expect alloy strength to suffer which will transpire in longevity of life. Buy cheap, buy twice n' all. But honestly can't speak from experience.
Sram's X-Sync really is the best still but at a price!
They all seem to use the same 7075-T6 aluminum ,so does that mean they are equally as robust?
Middleburn posted something about Hardcoat n/w rings being available next week. Tooth profile and everything else looks very similar to my Works one.
The on one ones seem to work well but are a bit heavier because the sides aren't machined away. Depends whether weight matters that much to you.
I tend to shop at the cheap end So I've got a "Vectoix" (34t) and an OO "Ringmaster" (30t) the main thing so far as I can tell with the cheap ones will be weight, the number of machining ops to create the tooth profiles gets offset by fewer machining ops to lighten the things, hence they are cheap, but relatively heavy.
The main bit of value that the pricier brands add will be that reduction in weight, which is more time spent on the mill, SS may be the exception here; they've invested in in-house manufacture and do the direct sales things so they can do more of the intricate machining to lose weight, and offset those cost in other ways...
The materials are probably like for like across most of them, (I doubt any of them will be giving you their mill certs to leaf through though) I don't know if RF, Works or Hope are doing any Hard anodizing or coatings to improve wear but I imagine finish will be just a little nicer and smoother on the pricier brands, I know the contact faces on the cheaper ones go through the anodizing within a couple of rides, whether or not they wear better after that is only really going to be answered by people using them longer term...