I need to get a new chainring for my bike and have historically used absoluteBlack Oval chainrings, just wondering if they are still seen as the best ones to go for, or are there any other makes to consider. Run Sram 12 Speed and I need a 104BCD ring to fit the powemeter.
I've heard great things and really bad things about AB rings. I think this might be down to the fact that at one time, they made an OEM grade ring I believe.
I favour a Garbaruk.
Most 7075 rings should offer similar wear, I'd like to find someone who was hard anodising them though for a bit extra wear resistance.
What constitutes "best" though? Lightest, most wear resistant? Shimano do a composite ring with steel teeth as does RaceFace. I guess others might also.
I'm running AB supercompact ovals on my road bike, they've got about 4k km on them and no significant signs of wear.......
Currently thinking of getting an AB oval for the MTB for a SRAM dub crankset.
I think absoluteblack still holds the record for my shortest lived chainring. That said, i think that was around the time they had a good and bad option. Works Components ones have always been good for me unless you’re on raceface cranks and can fit a steel one that will last forever.
I've got an AB on the fatbike, nothing special and the customer service was absolute dogshit (said it was in stock, I literally emailed them to check it was in stock, it wasn't in stock, I complained, they promised it in a week, arrived after another chasing email a month later. No apology, no nothing. Pricks)
I'll get Works from choice. Again nothing really special to them as far as I can tell but they're a good, UK company. I give them credit for being the people who really opened up narrow-wides in the first place (as well as head angle headsets, they made the first good one that everyone else rips off)
TBF these days cheapies are a good option, last chainring I got is a Snail from aliexpress, it's a pretty colour and works as well as anything does and it was like £6.99. I assume it works well because they ripped off someone else and that does suck but I was having trouble finding my fitment. Also it's called Snail which made me smile.
Oh I can't say I've tested it enough but Unite do cerakoted chainrings, cerakote is a tough coating done right but I've never had it before on a wearing item like this, only on exhausts and such. Not cheap, and it's only fair to say that they somehow managed to forget to debur mine and put it through the cerakoting without noticing, which doesn't say a lot for QC! But for all that's ridiculous, they did sort it well and the part certainly works well and looks nice. I just can't say if the cerakote was worth the extra, at this point.
My AB chainrings haven’t felt like they lasted long compared to a Shimano original. Last one I had bent on a stick.
Back to back testing over the last couple of years suggests Hope chainrings last 2-3 times the lifespan of Snail rings (at four times the price). It's not only about relative cost of course.
I'll throw another suggestion into the mix: Middleburn Hardcote rings. The triple crankset versions used to last very well, I'd be tempted to try one of those.
My compromise (cost vs ethics) in future is that I plan to install new drivetrains with UK made chainrings that last well, then eke out the dying days of the chain and cassette with Snails. I think there's some kind of internal logic to that.
Those Middleburn Hardcoat rings were lovely back in the day. I just wish they did some more modern variants, like Cinch and Shimano DM.
I'd love to see other direct mount chainrings from middleburn, but not at their RS7/RS8 costs. I mean, a 32t direct mount hardcote ring is £80. vs £35-£40 for a superstar DM chainring.
Those Middleburn ones look nice, but they don't do them in oval have a set of RS8 Cranks somewhere, loved them and the middleburn chainrings.
The Hope oval rings seem to be unavailable everywhere as are the Works Components ones & Burgtec only do a 32T ring when I want a 34T, so looks like it will be another AB or GarbarUK one. Has anyone used the Superstar Raptor rings?
Are you sure you want oval, or is that just what you are used to and assume they are beneficial (I'm not saying they aren't btw).
My personal experience of them - they look terrible and I just don't like them in use and AFAIK I never felt any tangible benefits
Hope have stopped making their oval rings.
I'd love a Middleburn RS8 direct Oval.....
Currently using Absolute Black (Singlespeed) and Unite (Full Sus) oval rings - longevity good so far on both.
I want to stick with oval, I played around with both a few years back as I wasn't convinced after using biopace rings many years ago.
I know its subjective but on a local loop I found I could clean a few sections with the oval ring that I couldn't do with the round ring, usually very short steep climbs where you need a fair bit of power but have a danger of stalling out, I am sure I could also clean them with a smaller round ring, but then you loose the top end gearing, that said I should probably try round rings again as the cassette ranges are much bigger now so perhaps less of an issue.