28T front single chainring set up – sugestions?

I’m planning to go 1×10 speed & was thinking of a MRP bling ring on a Sram splined/spiderless crankset up front with a 11-36 at the back. Are there any other ways of creating a 28T chainset?

MRP Bling Ring, North Shore Billet or soon Works Components will all do what you want with the Sram setup….

Other than that maybe middleburn?

Middleburn UNO maybe?

Sram XX1

Are you sure you really need a 28? I’m pretty unfit at the moment and I’m coping OK with my 29er with 11-36 and a 34T up front.

Certainly gives you a very very spinny top end! Not sure I’d bother with less than a 32t, YMMV of course.

Widgit is the other way of doing it, meant to be expensive and a bit crap though.

http://www.extralite.com/Products/octaramps_anglo.htm

scroll down they do a 30 tooth only place I could find one, not cheap but is an on line shop.

http://www.silverfish-uk.com/ProductDetail/8201/12778/TRS-Race-Crankset-Single-Ring ?

28T and 36 out the back? What sort of climbs are you doing?!

MatA-I’m running the MRP Bling Ring on 2 bikes in 28t with a 36t at the back. Works great.

scroll down they do a 30 tooth only place I could find one, not cheap but is an on line shop.

That’s designed to work as the inner on a double, you need to file the spider to get it to fit. I found they lasted reasonably well (used as the inner in a double) though.

I’ve got a 30T TA Specialities ring in the granny position which works fine. I’ve got a 28T KCNC one to replace it soon.
I ride up long steep hills hence the need for 28T (29er) No need for a huge top gear if the descents are techy and not just charging down fire roads.

I know two guys who run that 28t combo. They are both fitter than me yet I have stuck with a 32t front. On one ride we did in Wales I was almost (but not quite) spun out at about 30mph on the long descent back into Rhaeder and they were over geared on the long climb out of the Élan valley. Thus they went for a lower gear and I stuck with the 32t. It makes sense for long climbs and if you think about it, unless you really need a 32t by 11t gear (and let’s be honest not many people even need that gear for off road riding) then the lower final gear makes sense.

Depends on how you use the bike too. I often ride to the trails on the road, using 36/11 a lot of the time. I’d find 32 a bit spinny and 28 downright irritating! If folk drive to ride their MTBs then that’s less of an issue as I rarely spin out 36/11 off road.

Njee you need a bigger gear for the fast fire road and road sections, what with you being semi pro and all that. 😉 So yes I agree (and I think we’ve agreed on this a few times before), it does depend on how you ride and how fit you are.

STW in “thread about single chainring smaller than 32t ends up discussing gearing rather than answering the original question” shocker.

I’d go for SRAM with bling ring, or XX1 crank if you can afford it. The latter does get really expensive if you want anything other than 32t though as the price of the chainrings themselves are a joke (almost half the cost of the cranks I think!?) and I don’t think you can buy the cranks prefitted with any other ring.

As has been said, the lowest you’ll realistically get with Hollowtech cranks is 30t and even then you’re limited to a few small brands and have to modifiy the cranks to make it work.

You also need to go got a seat tube mounted top guide as I don’t think that you can get traditional chain guides that go down that small.

Enjoying the digression- is it for a 29er? I like my 32T ring on the Ragley, 28T on a 29er with decent size tyres wouldn’t be so very different, makes sense to me really.

I have the worlds thinnest weakest legs and can ride 99% of climbs in the peak with 33/34 combo. What hills require 28/36?

I run a 29t on two bikes.
One is a Middleburn with the 29t Duo spiderless inner ring. The other is an older RaceFace 5 arm 94mm BCD crankset, where you can go down to 29t on the middle ring position.

What hills require 28/36?

Ones ridden by people less fit than you, less inclined to mash huge gears, on a heavier bike, or on a 29er with the equivalent higher gearing!

I have the worlds thinnest weakest legs and can ride 99% of climbs in the peak with 33/34 combo. What hills require 28/36?

What difference does it make to you? I personally don’t understand why anyone would want a red bike – that doesn’t mean I post in threads about red bikes and question the OP’s intention rather than answering his/her questions though.

This constant demand for an explanation in every thread about low geared 1×10 setups is becoming really tiresome. There are obviosuly people who want/need it, as there are products available to satisfy that want/need, so why would they have to explain themselves to anyone (each and every time it’s brought up)?

I pedal a high cadence and am looking for a 28t single ring set up on a 29er too. It’s looking most likely as though a Sram crank with bling ring is possibly the way forward. Does anybody know anywhere that you can actually get the blingrings from in the UK? And does anybody jnow if the latest X7 cranks are compatible/ (sorry for slight hijack)

No idea on X7 compatibility but Triton Cycles seem to keep updating their Bling Ring Stock regularly (although only 36t there at the moment) . I have gotten a few from them when no where else had them. I think any dealer who has an ISON account can order them for you and have them in a few days too.

Regarding chain devices/guides, there are a few from MRO that are designed to work specifically with 28-32 rings as opposed to the more traditional 32-36 sizes. The AMg guide and G2 Micro Guide. You can also use ones like E13’s XCX seat tube mount if you have certain frames (Doing this on aTrek Fuel with no problems).

I’m running 26/36 double on a 26er, so your original question and bike is wrong I’m afraid……

DrP

Why does being on a 29er mean you need a tiny ring? (genuine question)

Higher geared due to the bigger wheels, roughly 1.5 gears harder

Ison only have stock of the 36t bling ring at the moment. Other sizes hopefully due to arrive at the end of this month.

@rob

Youre turning a bigger wheel with the same cassette, so effectively its a higher gear.

e.g. a 34t front to a 34t rear on a 26 inch bike is 26.0 gear inches
a 32t front to a 34t rear on a 29 inch bike is 26.2 gear inches

so for the same overall gear ratio on a 29 er as a 26er (with the same cassette) you need a smaller front ring.

(thankyou Sheldon Brown)

steve_b77 – Member
Higher geared due to the bigger wheels, roughly 1.5 gears harder

More like 1.1 times harder (29/26 = 1.11 – obviously this is very rough) – eg 10% = so if you use a 36 on a 26″ bike you’d need around 4 (3.6) teeth fewer to get the same feel on a 29er.

I’m one of the riders GT is referring to. I run a 28T x 36 on my 29er and 30T x 36 on my 26″. Both are pretty light (26-27lbs), and I’m reasonably fit. Very little of my riding is on the road. I use bling rings on both bikes, and it works very well for me. Never spin out on the 11T, and only very rarely wish for a lower gear. I love the fact that 1×10 drops almost a pound in weight, and makes the drive much simpler. Job done. Wish more companies did smaller rings than 32T.

If XX1 takes off and the new BCD becomes standard you may get your wish! It’s the 104mm BCD ‘standard’ that means you can’t go smaller.

ooh – I quite like the look of the Bling rings – I take it you just get some XOs (or 7/9) and stick the single ring on…

How many gms would this loose?

DrP

I’m running a 28T front with a 1/36 rear. I’m using the the 2×10 XT chain set – this comes with a 28T inner and a 40t outer ring, I’ve swapped the outer ring for an old 32T ring with the teeth filed off, as a bash ring. Combined with an MRP chain device and no issues so far….. Quite a cheap way of doing it.

How’s the chain line? I’m running 1×10 on an XTR double, but using the outer ring position? I imagine it’s a bit skewed on the inner ring position?

No – the it’s designed to run a 40t outer ring, which is actually in the middle position compared to a triple setup, this means that in order to clear the chainstay the rings are about 5or 6mm further out than normal. This bike never sees the road, so I rarely use the smaller cogs on the cassette.

28t and 11-36 here too. Reasonably fit and don’t mind about spinning out but enjoy cleaning steep techy climbs… Sometimes in my head tho. Running raceface next so cranks 2 x 10. Home made bash (turned down g-ring) and home made light upper guide attached to bb. Would probably just buy hope guide now they copied me tho;).

No – the it’s designed to run a 40t outer ring, which is actually in the middle position compared to a triple setup, this means that in order to clear the chainstay the rings are about 5or 6mm further out than normal. This bike never sees the road, so I rarely use the smaller cogs on the cassette.

That’s what I mean – outer ring on double = middle ring on triple? Not quite true, as they’re spaced differently, but I’d expect it’s less than ideal on the inner ring position? If you don’t use the smaller sprockets why not go smaller on the ring?

Next sl… Darn auto correct!

Njee20 – I don’t follow..

Just bought (separately) a used XO DH crank and a 28t Bling Ring – £87 for both and both in decent nick (the Bling Ring essentially perfect, the cranks a bit rougher cosmetically but threw some crank boots and new heli tape on).

From what I can find, the available chainguide options for 28t are the MRP AMg, the MRP MICRO and this (which oddly doesn’t seem to feature on the ethirteen website)
http://www.mountainbikebitz.com/thirteen-xcx-mountain-bike-guide-iscg-05-28-36t-p-27625.html