Was going to buy one of the new Superstar rings for my Hope cranks with 30t as wanted something slightly easier than my current 32t. Then I noticed they are doing oval rings too. I heard that people tend to climb one sprocket higher with an oval ring with the same number of teeth. Should I stay with 32t if I buy an oval?

Oval 32t is roughly a 34t at strongest point & 30t at weakest, if your looking for easier go for a 30t. For me an oval smooths out my cadence on steep honkin type climbs.

its the same, my 32t oval rides up hill like a 32t round. if you want easier get a smaller number

I kept the same T so no gearing change, but the oval feels smoother going uphill, I reckon its worth -1T in terms of knee pressure.

Will switching from 32T to 30T make any discernible difference? I could do with a bit more assist on the hills now winter’s coming.

Definitely need a few more teeth because they give you so much extra power.

😀

I went from 32t round to 32t oval and I definitely climb a cog at the rear smaller. It’s certainly not like a 30t bur it feels easier than the original 32t. Feels very smooth and round when pedalling strangely

sgn23 – Member
Will switching from 32T to 30T make any discernible difference? I could do with a bit more assist on the hills now winter’s coming

Yes.

You may not be able to find an oval ring with 30 teeth that’ll fit your cranks… this may or may not bother you (but you did ask on a thread about oval rings…)

Absolute Black do a (rather expensive) 30T oval ring that will fit 104BCD spider arms but usually a 32T is the smallest that will fit such arms. If you want to go smaller than 30T then you’ll need to go direct mount. I’ve 32T oval on my 29er and 28T direct mount oval on my fat bike.

Not sure if using an oval ring is worth a full ratio at the back, certainly a half ratio. It’s definitely smoother when climbing,, there’s less “pedalling in squares”.

Bought some Hope cranks from here but looked like no-one was making direct mount rings for them. The Hope ones are very expensive. Now Superstar are doing round and oval direct mount rings for hope for £30. The 30t oval ones are coming soon apparently.