XTR M970 Chainring help?

does anybody know if anything else fits other than the ridiculously priced original ones?

Middleburn do cheaper alternatives specifically for them – Chain Reaction Cycles have them 😉

Yes, anything you want, they're a standard bolt circle dimater. Saying that, there's some strange spacing on the granny ring which seems to cause some problems, it's fine as long as your granny and middle match, ie you change both away from M970.

TA do an outer ring to match the 'profile' of the spider, if that bothers you.

i thought the 970 had 104 bcd so any normal ring will fit?

something like a FSA or truvativ or raceface would do

Might be wrong but I think that the 970 granny needs you to fit some spacers to make other rings fit. I've not tried it but that is what I was told and I have had the deore chainrings and spacers sitting here ready to fit since spring but my rings just won't wear out!

Also, CRC carries middleburn rings to fit the new XTR and the last generation which has a slightly smaller bcd. Make sure you buy the right ones!

so any std 4 bolt will do? i'm looking for examples of what people have done ideally. i've found some chainrings on CRC from middleburn that may do;

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=7095

No, they're M960.

This is the only set I can think of that is a strict 'match' for XTR, but again, anything will fit, you may need some spacers on the granny ring, no one seems particularly sure!

What I've done is put on a new deore middle (I run bash so no big) and a middleburn XTR specific inner. Works great. I am planning putting on a deore inner and middle on my next change but will need to do some filing and use spacers.

Seems like ngee's saying I won't need the spacers so I'll try it that way first.

DON'T BUY THOSE RINGS JUST YET! I think that's the rings that have the 102mm BCD which was the last generation XTR. You need to 104mm BCD I think.

Give me 2 mins and I'll check that out for you but I'll need to log into CRC so bear with me.

I'm slow! They are the wrong ones as ngee says!

Very few people do M970 specific rings, as there's no reason to. You could fit XT, or Deore if you want, at worst you'd have to file them down slightly to fit if the spider's an odd shape. I used an Extralite middle and TA outer and had to do that slightly (no inner).

no i know, i was hoping someone maybe on here thats done it, mine are ok at the minute but i reckon i'm going to need to change them in the next few months leading up to christmas, be good to know what i need. might just give CRC a ring and see what they say?

Hi guys, you can replace the middle and outer rings with any, however, the smaller ring is different, it is aprcial, when i replaced my rings the outher and middle were raceface and the inner was xtr and had no issues

cheers ianpinder, i think its the middle only i'll need to replace, so if thats the case does that mean i can fit any middle ring and keep the std xtr inner?

Yes, you can. How many people have to tell you 🙂

I have a full unused set of m970 rings as I only run one ring up front, I keep threatening to put them on ebay but always end up selling other things instead. Make me offer if you like, even in couple months I'll prob still have them 😀

hange on a second, a few people on here have just been saying different things, as i've said before i wanted to be clear. now i am, and the help is appreciated

tails, i would make you an offer for the chainrings but i'm pretty sure you wouldn't except it 😉

people have been selling them on the classifieds but asking £75-80 for a middle, thats still a p**s take for a middle ring, new or second hand

I agree £80 for a middle ring is a piss take but so is £90 for all three rings that's about over a year ago price. The worst I can say is no.

Just out of interest why buy a expensive product when you don't wanna pay for the up keep. Okay you save some weight, but many would say XTR's best point is its slickness in shifting. Unless of course you've lost your job/income then I understand the need to carry on riding.

i've recently spent £100 on a cassette (XTR), £30 on a chain and £90 on a rear mech, some because of crashes and some through regular maintenance (awaiting fitting). XTR has always been expensive but in anyones eyes £94 for a middle chainring is a p**s take i don't mind spending the money, but sometimes its just too far.

so, a raceface or middleburn one for £30-50 is much more realistic

i may well make you an offer though, as you say, you can only say no

Just had a heart attack looking at the price in CRC for an outer ring for M970 – £127 for one ring????? WTF?? Does anyone know if a generic (middleburn or blackspire) will fit?

Will be ok

Yep, fine.

Oddly a SRAM XX 'inner' 28t ring, is £23!

The outers are still £100, but considering the rest of the group makes XTR look like pocket money it's surprising!

TA alternatives here and here

Nope, the first ones are for M970, the second ones are for M960 only.

It's not that difficult people!

I don't know if you mean just the outer? A generic middle (LX, Deore etc) will fit just fine but the inner needs spacers. I don't know if the outer needs spacers or not. I put a post about it this morning with a link to some photos from when I'd recently done it. Here is the link again if it helps[/url]

I never used spacers on the outer, without problems, the TA Sismic is the right 'profile' to look like the proper OEM ring, anything else will fit, but the shape of the spider will not be continued onto the ring.