Some oval rings

Going to toss this up in here.

I've been running ovals for some time now starting with the Rotor Q-rings on my road bike. Then eventually put them onto my mountain bikes. It's a hit or miss with most people...but the majority seems to like them. The clocking of the rings will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. From what I've found is that I can't really tell much of a difference in the clocking of the rings. Even with the more aggressive shape of the Ridea...I'm hard pressed to tell the difference between the rings. I can tell that I'm on an oval compared to a round ring...but can't tell the difference in the clocking of the rings.

I do like how oval rings feel. My pedaling just feels better...especially where I really have to maintain a fast cadence to get up a loose hill.

I put the Garbaruk into the Banshee to help with the chainline in the 42T. With the 49mm CL on the Banshee...the chain would drop as soon as I backpedal in the 42. With the Gabaruk...I would have to give it a good 5 revolutions for the chain to drop.

OneUp with a 49mm CL


Garbaruk with the 47.7mm CL


Ridea SXX1 on the stock GXP spider 49mm CL on a boost frame

 

Haven't been on an oval since Bio-pace. When I wear out or thrash my chainring I my give a modern day oval a try. Longer power stroke, shorter dead spot.

My friend Andre (now at FB) had an oval on his single speed. I didn't know that was possible without the chain getting too loose.

 

Been running a wolf tooth oval on my single speed for about a year now. I did not notice much difference other than when I have a good cadence.

 

More oval action.

Picked up a 26T Absolute Brack oval for the 6Fattie (WTF stupid name is this??). Its so tiny. Its the 6mm GXP offset. IMO...its better than the 3mm Boost offset. Gives a better chainline in the 42T.

 

I am running the WT oval on my wfo. 28 with the new e13 46-9 cassette. Awesome!

 

Please forgive my ignorance. What does a oval do for you?

 

If clocked properly, it makes the flat part of the pedal stroke easier.

From One Up:
Our Oval design has 3 main benefits; traction, traction and more traction. Forget any of the power gain claims that you've heard from the road side of the sport. For mountain, oval rings provide a more constant torque to the rear wheel thereby reducing spinouts and stalls on tough climbs.

• Get ultimate traction by smoothing out the torque you deliver to your rear tire
• 12% ovality (32T is equal to a 30T-34T range)
• 115° clocking from crank arm puts the major axis in your power stroke

 

From Wolftooth:

Get better traction and acceleration when you use our Elliptical (or Oval, same thing) rings!

Our proprietary design has ovality of 10% and timing of 112° after TDC (top dead center). These values provide the benefits of an oval ring without the drawbacks of greater ovality or more aggressive timing.

The simplest way to explain how they "feel" is that where your pedal stroke is weakest it feels like you have a 2 teeth less on the chainring and where you have the most power it feels like you have 2 more teeth. They feel this way because with the radius of the chainring constantly changing, the torque needed to turn the cranks is constantly changing to better match your power output. Example: a 34t chainring feels like a 32t in the weak part of your pedal stroke and a 36t in the part of the stroke where your legs have the most power.

Check out this podcast for a simple explanation of Ellitpical ring benefits:

http://mountainbikeradio.com/engineer-corner/elliptical-chainrings/

 

Thanks! I knew someone would school me up.

 

I just got this today and will install it tomorrow and give it a review in a month or two. It is a Deckas oval 34t.