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Small oval chainrings only - anyone doing this?

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Small oval chainrings only - anyone doing this?

Old 01-18-21, 01:10 PM
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Mojo GoGo
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Small oval chainrings only - anyone doing this?

Did a (quick) search and didn't see anything on this specific topic. Know the pro/con of oval has been beaten to death and not looking to add to that...


I thought I had seen or read that a popular implementation of oval rings was to just install on the small ring for (essentially) climbing specific usage. I live in an area where there are a lot of short punchy hills - gradients of 10-20% not uncommon with a couple hills hitting 24%. As I'm not as young as I used to be, figured it might be worth it to try out an oval chainring.


Unfortunately I ran into 2 issues when I started to investigate. 1. Went to Absolute Black's website and for Hollowgram SI they only sell 2 ring cranksets. I then looked for other manufacturers who might sell small ring only for Hollowgram. Ended up clicking on a lot of links to non-Hollowgram equipment which was frustrating. I then initiated a chat session with Competitive Cyclist to inquire and they indicated that I should only run a full oval crankset as using only a small oval ring wouldn't work due to FD shifting problems / adjustment issues.


Hence this post... Anyone running just a small oval chainring? How's your shifting? Any info would be appreciated!
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Old 01-18-21, 02:34 PM
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cricket1116
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I'm running a small oval ring. Shifting is fine in my opinion. It was when I tried to do both oval rings that I saw shifting being negatively affected, specifically, the shift to the larger ring. Dropping from large to small ring was never an issue. I ended up moving back to round larger ring with a small oval ring. Shifting wise, I see no issues. Whether it's beneficial for climbing, it may or may not be placebo, can't much tell the difference.
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Old 01-19-21, 01:58 AM
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For a while last year I ran an old 42T small Biopace with a 50T round ring on one bike with downtube shifters, and the usual Biopace 52/42 on another with 7-speed brifters. No problems after getting the front derailleur adjusted a bit. I dropped the chain a couple of times, but minor tweaks to the FD sorted it out.

The Biopace were more eccentric than conventionally oval, but the smaller Biopace rings were more elongated than the 52T, which is only slightly out of round.

The small Biopace ring *felt* better on climbs, but I can't claim any consistent differences in speed/time. We don't have any climbs long enough to matter, maybe a mile or so undulated from 2% to 5%. It just suited my choppy cadence.
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Old 01-21-21, 04:39 AM
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I ran the opposite of what you're suggesting for a while (round 39 paired with a Biopace 52; I just wanted something lower than the 42 that came with) and never had trouble shifting. Competitive Cyclist et al want you to buy more than 1 chainring.
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Old 01-21-21, 05:23 AM
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Originally Posted by Mojo GoGo
Anyone running just a small oval chainring?
I am aware that pro cyclists used to ride an oval, rotor QRing or absolute black inner ring while still riding their sponsored outer ring (e.g. shimano). I do not know of any one doing this at the moments, but yes it works, and no, there will be no shifting problems.

Keep in mind, however, that if you are using a small, say, 34t oval inner, if you are down the cassette enough, you may get chain rub on the inside of the big ring intermittently, twice per revolution as opposed to consistently with round rings. I like to run a larger than standard inner ring for this reason (50/36, 52/39 etc)
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