BikeRider22

Dear Experts,

I have a Surly Cross Check with Truvativ cranks
2 * 8
34, 50 teeth front
110 BCD
5 bolt holes
Phil Wood bottom bracket

See the image below.

As I've got older, I'm not as strong as I used to be.
Rarely do I use the larger 50 tooth chainwheel.

I'm thinking that I should change the 50 tooth ring
to a smaller chainwheel. Somewhere between 40 and 46 teeth.

So, it would be more of a touring road bike.


Can anyone recommend a smaller outer chainwheel that would fit?

Thanks a lot

Germany_chris

Like every other chainring thread, TA Specialties will have the chainring you need

Tourist in MSN

I have no idea what cassette you have. But you want to avoid creating duplicate gears if you can.

This is a handy gear calculator. I have already entered into it the Sram 11/32 eight speed cassette, as that is the cassette I use on my eight speed bikes. If you use a different cassette, you should change the sprockets for what you have. You can use your cursor to grab the 50T chainring and slide it back and forth to see how the gears would change with different chainrings.
https://gear-calculator.com/?GR=DERS...N=MPH&DV=teeth

saddlesores

what's on the rear cassette?

you mainly use the 34 ring.........but is it low enough?

might make more sense to change both rings.

...........not sure how much smaller you can get with a 110 bcd.


you might be able to find a replacement 4-arm crank for the

same cost as two individual rings. something like a 26-38?


maybe the experts will know if you can use an mtb triple with your front derailler,

dispose of the outer ring, replace with a rock guard.

Tourist in MSN

Sheldon Brown website indicates 33 can be fit on a five arm 110mm crank, but I have never seen anything smaller than 34.

timdow

Many "touring triple" cranks have either 26/36/46, or 26/36/48 for a 10 to 12 tooth difference between the middle and big ring. You can achieve this (minus the granny 26 of course) by replacing the big ring with a44T, 46T. You can use one of these, or even consider a 48T... Whichever calculates out to give the best gear combos based on the cassette you have.

BikeRider22

Thanks Germany_chris for the recommendation to TA Specialties

I found their website in France
https://specialites-ta.com/recherche...arch&s=110+bcd
https://specialites-ta.com/39-double...tion-Extérieur


And another company in Europe, probably Germany
TA Specialites Zephyr Chainrings Road 110mm Compact Shimano
https://www.bike24.com/brands/ta-specialites
https://www.bike24.com/p25832.html

Many sizes "out of stock"


Does anyone know a good distributor of TA Specialties chainrings
in the USA?

Or, another company that would sell a smaller front outer chainring
that would fit?

Thanks

ThermionicScott 

Outer rings of 46T or 48T were pretty common when cyclocross used 5-bolt 110 BCD doubles. Smaller than that is rarer since you would now have about a 10-tooth or less difference between the rings, so it wouldn't gain you as much. But it's frustrating to bring gear range along that you aren't going to use...

What cassette are you using?

danders

I would just change the cranks so you know all the ramps/pins are correct.
2x 30/46 GRX seems popular, 3X Alivio 22/32/44 works for me and is low budget.

BobG

Peter White Cycles in Hillsboro NH.

Tourist in MSN

There are LOTS of places to buy 110mm BCD five arm chainrings.

I have a TA on one bike, a Stronglight big ring on another, and a generic that did not even have a name label on it on another bike, I think I have a Salsa on another crankset. Don't get to focused on only one brand.

Keep in mind that a different chainring that does not have pins and ramps in the right spots will not shift as smooth. That is not a big deal, before ramps and pins were added to chainrings, we all managed to shift ok in the old days, but it may be noticeable. And your front derailleur will need to be dropped down a bit with a smaller chainring.

Initially until you see how the new chainring works, I would not remove any chainlinks in case you want to go back to the 50. We have asked a couple times what cassette you have, you have not given that info. If you want lower gearing you might want a cassette with a bigger biggest sprocket, in which case you would probably need those links back.

If you order from Bike24, they have a significant shipping fee for the first item, but after that first item the shipping rate does not rise much if any, so you can get some great bargains from them if you are looking for anything else. That is where I bought my Rohloff hub eight years ago.

BikeInn is another source. Shipping may be lower.
https://www.tradeinn.com/bikeinn/en/...nrings/12469/s

Do not buy a Campy compatible 110mm five arm chainring, they are different than everybody else's 110mm chainrings.

Good luck.

saddlesores

32T..........pricey! $93
looks like they had to ovalize it to make it work.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133853793912

Tourist in MSN

I mentioned above that one of mine was a Stronglight. If you get one of those, on mine there were two small threaded holes drilled in it, I think M5. You can see one of them at about the 5 o'clock position, you can't see the other because it is behind the crankarm. The big ring usually has a pin in it behind the crank arm to prevent your chain from jamming between the crank arm and chainring if the chain gets in between them. I needed to buy a setscrew at the hardware store, and an M5 nut to install as that pin, which is behind the crank arm that you can't see.

***

This is a 135mm BCD crank, not a 110mm BCD, so it looks different than yours.




Yeah, someone else can buy that one.

staehpj1

Yeah, I'd suggest the same. There are some compact doubles that are pretty inexpensive and have range of ring size choices. I see that 46-30 is pretty common and prices are quite low for some models. If 46-30 doesn't suit you there are higher and lower tooth counts available. Some of the cranksets cost a good bit less than some of the suggested chain rings! Cheap older model (usually new old stock) square taper cranks can be decent cranks. I have fitted some up on various bikes and they worked out fine.

robow

Several years ago when I purchased a pair of 46-30 cranks for my cycle cross bikes, I had to take out a small business loan in order to purchase them, but now they are available through many more manufacturers and hence the costs have come way down.

saddlesores

yes, mucho cheaper for the whole shebang.

bikinGreen Classic 170mm Crankset with 46/30T BCD 110mm Silver chainring Vintage US $84.06

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124754009124

Item Information

Condition:
New

Crank arm: 5 Bolt
BCD: 110mm
Length: 170mm
Charinring: 46/30T
Color: Silver
Weight: 602g
BB type: JIS square.

djb

This guy (?) Says he has a Phil wood BB, so if it's in good shape, sticking with a square taper crankset makes sense.

If not, are you (bike rider 22 dude) open to going with various outboard BB systems that will go on your bikes BB threaded shell?

danders

FC-MT210-2 46/30 or 36/22

https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/alivio-m3100/FC-MT210-2.html

Tourist in MSN

Or, if you have a friction shifter for front, get one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/Vuelta-815004...dp/B0081UV7LC/

Not sure if the bottom bracket spindle is the right length or not. The Amazon listing indicates it needs a 110mm bottom bracket spindle length.

These chainrings would not be swappable with your existing crankset, you would have to swap cranksets. Thus, might need another tool if you go this route unless you have a square taper crank puller.

This crankset has a 22T difference between big ring and small, your existing is 16T. That might mean that you would not have enough derailleur cage capacity to take up all the slack if you were on the small front and the few smallest sprockets in rear, but those gears are badly cross chained anyway, should be avoided. This big ring also is smaller, so you would need to remove a few chain links.

Germany_chris

If you want to keep square taper and get new cranks and different size spiders you can always by a TA Carmina. This crank is 104bcd and is 44/36 I basically treat it like a 1x with help, 104 has a lot of chainring options

I generally order from TA’s website but Bike24 usually keeps their stuff in stock

https://www.bike24.com/brands/ta-specialites

BikeRider22

Ok, I'm back.

Thanks for everyone's responses.


You would think that changing the outer chainring would be relatively simple.

But it's amazing how complex it is.

And how little sellers know

So far, I've spent multiple days and evenings searching.
Far more hours than it should take.


Some companies with chainrings on their website, I called.

At one, while the guy at the other end had
no clue what I was talking about,

Neither knowledge, nor experience,

He confidently said, "I can help you!"

But he did not help at all.

With such great confidence, should we promote him to
some powerful (government) position, in an area that he
knows nothing about?

BikeRider22

I've been reading some articles on cyclo cross gearing.

Seems I'm not alone in rarely using the 50 tooth large chainwheel.


Talk to me about gear ratios on cyclocross bikes.
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/t...locross-bikes/

See lots of comments, based on experience


How to Decide Whether to Use a Single Chainring for Cyclocross
https://www.teknecycling.com/collect...for-cyclocross
This guy also speaks from experience
Not speculation


Cyclocross crankset can be better than road crankset
https://tkacz.pro/cyclocross-crankse...road-crankset/

Went from 50/34 crankset to 46/36T

BikeRider22

More links to chainrings

I'll post these links, just in case
some other poor soul is also spending hours searching.


Peter White has lots of chainrings on his website
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/tach.php

His webpage has Linear search only

No selection/filtration options
such as BCD, teeth, brand, etc


TA Zephyr 110mm outer

42 to 56 teeth
Black or silver

$63.00


Looks like Peter knows his stuff and speaks from experience.

But, I haven't been able to speak to him on the phone,
and only got an email response from his assistant.

BikeRider22

Modernbike has a good search on their website


110 Bicycle Chainrings
https://www.modernbike.com/110-chainrings


From there, you can select brand, number of teeth,
inner/outer/single,

ie:

110 Outer Bicycle Chainrings
https://www.modernbike.com/chainring...110+outerisyes


Only drawback seems to be no selection/filtration
as to the number of bolt holes.


Brands:
Surly, SRAM, Dimension

BikeRider22

What is surprising is that while so many chainrings
are specifically made for Inner/outer/single speed
on sooooo many websites, this aspect is not stated at all.


Seems that neither the sellers, nor the website developers
have any idea.

ie.
https://www.philadelphiabikesmith.co...ainrings-1058/

This website does not give me many options to search on,
such as BCD