Egg chainrings, who remembers them?

GrahamJohnWallace":25x1dhrp said:
I do remember Shimano Biopace BITD, my Muddy fox came with them. Does anyone know why there was a return to round rings if Biopace/oval rings were that good?

The Shimano Biopace rings were next to useless. The rings were oriented the wrong way round so that the gear was lowest during the power stroke and highest at the dead-spot. They did a lot of damage to the reputation of elliptical gear systems.

EggRings are correctly oriented and the ellipse is rotated at 90 degrees when compared to Biopace. The minor axis of the ellipse needs to be lined up to the dead-spot. However the exact position of the dead-spot can change with the type of bicycle. EggRings can also be made to be much more elliptical than Biopace ever were.

Still doesn't get the issue solved though, surely if egg rings are the future and that good then why don't we see them on production bikes, I mean how expensive is an oval chainring to make?
 
Still doesn't get the issue solved though, surely if egg rings are the future and that good then why don't we see them on production bikes, I mean how expensive is an oval chainring to make?

Elliptical Rings are an old idea and the closest it has got to going mainstream was the SR Ovaltech, though compared to the EggRings I use, these were not very oval. Nobody mass-produces, or have ever mass-produced anything like a 23 tooth, 45% eliptical EggRing like Geoff and I use. In fact cranksets that can fit such a small elliptical ring are very rare in themselves. EggRings are individually made from heat treated aircraft grade alloy and cost about £90. The rings could be made much cheaper via mass-production.

The only alternative at the moment are Osymetric who make 24-34-42 Chainsets for mountain bikes. I would imagine they're not cheap either.

Until someone influential backs their manufacture, marketing and distribution they will remain rare.
 

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Ahhhrrgh, my round conditioned brain can't get past the fact that "look" wrong. :oops: It would be great to try the egg rings as I have always been a spinner as it feels more efficient than pushing bigger grears (and seems to have less impact on my knees). If anything makes cycling more efficient I'd like to try it. £90 per ring and then a new chainset seems a bit beyond reach though. :(
 
So much to reply to here...

40% Elliptical, 24-tooth rings vary between the equivalent of 20 and 28 teeth, so will fit anything that will take a 20-tooth chainring, including 56mm and 58mm BCD 5-arm chainsets. Mine's on an XC-Comp MD chainset on my FSR. If you want to give oval rings a try, the granny's the place to do it, and it'll 'only' cost you... OMG, they've gone up... 90quid...!

Those Osymetrics look suitably oval, but I'm not sure the orientation is right... better than Biopace though...!

A set of three Q-rings 44/33/23 is 165quid to suit 64/104mm 4-arm cranks. You can buy just a granny for 34quid. Also 74/110mm 5-arm 40/27-tooth set for 145quid, expensive for just two rings that's aren't very eccentric though I feel.

http://www.velotechservices.co.uk/acata ... Rings.html

I'd be interested to hear others' findings about the durability of EggRings. I very quickly noticed some plastic deformation (in the engineering sense) of my 'middle' EggRing when I was trying it on a singlespeed and doing lots of out-of-saddle climbing. I've recently had to take the hooks off my granny ring with a file as it was causing very bad chainsuck.

Generally, I think, nothing like as tough as stainless steel rings, and seemingly harder (i.e. not worn away as quickly) but more deformable than 'normal' alloy rings. I wonder if something like Middleburn's 'Hardcote' would perhaps make them more durable?
 
Neil G":2tjdig4l said:
Still doesn't get the issue solved though, surely if egg rings are the future and that good then why don't we see them on production bikes, I mean how expensive is an oval chainring to make?

If mass produced, they'd be as cheap as round ones. The trouble with marketing them ever since the late 80s is that Shimano got is disastrously wrong with Biopace and messed up for those of us who love them!
 
i noticed with the egg rings they machine quite a lot away although, you can get the full ones, maybe thats why its in the plastic region. or maybe your just too damn powerful! :LOL: whats the difference between eggrings and q rings? are they just different brands?
 
The least expensive way to buy an EggRing elliptical gear system that I know is to buy a:

Thorn Vision 104/58 PCD (Pitch Circle Diameter) chainset from SJS Cycles (£69.99 + P&P). (The crank length is 165mm and the inner-ring studs will need to be filed slightly so that the chain doesn't catch on them)

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product.asp? ... rc=froogle

Then get Highpath to Engineering to make a 4 bolt 58 PCD, 23 or 24 tooth, 45% ovlality, 15 degree ofset, inner ring to fit it (£90 = P&P).

http://www.highpath.co.uk/cycles/ovals.html

Total cost will be about £170.

This way you get to keep the round outer and middle rings for high cadence spinning and have the secret weapon of the EggRing for the steepest climbs and technical sections. Just make sure your front derailleur can cope with the range.
 

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For that sort of money, I'd look around for a suitable used chainset with a big ring in good condition and go with oval EggRings for middle and granny. Probably cost you a little over 200quid, but look how easy it is to spend that on a new chainset with boring old round rings ;)
 
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