Update: Narrow Wide Chainring 180° flip?

[Betsy]

Oh well, it was worth a try..

You've got to know how the graphics are applied to get the approprite chemical for removal.

I suspected they were screen printed, in which case, acetone should have taken them off.. removal becomes more difficult once the print has been baked on.

There was some 99.9% IPA which can remove spray paint if they've been painted / stencilled

Last one was industrial paint thinner..

 

[Woz]

Tis terrible this practice. Hot air gun, burnt finger nails, and acetone to remove goo used to be enough before some weird ass laser etching printing or whatever even for cheapo parts. I hate being an advert and much prefer no logo or a very discrete logo.

Does influence my purchasing decisions from the word go.

 

[79stef]

Tis terrible this practice. Hot air gun, burnt finger nails, and acetone to remove goo used to be enough before some weird ass laser etching printing or whatever even for cheapo parts. I hate being an advert and much prefer no logo or a very discrete logo.

Does influence my purchasing decisions from the word go.

I competely agree. If it hadn't been a £15 chainring, I would have sent it back as it looked nothing like what the pic had shown. But for the sake of moving on with the build (and taking it as a lesson learned - I will question before buying in future) I'll take this one on the chin.

 

[Jonny69]

For reference, if you look for a ‘Fouriers’ branded chainring, it’ll be the same chainring but with a very discrete bit of branding. But of course they are slightly more expensive because they haven’t got DECKERS or BUCKLOS plastered all over them…

 

[bikeworkshop]

Some very interesting insights in this thread.

Tis terrible this practice. Hot air gun, burnt finger nails, and acetone to remove goo used to be enough before some weird ass laser etching printing or whatever even for cheapo parts. I hate being an advert and much prefer no logo or a very discrete logo.

Does influence my purchasing decisions from the word go.

I thought I'd canvas some opinion:

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/extreme-component-branding-practices.489456/

Maybe we are no longer the target audience, and the "kids" see us as old men wearing suits and ties, ladies in twinset and sensible shoes?

 

[wynne]

If plain is your aim, I really rate these:

https://workscomponents.com/collect...MI-L7hn_aIiwMVzJRQBh1sKwCfEAAYASAAEgKaFPD_BwE

And these

https://uniteco.bike/product-category/drivetrain/chainrings/

Though a bit more expensive, they seem to last ages, and are made by small companies in the UK (if supporting local skills/manufactured matters to you).

For what it's worth, I have flipped Hope retainer nw rings and they have continued to retain the chain on my cross bike.

 

[db95]

I competely agree. If it hadn't been a £15 chainring, I would have sent it back as it looked nothing like what the pic had shown. But for the sake of moving on with the build (and taking it as a lesson learned - I will question before buying in future) I'll take this one on the chin.

I'm quite surprised the graphic didn't come off, might be a 15 quid chainring with markup when buying over here but on AliExpress most of the deckas/snail/ixf/etc chainrings can be had for £2/3 - that's not to say they're inherently a bad product as I've put 2500km on one of them with no issues, just surprising that a product with what I can only assume has very low margins to begin with ends up with a good quality print/transfer on it. Not the kind of thing I'd do any intense riding on however but for A-B or something leisurely they're spot on for the price, aside from the graphics anyway

 

[79stef]

@johnny

I'm quite surprised the graphic didn't come off, might be a 15 quid chainring with markup when buying over here but on AliExpress most of the deckas/snail/ixf/etc chainrings can be had for £2/3 - that's not to say they're inherently a bad product as I've put 2500km on one of them with no issues, just surprising that a product with what I can only assume has very low margins to begin with ends up with a good quality print/transfer on it. Not the kind of thing I'd do any intense riding on however but for A-B or something leisurely they're spot on for the price, aside from the graphics anyway

I was as suprised as you as to the quality of the print, and I must say, of the ring itself, which is a Deckas.
I tried all the cleaning products that were sent to me by betsy with a variety of different cloths, sponges and brushes but to no avail!
@wynne and @Jonny69 Thank you for the recommendations - I have saved them for future ref.

And @bikeworkshop - we may indeed be getting long in the tooth but style is timeless!