General Cycling Discussion - Biopace chainrings

Is there anyone else here still using biopace chainrings? I was planning on replacing them years ago, but just never did. I was wondering if they are as effective as they were touted in the early 90's?

My friend has Biopace chainrings. When I briefly rode his bike, I wasn’t particularly impressed with them (felt odd, looked ‘wobbly’ and 52-42 is not what I’m used to). I don’t know whether they have inherent anatomical/mechanical benefits. The fact that Shimano no longer produces them suggests that perhaps they were not the innovation of the century.

But if you have been riding them for years and they are not worn out and you are happy with them, why replace them?

I still use Biopace rings...

But not the old Biopace, I use the Biopace HP(high performance) ones..

The old biopace in the late 80's are not so good. You won't able to spin them efficiently at 90rpm..

But I like these BiopaceHP rings, I maintain a 90-100rpm cadence and I have no problems with it..

I started using these rings just about a month ago.. This were from my old unused Shimano sante Cranks i bought 10yrs ago...

I'll post a pic later..

ok, here they are..

I tore my biopaces off... not so good for the knees.... if you wanna buy my old rings.. i'll make you a good deal !

Jeff

I have them on my old Klein bike which I used for everyday and for touring. Rarely ride them now. But it was with those rings that I learned the proper way to pedal.

One of the first bikes I purchased in the mid-80s had the Sugino equivalent of BioPace. at first I thought they were doing something but then I realised that at higher cadences I couldn't quite spin as effectively. It was an entry level bike (Hardrock) and I chose not to upgrade the crankset. The next bike I bought, I made sure to steer away from BioPace.

I have biopace on my 88 Trek 330 road bike and at first, I felt indifferent to them. Now, after having the bike for about two months, I am starting to dislike them. However, I don’t have enough road riding experience to know any better. I will keep the bike as is until I find something better or start to dislike them immensely. I am interested in knowing what chain rings will work and if they have to be "pined and ramped".
Cheers
Gordon p

I use them. They were on my bike when I bought them and I don't have enough $$$ to buy new chainrings, but I probably will in the future. I've never been good at spinning a fast cadence, maybe because the Biopace??

Originally posted by dexmax
ok, here they are..

Looks like you've got the funky "one-sided" chainring bolts that came with the Sante group...

I swapped the bio-pace from my road bike with the regular ones off my older rain bike, non biopace was a very posative improvement ,4-5 kph improvement in average speed but now Im stuck with the bio-pace on rainy days :(

Originally posted by F1_Fan
Looks like you've got the funky "one-sided" chainring bolts that came with the Sante group...

yup! got it from the sante...


I just love the quality they put on the Sante....

Originally posted by pointyhead
Is there anyone else here still using biopace chainrings? I was planning on replacing them years ago, but just never did. I was wondering if they are as effective as they were touted in the early 90's?

The notion with biopace rings is that people have a power stroke and a part of their spin that is not very powerful. The idea of the biopace was to have a chain ring where you were pushing more teeth in the power stroke and fewer in the dead part.

The problem with biopace rings is they are cadence specific. That is they work well only for a specific RPM. The faster you spin, the rounder the ring should be. If you get over 90 rpm, you want round rings over biopace.

I had a bike with biopace once and the small chain ring always felt like I was pedalling a square chain ring. It felt terrible.

I just stopped having nightmares of Biopace, now I'm going to have them all over again.:D



PS who knows, with all the disimprovements that Shimano is making, it is possible that in order to use shimano cranks you'll have to use biopace style chain rings.

Originally posted by danka24
I just stopped having nightmares of Biopace, now I'm going to have them all over again.:D



PS who knows, with all the disimprovements that Shimano is making, it is possible that in order to use shimano cranks you'll have to use biopace style chain rings.
They are interchangable with plain round ones , no need to change the cranks/spider .


:beer: