Greg

Bike Forums made custom jerseys, why not custom ti rings?

I just got 6,000 miles ~10,000km out of an Ultegra middle ring. The well maintained chain measures 12-1/32" in as many miles.

50mileman

Blackspire makes a pretty good chain ring - reasonable price and great durability.
They are Canadian made, aluminum with no shift ramps.
Look for the one called Epic.
LBS should be able to set up up.

Cheers.

Greg

I'll eat crow for a second time in this thread.

I should have waited till my order came in to have made the above statment.

105 differs from Ultegra in more than finish. The stamping is much more crudely finished, especially on the inward facing side.

There's a reason 105 is cheaper than Ultegra. Although performance differences will probable be subtle.

"They're still cheap".

Julien

I checked out Sora chainrings and they are steel... But not 9-speed compatible... They're 8 speed compatible... Being thicker, a 9 speed chain fits too tightly... Too bad...

Any other ideas ?

pokey

That's not really the reason,they are actually thinner where they mount to the crank arms.. There is little if any actual difference in thickness where the chain engages and you can even run 9 or 10 speed chains on 8 speed rings.If you are using downtube or barend shifters they will work,but probably not as well with STI.

Greg

Julien,

How expensive could a Sora ring be?

What would stop you from testing it out?

If you kept it clean and defect free you could even return it?

Julien

I didn't actually measure the tickness at the tooth level between a sora chainring and an ultegra, but I tried fitting, at a local bike shop, a new ultegra 9 speed chain on the teeth of a sora chainring and you actually had to apply a bit of force to sit the chain properly on the sora ring's teeth... while the fit of the chain on an ultegra chainring is very smooth... Using sora chainrings with a 9 speed chain doesn't inspire confidence for either shifting or wear (chain or chainring)...

The difference in thickness is there, though it doesn't need to be large for a proper or improper fit... I guess...

Julien

I'm trying to find more info on Blackspire... Local shops here don't carry... and when I try blackspire's web site (www.blackspire.com , from an internet search) I can't get on the site... Any of you know the proper e-address ?

Greg

Third time eating crow in one thread, and risking losing any credability I may have around here...........

I compared my old Ultegra ring to the new 105 ring and have decided to stick the damn thing back on the bike for lack of substantial wear.

6000 mi and counting.

I will refrain from further posting in this thread.