Higher quality 130 BCD chainrings?
 

I know there's a bunch of options for 144 BCD.

I have the Messenger chainring than came paired up with the Sugino RD cranks. Is that the best it's going to get in 130 BCD? I like my cranks. But, I want to change/upgrade my chainring.

What gain are you looking for in upgrading your chainring?

BTW, just about everybody make 130 BCD chainrings as they are road standard, with the exception on Campy, of course.

Maybe something a little bit lighter and rounder than the Messenger chainring

Um, okay. I don't think you'll notice any difference at all, but it's your money......

Salsa

x2

the TA piste ones are really nice but I've never held a messenger so I couldn't say which is better.

Best chainring I ever owned.. I think I'm ordering another today. I don't like Sugino chainrings (although I am currently running one on two of my bikes) because the tooth profile lends itself to noise. Maybe they don't wear as much, but that doesn't concern me much. $25 every two years for a chainring is fine by me.

Stronglight/TA.

Is the Salsa compatible with 1/8 inch chains?

Yes, as are all 3/32 chainrings.

TA alize.

Are you sure its the chainring and not the cog that is noisy? I have a sugino chainring and my drive train is always quieter at the chainring end than the cog end.

I just found some 1/8th 130 bcd chainrings on eBay

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...link:middle:ca

Anyone heard anything about these, in regards to the quality? It would appear that these, or similar rings from this company, have been used in the olympics and various other events.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/20...inthecrank.jpg

They would seem to be high quality.

$75??!?!

Yeah definitely. Here's what I'm running: For cog I have an EAI 3/32" 17T Cro-Mo and the chain is a Sram PC-68. Chainline is laser straight (I literally measured it with a laser.. just happened to have a levelling laser lying around). It used to be almost unnoticable, you could only faintly hear it while resisting the pedals strongly

I originally ran a 46T Salsa, but now I have a 48T Sugino Messenger and my drivetrain got quite a bit louder. It's still not bad at all, generally quieter than most fixed gears I've heard, but I miss the Salsa. In fact, it's about the same most of the time, but when I resist the pedals it's much louder than before. I also own a Sugino 130J that's on another bike, and you can tell that Sugino makes their tooth profiles differently. The bottom is more flat, as opposed to Salsas which are almost perfectly semicircular. As I said, I don't know if this is supposed to contribute to durability, but I definitley attribute it to the noise. Also, Suginos come off the line with the inside of the teeth pretty rough (at least on the versions I've bought). This will wear away, but Salsas are perfectly smooth to begin with.

But you're right.. it's almost always the cog in the rear that contributes to noise.. in fact, the first time I noticed a chainring producing noise was when I first bought the Sugino Messenger. I used to really care about how quiet my setup was, but luckily.. I don't care so much anymore.

I have a specialite TA Alize chainring that I love. Smooth, well made, not even to expensive. Usually around $40-$50. They come in a wide range of sizes and IMO look great too. I would highly recommend them.

Those are 144 not 130 as the auction states. Look at the photo, it's clearly marked on the ring.

^Yes, but Gebhardt does also make 1/8" 130mm BCD rings
that's just a generic placeholder picture of a 144mm 49T ring.

I like my Alize too, which is good because 1/8" 130bcd rings are rare.