Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 9,835
Likes: 1,816
From: Northern California
Bikes: Cheltenham-Pedersen racer, Boulder F/S Paris-Roubaix, Varsity racer, '52 Christophe, '62 Continental, '92 Merckx, '75 Limongi, '76 Presto, '72 Gitane SC, '71 Schwinn SS, etc.
A tell-tale symptom of worn chainrings is that there is a rumbling sound under higher torque input after a new chain is installed.
It's the same phenom as with a worn freewheel or cassette, where the new chain engages the teeth in an advanced position allowed by the wear to the driven side of the teeth, so the rollers then come into interference contact with the less-worn top corner of the driven side of the teeth, resulting in failure to engage (roller doesn't fall between teeth but instead rides atop the teeth).
With the chainring, the process is sort of reversed however, in that it is the upper tensed run of the new chain that now is forced to engage the valleys between teeth, resulting in the rumbling sound instead of outright intermittent slippage of the chain (as on a worn cassette cog).
All of the above is yet different from the case of teeth that are literally allowing a worn chain to slip across the outer diameter of the sprocket from wear that extends to the tips of the teeth (normal sprocket wear is concentrated nearer to the base of the teeth, where force is applied, unless the chain has stretched severely).
The pictured Stronglight chainring looks quite healthy/normal to my eye, merely broken in.
Last edited by dddd; 06-16-18 at 09:20 AM.