Ok, well yesterday I learned that there's a different style of outer chainring for the 46/36t set than there is for the compact and standard chainring sets. I had no idea. This wasn't helped by the fact the some of the websites I was looking at when I ordered the 46t chainring actually used an image of the 50t chainring in their advertising.

Still, I should have noticed that in some images of the 46t there were the four holes visible, while in the 50t chainring there aren't, because it's gut that sculpted 3D look that covers the holes and blends in to the spider where the crank is attached.

So the 46t showed up yesterday, I opened it excitedly next to my bike, ready to install it and take it for its maiden ride, and discovered that I can't. There's a set of bolt covers that I had to order yesterday. I'll show what I mean.

First, here's the 46t chainring held up next to the 50t chainring currently on my bike. You can see it has eschewed that sculpted 3D look of the 50t, and is much more like traditional flat chainrings that are just milled from plates of metal, rather than stamped or pressed into some 3D shape and bonded as the 50t and the other larger ones are.


46t chainring next to 50t on the Ultegra R8000 crankset.

I had to order this bolt cover kit to be able to mount the 46t chainring. The bolt covers will kinda/sorta blend into the ends of the crank spider.

The bolt cover kit looks like this. This is for Shimano Ultegra 6800, not 8000, but the 8000 kit looks about the same. This is just the first pic I found of it while posting this.



And the final look will be something like this, but of course with Ultegra R8000 cranks instead of Dura Ace:



I was a little put out when I opened the box and came to terms with what I got. I scoured the web and realized I'd just not been very careful when I was looking at this 46t chainring, which wasn't helped by at least half the vendors out there showing photos of the 50t hollow chainring even when you selected the 46t option. Still, had I been more observant I'd have caught this, so my bad.

Secondly, I'm a little miffed that the final look of this thing will be such a departure from the sculpted 3D look of the Ultegra R8000 crankset with the compact or standard chainrings. I guess Shimano has decided that these are "cyclocross" chainrings, and are made to fit some look they think is the cyclocross look. Unfortunately that means that on a road bike you lose the Ultegra 8000 road look by using this 46t with the bolt hole/cover adaptors.

I'm not going to let that look hold me back, though. After waffling a bit I decided that the function was more important to me than the look (as it is in most things for me), so I ordered the bolt covers and will just have to wait a few more days until this kit arrives before I can try out the 46t on the road.

I'm not happy that Shimano does this. They decide that they're only going to sell certain kits that they've predetermined fit a certain discipline in riding, and you either go with what they're marketing, or you have to use adaptors and whatnot, disturb the aesthetics that they've chosen for that discipline, and deal with it on your own. Hey, at least these adaptor bolt covers exist, so that's a start, but I would much rather have been able to pick up a 46t Ultegra R8000 chainring that actually fits the Ultegra R8000 cranks in both function and form, not paid a small fortune for it, and then not have to drop more coin on an adaptor kit just to fit it with my road crank. I'm not a businessman, and I'm sure this is what they think makes most financial sense for them, but it's definitely kind of crappy for riders who want to tune their drivetrain to fit their riding style and conditions.