Originally Posted by
Dirtdrop
The center of the stack should line up with the center of the space between the chainrings, so it shouldn't matter whether you put the single ring on the inside or outside position. The ring will be equally off center either way. Putting it on the outside will certainly look better. You may have to get short chainring bolts or shorten the ones you have. It's actually the female part (nut) that needs to be shortened.
You may have a problem with the chain dropping off of the chainring when you shift. There are various retention devices to prevent that, the cheapest of which is your front derailer.
I'm glad to hear this - I would definitely prefer to have the ring on the outer side of the spider for aesthetic purposes. I currently have 52t and 43t chainrings, I bought a 47t chainring to replace the two of them, as well as shorter bolts.
I'm concerned about dropping the chain, but I'm going to try removing a link from my chain and my hope is that the added tension will help hold the chain on the chainring. I would like to be able to remove the front derailleur.