I have a cheap Truvativ Touro compact crankset that is 36/50 and an 8 speed drive train. I was looking at replacing the 36T chainring with a 34T so I started looking around. It looks like the cheap end of the chainrings are usually around $30 with one exception. This Ultegra 34T chainring is only $13.

I was under the impression that Ultegra is usually quite good, am I missing something as to why it's that cheap? Is there a compatibility issue or something? Thanks.

the inner ring is cheaper, because it's cheaper to produce. It's just a single piece of aluminum.

You should see the price on the larger ring. It's at least 2 pieces of aluminum bonded together with epoxy and has multiple pins all over it.

Yeah, I noticed that. The outer chainring was more than I would likely pay for a whole BB and crankset.

That still seems pretty damn cheap for an Ultegra ring... I was pricing inner rings a month or so ago, and AU$40-60 was typical.

<OT> A damn shame Shimano went so damn fugly with their crankset styling, since they're technically some of the nicest kit around. Asymmetry FTL. Hating on unique spider arms and no attempt to match left and right crank arms. It also means you not only have to match the PCD for your outer ring, but also the wanky styling (Ultegra/Dura-Ace combos will now look like crap). Bring back the classic look, I say...



</OT>

+1.

As a fan of steel, the new Shimano cranks look fugly on most of my bikes.

And I'd rather not be scrounging near new stuff off of ebay and the like.