I know a dude who frequents our usual route. Racer that showed me his oval rings just this Sunday. He said he loved them. Showing me some tips on how to set them up. He had scales on his ring allowing him to set at different values. I didn't really understand but he said something about having them set at 14 or 15. Each value differed in efficiency. I really don't know but they scale marks are there for a reason.

He is number 18 out of 20,000 on my favorite 7 mile segment of Strava. He does continuous solo 35 mile rides at 23 MPH.

I averaged 22.9 solo at my best on that segment. His average is 28 mph. Maybe I need some oval rings too.

I'm guessing he knows how to get the best out of them. I've never heard any other person mention the scales and setups.

It will take a well designed robot "cyclist" capable of mimicking human pedaling characteristics to settle the debate over eccentric chainrings. It'll need to be able to apply consistent power while also mimicking hitches in gait, differences in leg length, etc.

Otherwise our anecdotes are just that. My power output varies so much from day to day that I can't attribute much of anything specifically to the bike or components.

My theory is that eccentric chainrings feel better to those of us with flawed pedaling styles, often due to injury or imperfections in skeleton and musculature. I seem to do better with the smaller 42T Biopace chainring, while the 52T Biopace doesn't feel like it does much -- probably because the larger ring isn't much out of round. It would be interesting to try an eccentric ring smaller than 42T, especially for climbing. A new-to-me older bike I'm building up may give me that opportunity.

And watching Chris Froome reinforces my theory that eccentric chainrings favor imperfect pedaling. Froome does almost everything wrong on a bike. He looks like a pterodactyl that swooped out of the sky, ripped the skin off a human and put it on as a disguise, then stole a bike and started racing. Ungainly and awkward don't quite describe his style. And his bike fit is all over the place. In the course of a three week grand tour he'll change his saddle height almost daily, sometimes looking like his knees are about to strike his chin. His bike handling is among the worst in the peloton. But he has that incredible engine to compensate for the flaws.

And he's still more graceful looking on a bike than I am.

So if it works for Froome, it couldn't do me any harm.

Again, Biopace is different than modern ovals. Google is your friend here. Good luck.

World Iron Man championship at Kona HI 2019

Bike count included rings:

Chainrings

Round – 2,199
Oval – 292

https://www.triathlete.com/2019/10/n...n-again_384244

And...?

It's just the data per the site. There is nothing to really conclude. One thing, is that the oval rings are still being used even at the highest level of the Iron Man event, the World Championship.