I just tried to replace my big chainring on my road bike and when it was delivered I realized instead of purchasing a 53t I bought a 52t. My question is am I going to notice this like crazy or what? Or should I just return it and get the 53t somewhere else?

You probably won't notice it. I use a compact with 50/12 max combo and the only time I miss something larger is going down some hills at over 80 km/hr.

What size is the chainring you're replacing?

The current shark toothed chainring is 53t.

I think I am going to put it to my bearded-bike-wizard-mechanics whether I should get the original size.

I see what you're saying now. I interpreted your op to mean you were looking to try something different but you're replacing a worn one.

If it were me I would probably replace it with the same toothed ring.

52 tooth rings are commonly sized to 110 bcd... and you probably have 130. Does it fit?

It says that it is a 130 bcd. I don't have the bike here; it's at the LBS getting put together. I have a new frame being swapped.

This will sound like a cliché....but there s an app for the iPhone (and I imagine for other smart phones) that has a gear calculator. It allows you to check all different combinations of chainring/cog size and see what gearing you get. You can then decide how to outfit your bike with the gear combinations best suited for your type of riding.

It is a pretty handy calculator.

BTW, I like your avatar. I was raised in Cuba, your meme/avatar hits home.

I have transcended the need for a beard...

If you were able to spin out the top gear on your bike you might not miss the 53, the change of 1 tooth up front is a reduction of 2.5 gear inches which is very small and if you are not engaging in 80 kmh descents you probably won't miss it.

My vintage road bike has a 54 tooth chainwheel but that is because there was no such thing as an 11 tooth cog for a freewheel, 13's were the most common and I managed to build up a custom block with a rather rare 12 tooth cog which brings the top gear close to that of a modern road bike and lets me descend in the mid 70 kmh - 80kmh range.

A 52:11 is just a little higher gear than a 54:12.

What would change is the steps in the rear with a 52 instead of a 53... they will all be a few gear inches lower and might mess up your cadence.

Just get rear tires 5mm bigger from now on - only .1 GI loss that way

It's a minor difference.

When you did 90 rpm on the 53 chainring, now you'll have to do 91.7 rpm to get the same road speed. (53/52)*90=91.7

Or,
53-14 at 90 rpm is 26.6 mph.
52-14 at 90 rpm is 26.1 mph.

From Mike Sherman's gear calculator, here's the 53 in black and the 52 in red, and a 12-25 10 speed cassette. It shows speeds for an rpm range from 85 to 100.



The different cog ranges haven't shifted down enough to notice. 20 mph is close to the middle of the rpm range for the 53-19 or the 52-19, for instance.

OP, the question is not can you ride the 52T ring effectively, i.e. is there any important difference in available gears? It is whether you want to become accustomed to it. Like for example, do you have other bikes with a 53T large ring and want to keep everything standardized. I would send it back if possible.

I wouldn't be able to tell the difference, unless I precicely memorized each of my gear combinations, and I don't do anything like that.

I do look at gear calculators and see whether I'm making redundant gear combinations and try to avoid that. Or sometimes I don't bother.

Use it, you will never notice a difference.

Look at the missing tooth (teeth) as a percentage of the chain ring. 1 out of 53 is less than a 2% difference - any difference that you note will probably be more psychological than physical. Now going from a 12 to 11-tooth cog, however... yeah, that's a big (<8%) difference.

How do you manage to wear out a big chainring ?

I can never figure it out, but lots of folks spend almost 100% of the time on the big ring. Usually cross chained to a fairly big cog. I don't understand why, but there it is. Even with all those teeth that cross chaining can wear out a big ring fast.

Doubt you'll notice 1 tooth.

How is this a "big" oops in any way...? Surely, you can't be taking this THAT seriously.

I get about 30,000 miles(2 years) out of a big ring. When you ride a lot, things wear out.

Is that hard to understand?

Not that you wear out a ring, but that it is the big ring. Folks who have a 12 tooth, 2nd to smallest cog in the back and turn high cadence (~95 rpm) spend more time on the small ring (potentially up to almost 25 mph) and wear that out faster. Also the small ring has fewer teeth and wears out faster for that reason too. Your experience suggests that you turn the crank a little slower OR you ride much faster. No matter. Lots of valid riding styles.

FWIW: I don't know if it's been mentioned, but most mfgs have matched sets of small/big rigs to get the absolute best shifting. The design of the ramps and pins on the big ring are optimized to work with a specific size and phase of small ring. If the rings are not designated to work together, shifting might not be quite as good.

/sorry, I didn't make it political, but I cannot let this kind of propaganda pass without comment. I am not a Castro supporter, but I do like truth.

[sarcasm]
Not like there has been political violence in Chile, or Argentina, or El Salvador, or Honduras, or Nicaragua, or Haiti, or Panama, or Columbia, or Guatemala, or any number of countries with comparable economies and histories.

That is also why only Cubans risk life and limb to make it to the USA - because Castro made it bad. Before Castro Cuba was a haven of political liberties, free speech, free assembly, etc. Certainly no summary executions, arbitrary imprisoning, or torture in Batista times. And Batista must have been elected, right?[/sarcasm]