so i got an IRO crankset on sale for $50, and I don't want the 46T chainring because the set is for my winter beater and I have a 15T cog. I found a Sugino 39T chainring that's used a little bit, but it doesn't look like sharkfins. A question that came to mind is, would I get more/less use out of the chainring if I mounted it on backwards (assuming it was on the other way to begin with)? I can't decide if I would get more wear/less wear/no difference out of this. I think I'm just comparing it to skateboard wheels, where I powerslide a lot and turn my wheels around a lot to try and wear them down evenly...although skateboard wheels are not chainrings. Any ideas?

I don't think it would make much difference.

I think chains pretty much wear the chainrings down inwards towards the bb. I could be wrong though

Maybe, especially if you don't backpedal a lot. Since chainring wear usually only happens on one side of the teeth, flipping the chainring would wear it down on the other side of the teeth, in theory. I wouldn't flip it regularly though, since you want your chainring and chain to wear together.

I can't decide if it doesn't matter, or if it's worth flipping it over and just seeing if i notice anything. Red pill or the blue pill.

Isn't only one side of the chainring counter sunk for chainring bolts? You might have a hard time getting your chainring bolts nice and snug. No?

Didn't even think of that. I'll have to check today after work...maybe I can't even test it out in the first place.

I have flipped them before, I used washers to get the bolts snug.

In tried this and it was a pain in the ass. Constantly coming loose. So I just bought really really short chainring bolts and its fine now.

True enough. I'm just too lazy to go get new ones.