hey all

a local guy is trying to get me to buy his rotor track chainring from him. if you visit my pedalroom, you'll know what i ride. so what i wonder is what the advantage of the rotor ring would be over, say, the more mainstream fsa ring. there isn't a whole lot i can find on the rotor website regarding this chainring, so i want to know if any of you have experience with them. i just don't know that i can justify the price with so little information.

thanks.

Rotor and similar chainrings are designed to help gear down your upstroke, and gear up your downstroke (where you make most of your power). They have come in and out of popularity since the early 80's with Shimano's BioPace rings. Some say they help, some say they don't. I have two friends that run them on their road bikes and they swear by them. They're both pretty fast so I tend to put stock in their opinions.

All chainrings have a bit of ellipse to them, which is why you have a spot in your pedal stroke that causes the chain to be more loose, then more tight again as the cranks spin. The rotors just accentuate this. You'll have to compensate for it when you put your rear wheel in the dropouts and, depending on how much of a difference in gear inches the rotor cranks give you, it may not work for your bike.

All in all, I'd probably steer away from them on a track bike, but would love to try them on a roadbike where you have a derailleur adjusting the tension.

Also, pulled directly from their FAQ:

thanks. the one he's trying to sell is a "noQ" which I assume means it is designed to be round. I may be wrong. I just don't know what's so special about another chainring that has a ~$150 price tag new.

If it's their noQ rings, you're just paying for a name, really. They're good chainrings (light, stiff) but nothing spectacular. Rotor's speciality are their Q rings. Buying just regular rings from them seems a bit silly.

Just my opinion, though. Is this just an around-the-town bike or are you actually tracking it?

Did we really think that it was anything else from the start?

i figured it was just for the name. it would have just been another ring to have on my bikes. i think i'll pass on it. thanks for all the info