Q Rings

Does any one know any thing about Q rings?
Has anyone used these before?

http://www.velotechservices.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Compact_Q-Rings.html

1/8th Inch Aero design Ring with a smaller 6% ovalisation which complements the higher leg speeds...[[/URL]

[url=http://www.sheldonbrown.com/biopace.html]Biopace?](http://www.velotechservices.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Compact_Q-Rings.html)

This link has plenty of marketing-led info for you..

Thanks guys. Sheldon Brown as helpful as ever. He makes them sound interesting I would probably give them a go if they weren't £100 for a chain ring.

At a cadence of 90rpm, someone will be shouting slack chain at you 3 times every second

See kids.. maths CAN be funny! :)

http://www.trisportsplus.co.uk/products/Rotor-Q%252dRings-Aero-130mm-%26-110mm-Single-.html

thinking of buying one these on monday. anyone use them, or got any knowledge, benefits etc etc

I have a set. But no crank arms yet so cant really comment on the ride. They do seem very well designed and made thoug. I'd recommend checking out Spainish EBay for better prices (there's quite a few on italian ebay too)

Were'nt biospace the exact opposite to these?

I have biopace on my roadbike and I was really surprised by how unround they are. The Rotor rings seem like a smooth ellipse but the Biopace ones are very irregular.

Do Biopace rings actually work?

I am very inexperienced/unsophisticated but I can't feel any difference when riding with them.

I actually now have a regular round outer and a biopace inner and can't even notice any difference between the two.

A more experienced rider I'm sure could tell the difference though. Or perhaps it's good that I can't tell the difference in feel and the biopace is just faster? I don't have an accurate enough speedo or cadence meter to measure these things.

Put it this way though, I would neither be any more or less likely to buy/use a bike because it had biopace on it.

im confused now. i was all set to go and buy a set today

Do it.

I had Suntour during the "BioPace period", and of coruse they had to have oval rings as well- but theirs were orientated at 90 degrees to the Shimano ones so as to be able to cock a snook/not be accused of outright copying.

for 80 pounds any increase in performance is worth it.

I had Suntour during the "BioPace period", and of coruse they had to have oval rings as well- but theirs were orientated at 90 degrees to the Shimano ones so as to be able to cock a snook/not be accused of outright copying.

I might be dreaming here. But thats what I thought was the case with Q-rings.

Q-rings - Effectivly a bigger ring during the power part of the stroke. To expliot the non-unformity of the stroke.

Biospace - Effectivly a bigger ring during the weaker part of the stroke. To smooth power delivery to the rear wheel.

Cant remember why I might think that though, and am far to busy browsing Oakley frame/lens combos to google it.

(the fact that I can loosly justify both is somewhat worrying)

for 80 pounds any increase in performance is worth it.

There is little evidence to support an actual performance improvement. The idea is that you become less fatigued over time. This would of course allow for a better performance at the end of an event.

wouldnt a massive chain ring be a better use of money

bought a q_ring 2 weeks ago, no idea how to explain that its very good but...

ive felt less fatigued in my legs, the different settings make a significant difference. mines currently set up for hill climbing and seems to give a little extra welly when going up hill. when it came to just riding at pace i could definitely feel i was going quicker on the same effort. not very conclusive but well worth the cash in my opinion

I've found that I need to aviod slow mashing. The rings seem to exagerate this poor technique, and feel wrong. Maintaining a sensible cadense, they feel great. Much more subtle. I'm tempted to adjust the little ring. The big ring is definitly dialed.

What we need is a double blind randomised cross-over trial of Q rings vs conventional chain rings. Anything else is just anecdote and marketing.

bought a q_ring 2 weeks ago, no idea how to explain that its very good but...

ive felt less fatigued in my legs, the different settings make a significant difference. mines currently set up for hill climbing and seems to give a little extra welly when going up hill. when it came to just riding at pace i could definitely feel i was going quicker on the same effort. not very conclusive but well worth the cash in my opinion

The theory, FWIW, is that lowering peak forces while maintaining power (i.e. a smaller force acting for slightly longer during the pedal stroke) is better for the human engine- and that is the same theory advanced for midfoot......

I however find the relative metabolic idea more persuasive for midfoot- unloading the calf and loading up the hammies and glutes more.

What we need is a double blind randomised cross-over trial of Q rings vs conventional chain rings. Anything else is just anecdote and marketing.

My performance varies far more with regards to what I had for brekfast, than what rings I'm using.

Reading the blurb, buying them, setting them up, and then riding them. Gave me a lovely bikes nerds buzz. Embrace the marketing BS, lifes short.

They make setting up your mechs a royal PITA though.

I had Suntour Oval Tech rings on my bike in the early 90's- my mates bikes had BioPace.
interesting to see that some ideas don't die.