Cycling news tells me that elliptical rings will be allowed for the first time this year. Any thoughts on this, both how you like them and the effect you see them having, if any.

Meh. The old bio-pace concept seems to rear it's ugly head every 10 years or so.

Rotor Rings sent a couple sets for my girlfriend to race on her cross bikes this year. She says she can't notice a difference at all, which I though was odd. For fun, I put the second set on her #2 bike oriented completely different from the first set and she still says she can't tell.

She rode them that way all year and had some good results till she ruptured her achilles tendon at a World Cup in Belgium a few weeks ago... I'm pretty sure that wasn't because of the chainrings, but neither were her race results, atmo.

Cycling news tells me that elliptical rings will be allowed for the first time this year. Any thoughts on this, both how you like them and the effect you see them having, if any.

Actually they have already been used in racing and the riders using them have won some stuff (Bronze - Oly TT and a World Championship) Notable riders being Bobby Julich and Marianne Vos. I think the caption your referring to means that this is the first time Maggie will be able to use his prolly dude to his sponsors before not wanting him using anything but their stuff.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2008/tech/features/slipstream_windtunnel08/Backstedt_Q-Rings


As far as how they work I talked to some people who said they were great but I only know 2 people who have used them so not a wide offering of opinons there. THey look like thay woud be a PITA to get to shift well.

ohh. the sponsors. so wise you are.

deleted double post.

Meh. The old bio-pace concept seems to rear it's ugly head every 10 years or so.

Rotor Rings sent a couple sets for my girlfriend to race on her cross bikes this year. She says she can't notice a difference at all, which I though was odd. For fun, I put the second set on her #2 bike oriented completely different from the first set and she still says she can't tell.

She rode them that way all year and had some good results till she ruptured her achilles tendon at a World Cup in Belgium a few weeks ago... I'm pretty sure that wasn't because of the chainrings, but neither were her race results, atmo.

How well do they shift? I have always wondered.

Sucks about your GF she was going well. Make sure she heals it right my wife tore her hamstrings and tried to race too soon and set herself back months if not years. Regardless I hope she heals fast.

Cycling news tells me that elliptical rings will be allowed for the first time this year. Any thoughts on this, both how you like them and the effect you see them having, if any.

I have used them for a season with a Power-tap and LOVE them. I did notice power gains after putting them on that I can only put down to the chain rings. You'll ge false readings using any eliptical ring with an SRM but there isn't such a problem with Power-tap. The gains are not huge but even minimal is better than nothing. I saw gains from 5% in sprinting to 3-4% with TT's. That's not something you'll notice without a power meter but it is significant when you're at your limit. 100% vs. 103%

Shifting was good! (Q-rings) Not as good as the Dura Ace rings I replaced but nothing is... I won't race without them now. Afraid of thinking "what if!"

Now l regret giving away my biopace rings 19 years ago.

Now l regret giving away my biopace rings 19 years ago.

I just took mine off about five years ago or so. Probably still have them laying around somewhere......


There is one guy that I ride with who uses them. We've talked about them on occasion and he really digs them. Also uses a PowerTap so I'll have to ask him if he has ever noticed any gains.

l would be interested to know his findings.

How well do they shift? I have always wondered.

Shifting was fine, they're easy to set up. The Rotor Rings are really nicely made, I'll give them that.

I think it would be totally hilarious if people start digging out their old biopace chainrings because they've seen the pros on some "new" egg-shaped rings. I bet I can round some up, I wonder if they'll get a good price on ebay?

Barb is healing well and just got her cast off. The ortho doc says everything looks great, but Barb's already going nuts sitting around the house. You can read about her mishap and see some gore on our blog.

Sheldon Brown has a good article on elliptical chainrings at http://sheldonbrown.com/biopace.html