Bicycle Chainrings

Do you want to know more about chainrings?

The chainrings, together with the frame, are one of the crucial components which account for the proper functioning of the bicycle. Therefore, their care and maintenance should be one of your priorities if you want to enjoy a pleasant and relaxed bike ride in the mountains or in the city. They take all the power you generate through pedalling and feed it through the drivetrain to the rear wheel, making it move faster.

How to choose chainrings

There are different types of chainring settings, depending on whether you have one, two or three. In addition, there is a wide variety of sizes, teeth and gear ratios. As for the materials, most chainrings are made of aluminium, although there are also some steel, titanium and carbon fibre models.

In terms of the chainring set-up, in recent years, two chainrings have become popular in MTB instead of the traditional triple chainset. On the road they are already common, but in the mountains some people find themselves with the doubt of choosing double or triple chainsets for their bikes. The triple chainset option is recommended for cyclists who want a very low gear to cycle uphill and at the same time a higher one for cycling at more than 50 km / h. Double chainsets, unlike triple ones, do not mean losing capacity on hills, since a small chainring of up to 22 or 24 teeth can be used, which is the same as having three chainrings.

Generally speaking, two chainrings are used in hardtail and full suspension XC bikes, and top end and carbon bicycles. But there are more and more new models that opt for two chainrings, which provide advantages like, a more efficient drivetrain and better performance cycling uphill, avoiding dead spots of strength on the steepest hills.

Cyclocross chainrings are usually single or double. Cyclocross bikes are a hybrid, since they often need to cover long distances on very rough terrain, so not only do they require speed, but they also must be robust and energy savings. For this reason, their second chainring is smaller.

Road bike chainrings are usually double. A triple chainset would only be necessary for cycling up very steep hills, although at present there are double systems to mount a smaller chainring than usual.