Jan 28, 2026, 10:24 PM@ascentale Does anyone have experience with oval chainrings? Thinking of possibly switching another (3rd party) step down in tooth count as the kids get heavier with our hills and oval chainrings are supposed to help with climbing, and I need all the climbing I can get without buying a new groupset (or bike).
Jan 30, 2026, 7:08 AM@edd @ascentale One of my first bikes had oval chainrings, which was quite a while ago so I cannot really remember how it felt. Round chainrings allow for a more consistent and smoother pedaling, which I prefer. I can only see an advantage in situation of very hard pedaling, like steep uphills as you mention. But still I would consider if you face this frequently enough to justify oval chainrings.
I didn't know actually they are still a thing.
@edd @ascentale I have not personally used them, but I remember looking into them a while back because they seemed intuitively correct.
What I remember from that research is that they tend to damage your body vs help you perform.
So, what I would recommend is you only adopt them if you can find positive evidence they are better. I never found any evidence of superiority, and found evidence they did actual harm.
(But it was long enough ago (15years, at least) that I can’t provide references.)
@lkanies @edd @ascentale I've had biopace but it was well worn and I only rode that for a few months, no complaints. Also recently got an oval chainring to upgrade a single to manual double as a bail-out gear, could not mount it except 45-90° out of phase, would not recommend. Seems like it would be okay if I could clock it correctly, as bad as it feels wrong, must be that much better when right?