Hugh’s Muse(tte)

For Christmas I bought myself a set of Rotor asymetric chainrings. They arrived on Tuesday and yesterday I went out for my first ride.

I’ve started them, as recommended, at setting 3. First impressions are they make for a smoother pedal stroke. Maintaining high rpm without bouncing is much easier. Not sure I like the overall feeling first off though. With a normal chainring I enjoy the little rest each revolution as you move through top dead centre, and then like being able to accelerate hard down into each stroke taking advantage of the mechanical advantage provided from 2′o’clock to 4′o’clock. This is exactly what Rotors are designed to eliminate, making a much more even stroke and pressure throughout. Maybe after a few rides I’ll move the ring forward a few degrees and engineer a little of that feeling back.

I did a 10:38 on my favourite TT course during the ride, compared to a best ever 10:35 so they certainly haven’t had a detrimental effect.

Stay tuned for further feedback as I break them in.

Cheers

Hugh

Update 2

Rode another 180km today. More of the same, but definitely getting used to them. The pressure on the legs is far more constant than with round chainrings. Not sure if the chainrings have anything to do with it but I pulled up the next day much better than normal than after a ride like that.