Chris designed and made...
EGGring Oval Chainrings
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Oval EGGrings allow you to pedal more effectively, powering your legs in greater comfort. They offer advantages in the following situations:
- climbing hills
- pedalling a high gear at a slow cadence
- maintaining traction on slippery surfaces offroad
- overcoming the bobbing effect on suspension bikes
But you don't get something for nothing - an oval chainring simply allows you to pedal more smoothly and to work harder when you demand more power.
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Click on the photos, below, to enlarge them.
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How Ovals work
As you turn your pedals, you encounter two dead-spots where you can achieve very little output. You will notice them when pedalling slowly up a hill - your cycle lurches forwards in spurts corresponding to each stab on the pedals, slowing down each time your feet pass the dead-spots.
Ovals reduce this effect by providing a lower gear to speed you through the dead-spots. You spend longer in the power-stroke, where your legs can push the hardest, which means you can pedal more powerfully too.
Power-stroke
You push the hardest when your pedal is here. The Oval behaves like a larger round chainring, giving you a higher gear.
Dead-spot
You can't push much here. The Oval behaves like a smaller chainring, providing a lower gear to help you round to the next power-stroke.
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The benfits of Ovals are most noticeable when you turn the pedals slowly, particularly when climbing hills or when pushing a large gear at a slow cadence. An Oval helps you pedal through the dead-spots, allowing you to keep going while you've still got some energy left. Ovals also transfer power to your back wheel more smoothly, reducing the stop/start effect which causes wheelspin on slippery surfaces and the bobbing effect which occurs on some suspension bikes.
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Customer feedback
- Just thought I drop you a line about your chain rings that I purchased from you quite a few years ago. In 2002 you made me 22t and 32t ovals, for my new MTB - these were to counter the bobbing of full suspension. The rings performed faultlessly and seem to last forever, I'm also a bit of a weight Weenie so I was always pleased that they came in very lightweight as well! So this is just a big 'Thank You!' for an excellent product that performed exactly as advertised, a rarity these days.
(AB, UK, 2011)
- I've always loved your rings and drooled over the severity of the oval shape you made. I'd really like another set... And thanks for making the best rings a bike could ever have.
(LC, UK, 2011)
- Just a quick note to say thank-you for all the rings. First the ovals: they are simply fantastic, they fit perfectly, look superb and ride wonderfully. I've been off the bike for a while due to illness and adding these to the bike has made my return just that little bit easier, they just seem to 'flow' better than the round ones. The quality and effort you put into every ring just shines through, I can't ever see myself buying standard, mass produced rings again when I know I can get these for such a great price. Add that to the fact that my original set are well over 10 years old and i know that i am on to a winner.
(PM, UK, 2010)
- I'm back from my first bike trip with the new chainwheel and it works and look gorgeous. Here are some pictures. I just had to place a message in the Birdy-bike-forum to rave about your piece of art...
(TLG, Germany, 2009)
- I've finally had a chance to ride in anger a pair of the Egg Rings you made for me (50t 11% and 36t 15% on a Pinarello Paris) and have to say I'm amazed! I've been riding with Rotor Q-Rings for nearly two years so it wasn't just the ovalisation that made a difference. A few months ago, I would've scoffed at the suggestion that it was possible to feel a difference in quality between different chainrings, but now I know it's true. With the Q-Rings, shifting was always a little 'finicky' but your rings shift like a dream! The feeling is hard to describe but they're stiffer and the power transfer through the chain feels smoother and more direct. Thanks for your advice and for producing such wonderful chainrings!
(Kimberly Kabatoff, Canada, 2007)
- I've been using Chris Bell's oval chainrings [on my Greenspeed recumbent] for many years. I find that having a greater ovality in the small rings is very useful for hill climbing where there is limited traction. The net result is easier and smoother hill climbing.
(Ian Sims, Australia, 2006)
- I have just come back from an hour ride with the Ovals installed. The system comprises 170mm cranks with a round 52t ring, a 42t middle ring with 10% ovality, and a inner ring of 30t with 20% ovality. The oval chainrings replaced round chainrings with the same tooth number. Crank length is also identical and I swapped my old pedals over.
Oh boy, are these oval rings good or what!!
On one long hill, I get so exhausted that I stop 3 times - all within the last 200 metres or so. Tonight, with the oval chainrings fitted, I DID NOT STOP ON THE HILL AT ALL!! I find that quite incredible. No other change but the different shaped chainrings.
The other thing that surprised me is that the oval chainrings feel quite 'natural'. In fact, if anything, they give the legs a more fluid reciprocating feel. Watching the chainwheel circumference going up and down is weird, but the leg movement feels fine.
(Julian Edgar, Australia, Dec 2006)
- I can remember going around looking for hills to climb when I first got the EGGrings - just an amazing smooth, powerful feel. Now I do rather take them for granted - I just cruise along and the climb disappears. For me there is no comparison - I've got more energy for the cycling, and I'm having a heap more fun.
(Jenny Rickards, Australia, 2006)
