Once I finally get the motivation to carry up the trainer to the living room, I will be trying out what you see below – Rotor QRings. Expect a full report at some point, but feel free to give me yours if you have experience with them. Chris Froome, if you’re reading, this means you!
The Vicious Cycle 
I’d be curious to see how you get on with them – I’ve memories of the shimano oval rings in the early 90’s. Used to find knee pressure
I never knew that the concept was so old, or even that other companies made them. If you found knee pressure that could be the end for me. Have had knee issues for many years.
It could also have been the bike fit at the time but some people reported knee issues, probably why they dropped the concept. Certainly by mid 90s
I think the main difference between oval today and Biospace is that they are mirrored geometrically. It is no wonder that Biospace caused knee pain since the hardest part of stroke was when you were at your weakest. I’ve found modern ovals useful. The thing is they get my legs spinning and even when I change to round ones on my other bike it seems the effect stays. It is like I have naturally learned how to speed up through the weak spot even when the chain ring is round. On cobbels in Belgium the traction was amazing and I was passing much stronger riders just because I did not have a flat spot and could keep grinding up the slippery rocks.
I’ve been using O Rings from Absolute Black for probably almost 4 years. Love them and would find it odd using a standard ring now. I feel my pedal strokes are better and There is a definite lessening of the dead spot thing going on. Overall it feels better but can’t comment on performance improvements.
Very curious to see what the difference in ‘feel’ will be. I’m not too concerned with ‘performance’, but I’ll take a few extra watts if they’re offering them.
No knee issues, matter of fact its been better because of the efficiency of your pedal stroke. Like I said, I would never go back.
Keep us posted, Gerry. Perhaps consider a true “study” (a la DCRainmaker)? Given Pierre’s response, I’d be happy to try them also but will wait for your evaluation 🙂 Can you put them on without having to fiddle with the front derailleur? [BTW: I take it you’ve resisted riding indoors on Zwift. I’ve had several team mates recently giving up that resistance and getting a Wahoo Kickr and Zwift and then I ask them: “so what do you think?” After me for years telling them they’ll be very pleasantly surprised, they all said they are pleasantly surprised 🙂
Jan, read below for a ‘study’ from Rob! He gave them to me, so I’ll just give them a try and see how it goes. I don’t have the attention span for a DCRainmaker review 😉 No, haven’t come over to the dark side yet for trainer rides, but if the lockdown continues very much longer I might. That being said, everyone I’ve talked to who are doing Zwift says the same thing people who moved up to electronic shifting – they love it. Me, I don’t want an excuse to stay inside, if possible!
Shimano Biopace rings from 1983-1993 were a good concept, but a poor design which caused knee pain for some riders. I saw them mainly on Mountain Bikes.
Q-Rings from ROTOR are the heart of all my bikes now and my first consideration when building any bike. My new Rossetti I’ve built specifically for Houte Route Alps next year has the carbon version of their Q-Rings. The ring shape removes the dead spot at the top and bottom of the stroke and make for a much smoother rotation. I was considering going with the new 12 speed SRAM AXS, but because their crank and chainrings are proprietary and don’t support Q-Rings, I decided to go with the last version of SRAM Etap HRD – 11 speed. The older version of SRAM Etap is compatible with the Q-Rings and this is more important to me than one extra gear. It’s also a lighter set up, which is important climbing the high Alps.
Will make sure I let you know my trials and tribulations, Rob. I’m looking forward to seeing how it feels.