Absolute Black Oval Chainrings – Snake Oil or Solution?

A chance encounter with a trusted bike fitter made me rethink my drive train. Was he a snake oil salesman, making me part with my cash for nothing of worth. Or was this the solution I didn’t know I needed?

00:00 – Start
03:42 – Oval Chainrings

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Good morning you’re joining me on a very very cold last day of January 2024 it’s -1° C so I am watching out for ice but there doesn’t seem to be any so so far so good now if you’re not one of my regular viewers and you just come here

For the discussion of oval chain rings then you can skip forward using the chapter button but for those of you that are regulars I’ll just explain why this is my first video of 2024 the last one being just before Christmas uh quite a few things have been happening actually one is that we

Had a campaign to do as many guided rides as possible in January we managed to get five in between the four leaders in the area and we had a really good turnout we have been trying to get some of the newer Riders involved by putting on shorter rides 7 miles but they really

Haven’t worked and we’ve just had the usual suspects turning up for which we’re really grateful because those are riders that 7 miles isn’t worth getting out of bed for but they’ve turned up just to support us so we started to put on 30 35 mile rides and they’ve been really well

Attended and my theory is that people that are only capable of 7 miles are probably less likely to go out in the winter anyway so we’ll start to put the shorter rides on again in the summer to involve everybody the other thing that’s happened is with the campaigning

Work uh all of a sudden things started to move we have the new independent regime in the local Council and uh suddenly we got some movement I was invited to go along and talk to them about one of our projects that we need funding for and I have to say was at the

Meeting yesterday and the proposal was accepted we just have to now put some formal paperwork in to get the funding and of obviously there’s the not not small matter of planning permission but uh hopefully it should go ahead and it’s it’s all worthwhile I

Have to say at one point I was all for giving up but uh we’ll get like that I guess sometimes and the other reason I haven’t done anything is apart from time and the fact that the weather’s not been great for riding I was just getting quite tired really at

The end of the year I always vowed I wouldn’t get sucked into the YouTube thing you know they’re always pressing you to do more do it more often and I don’t do that so it was good to step away and my plan for this year is I’m

Probably going to just do two videos a month but I’ll try to make them as high quality as possible so this morning I’m off to meet Wendy she’s just got back from 6 weeks away and she’ll tell you all about that no doubt shortly and today I’m riding oval chain Rings couple

Of weeks ago I had a chance encounter with Dave Ward Now Dave owns and operates uh notto Cycles in the veil of beaver and apart from being an ace bike mechanic Dave’s also a bike fitter so we started talking about bike biodynamics I think it was hip angles and so on and

The first thing he did is check my crank length which is 165 mm and he said that was good but then when he looked at my chain rings and saw that they were 5034 he immediately said that that wasn’t doing me any favors on climbs now

When I built this bike I fitted a 5034 chain ring uh that seemed the right combination with my Li mited knowledge but Dave asked me the question how much time do I spend in the big ring and of course the answer was very little and before anyone comments

Stay in the Big Ring it’ll make you stronger well at 71 I don’t want to get stronger I just want to maintain the fitness I’ve got and then he started talking about the benefits of oval chain Rings certainly for people that are getting older and maybe having some knee

Problems and so on so I went away and had a look but I found the subject as divisive as brexit electric cars versus petrol and diesel cars and Wahoo versus Garmin some people said they’re nothing but snake oil they don’t do any good other people said they’re fantastic it make a great

Difference now Dave has never let me down uh he’s not one for frivolity as far as bike specs go so I decided I’d bite the bullet and buy them uh now I paid £180 for these which is a lot of money for something that you don’t know is going to

Work but today is the first day I’m riding with these and I’m going to tell you how they feel real world we’re going to do a big climb well big for around here anyway and uh we’ll see how we get on now Dave suggested because I spend so

Little time in the big ring I would be better going for a 4630 and from what I’ve read since that combination is what’s recommended for certainly if you’re doing a fair bit of climbing or you’re carrying packs and so on then 4630 is the way to go so I

Ordered chain rings from absolute black and 2 days later they arrived with DHL Express so I was very impressed with that I fitted them on Monday and today is the first ride so as I speak to you now I’ve ridden for precisely 6.1 miles I did have to lower the deria cage

Because obviously it’s a smaller chain ring and then it’s just a case of getting the correct clearance at the highest point of the chain ring one common theme that came up with oval chain Rings is that they do not shift between the small and large ring very well some people commented that you

Had to really work at changing the gear uh some said that you had to be at a certain point on the ring but I can honestly say I’ve had no problem at all with changing it was very very smooth from the off so what I would say is if you’re

Pretty competent with bike repairs and so on it’s easy enough to do uh but if you’re at all unsure then your local bike shop will sort it for you now I don’t know what I was expecting I think I was expecting some sort of weird pedaling motion but of course the thing to

Remember is that the axle is still in the center you are still tur turning around a fixed axis but what I can feel I can best describe as a very very subtle easing and increasing of resistance now I’m not somebody that puts in a huge amount of power so I’m

Not expecting miracles in terms of speed and climbing ability but you know that feeling you get when you’re on a steep climb and you’re looking for another gear and you realize that you’re all out of them well certainly the 3 to chain ring is going to give me better climbing ability anyway but

Also I’m expecting the oval to give me even more now there’s obviously some very clever mathematics involved well clever for me anyway uh which I’m not going to go into because I honestly don’t understand it but I don’t need to all I need to do is ride my bike

Now of course because my small ring has gone down from 3 4 to 30 it’s going to be easier anyway so any Improvement can’t instantly be put down to the oval chain Rings right we’ve teamed up with Wendy and uh up ahead of us is the infamous

Terrace Wendy was saying the other day she fancied doing it so I thought well what better time to try out these new chain rings so yeah but I haven’t got new chain R thanks Roy it was your idea yeah but I felt good the other day so you’ve uh I

Was just saying to everybody you’ve been 6 weeks in Spain yeah so tell us about that um it was lovely nice and sunny beautiful relaxed you actually said you were winter training you told me you didn’t say what you were training for no I was training at relaxing I think and

Distressing did you get on out on the bike at all yeah I went out with my brother-in-law a couple of times I yeah um we did some huge climbing um The Bike Shop didn’t have any women’s road bikes they did have extra small Giants but they didn’t have

Any available so I took a sort of shoppery bike up into the mountains and I have to say it was just really good it was fine it still had half the battery by the time we got back after 40 50 miles so that sounds idilic it was lovely I

Mean the views were fantastic and some lovely villages to go and have us explore arounds yeah really really good good and then when we stayed a few nights in Malika and Terry and I went out cycling along the seafront and uh the hotel actually just

Give you bag if you want to go out free free of charge yeah that’s amazing charge little they were super bags little baskets in the front and everything you can go out for as long as you want and they were just brilliant really good again there was a psychopath

All Along The Sea front pretty much and which part of Spain was that uh Malaga that was Malaga with the but where were you before n or n or n okay which very pretty but still still a proper Little Old Village sort of thing it’s not got a lot of high rise

Or anything so really nice you missed a lot here because we had fantastic weather you know as you saw so now you’re back in the cold yeah we’re about to go up a big hill yeah thank you so we might have to stop talking even before we start it but the interesting thing

Is this is the first time I’ve dropped into a small ring that in anticipation yeah don’t think I’m going to have enough Rings well I have to say so far so good i’ normally not be speaking now cuz I wouldn’t have enough breath yeah I can actually feel the action of

These ovals yeah I now can see exactly what they mean legs still burning but it’s not as bad it’s horrible this hill because you get around this Bend and then you realize there’s more now as you know I don’t do stats but it’ll be interesting to see how that

Was the performance on The Terrace I mean normally I resist it because it’s such a horrible Hill you know you get around that bend and it’s going up again it still goes that last bit is and then you get to the next Bend and it’s going up again

But uh I’ve got my breath back pretty quickly um and I could do it again I don’t want to I don’t know whether I could I don’t know C you try do you certainly wouldn’t be something that I would be trepidacious about yeah yeah

However it has to be said that I am on a smaller chain ring yeah uh I am I am nearer to your well I’m slightly smaller than your smallest ring when I’m on that Hill normally you know my forward pressure on the pedal is really hard it

Gets tough doesn’t it and then and then obviously you release and it’s easier this was linear you know I suppose is the right word it was it was smooth all the way through so it certainly is uh doing something fantastic y it’ll be interesting if when I get one

To try it to see what my stats are yeah I’ve just struggled up it yeah yeah I should be I should be struggling up while you’re at the top yeah d right so we’ve got a real real strong headwind today it say really blust really blusty get stronger as well about

About 12 1:00 feel it while it’s really strong gust not necessarily strong all the time but real gusts of wind at 40 m hour so well that should be fun it’s not changing direction is it don’t think so no so that be a 40 mph Tailwind so are

We going to are we going to head out to Hilltop here we’re not far away not really no yeah okay let’s go which way do you want to go straight across or we go going along and down by we’ll go to the end and right I think do you think

Yeah and then go down by the top of the hill bit yeah I know what you mean right let’s go does that mean we’re into the window if we do that it is yeah there’s no choice but think of the Tailwind on the way back what’s that bird up

There no idea big one red Kate no probably a buzzard oh know it’s a crow isn’t it something oh it’s a crow noisy Burger I can see I can see that neither of us are a bill oddi are we look at this sheep The Grass Is Always Greener isn’t it just is that

Good probably is in this case looking at that the evening’s are not as dark anymore windy no snow drops are out yeah so we’re in 2024 Wendy so it’s time to start thinking about these rides yep looking forward to some good rides keep thinking taking the bikes up to

Edinburgh and then riding all the way back or ride up to Edinburgh it’s upill train back psychologically isn’t it he uphill psychologically I know exactly what you mean and I always think riding towards home is better feels better yeah so I think train to Ed INB and then downhill

All the way back downhill all the way back yeah so we’ve got a nice Northerly wind so we get some assistance what do you think it probably take a week or so won’t it say again take a week yeah well take as long as we need indeed I don’t know a route from

Newcastle back but I’m sure there is one what it be that ncn one isn’t it I going to say ncn one pretty much does it yeah and then I guess once we’re over the Humber Bridge we could then start to head across towards Lincoln towards home yeah

Yeah yeah get to Lincoln and then we can come across the Old Railway down to tuxford or down to the Trent Vil Trail that’d be lovely yeah right so that’s that’s got to be it we’ll we’ll start to plan well I’m going to go for it see oh absolutely good luck watch the

Wind don’t do us room now the downside of going for the 46 tooth ring is that I won’t have as much top speed now top speed isn’t really a thing with me anyway but coming downhills it’s quite nice to put some power in and I’m now in my highest gear and

Motor Motoring along perfectly so absolutely no loss as far as that goes in fact I was unlikely to get in the highest gear before with the 5 to ring not like Spain is it no you mean I can’t ride me shorts and t-shirts well you can but you might get

Icicles it’s not too cold it’s it’s not no it’s the wind isn’t it and we’re on this stretch we’re on we’re getting this cross wind yeah which every time we get to a gate is blowing us but hopefully shortly we’ll have it behind us which will be good we should swap sides really

Ro why is that then you can protect me well you’re Sheltering me why would I swap but actually you don’t provide much shelter do oh there you go we might as well do it the other way what do you think of your new chain wings I think

I break it down really into into two parts one is the fact that it’s now 4630 instead of 5034 has clearly made a difference anyway it’s certainly easier on the Hills as for the ovals uh I expected them to feel strange but of course they don’t because you’re still you’re

Still centered on the axle so your pedals are turning just the same but what I can feel is when I’m when I’m spinning there’s really no difference yeah but when I put the power on I can actually feel it driving the power in at the right time um now as you know I’m

Not a powerful Rider anyway uh where it’s really gaining for me is on the hills and what I found is okay I’ve got that much lower gear now yeah but what I found is that where on a hill I find that I’m having to really push against

It you know on that downstroke yeah it just seemed to smooth that out um so okay I’ve only done 35 mil on them I did expect them to be needing a bit of time to get used to them but in fact I’ve got used to them immediately

I’ve got no problem right uh my indexing I have got to just set up a bit better it’s not quite right yeah but the changes are smooth yeah uh you know one or two people have said oh you know they they don’t they don’t change gear very

Easily from the small ring to the big or whatever no problem at all with that it’s it’s smooth um I spending a heck of a lot more time in the big ring in fact yeah I noticed that I’ve hardly been in the small ring and usually you made most of

It in the small ring yeah now I realize why it was cuz that 50 yeah 52 gear was probably too much uh and I think it’s something that we you know you tend to read that others do but you you know when you take into account age ability

And all the rest of it yeah yeah uh and the fact that we’ve got fairly relatively heavy bikes because of the riding we do and we’re riding on gravel the 4630 makes a lot of sense the MTB community to have used them for years yeah um so there has to be something in

It and of course there’ll always be those people that say you don’t need them you know just get stronger legs or whatever well you know as we age we we try our best all we can do is hang on to what we’ve got so I suppose the obvious question I

Would ask myself is do I think they’re worth £180 yeah well the fact that certainly the lower gearing has helped me immensely now I could have probably bought Shimano lower gears for less than 180 left go as Lockton you what say left Lockton so I I could have bought I could

Have bought probably standard Shimano 4630 for Less but I certainly I certainly felt that on the Terrace I’ve never been up the Terrace so easily yeah I’m not saying it was easy but uh it’ll be interesting try and cast or as well on the way back because yeah gosh yes that should be

Good that’s a Test because with castorp at the end of a a long ride I’m really really having to push that pedal down uh and and it’s it’s hard and this is where I think the oval is helping yeah just not as tired legs as usually it’s smoothing out the the stroke yeah

So in answer to the question I think 180 is far too much for chain rings but uh if that’s what you got to pay and I think the the thing is with absolute black they’re one of the few companies that are making one for a two ring bike you know that will

Operate as a road bike or whatever and gravel bike it means you might have a bit more confidence that any Hill that’s coming up you could have a good go at yeah I think that’s that’s true I I think certainly you know sometimes I look at a hill and think oh I’m not

Looking forward to that and as you know sometimes I’ll go the longer way around to miss Castor Hill on the way home yeah if I’m tired uh I don’t think I’ll feel that way now now obviously when we do our multi-day trip we’re going to be having bags to carry uh

Plus the trailer for your wardrobe so I think we’re going to need uh all the help we can get and I’m confident these are going to help us right good now this lady on the horse has seen us is she yeah she looked back okay Passing hi you hi woo I’d be interested to know if any of you have experienced the oval chain rings and what you think have they helped you have they hindered you obviously it’s early days for me today’s ride’s going to be about I would think 53

Miles uh but it’s been quite a test today because we’ve done the steepest hill in the area we’ve done a few other climbs and of course we’ve had this Relentless headwind and certainly I’ve stayed in the Big Ring most of the time but as I’ve said some of that’s

Going to be down to the fact that uh I’ve reduced the gear size on on this on the front but I certainly felt the benefit of oval on the Terrace it was much smoother climbing now some people have used oval chain rings to help alleviate knee pain I certainly know Michael in Peterborough

Has done that in fact he has several sets of chain rings for different types of rides but he says even now his knees are suffering because they’ve got too bad now fortunately although I suffer with my knees if I walk any distance I don’t when I’m on my bike I

Can ride easily 100 miles and not have any knee pain at all or any follow-up knee pain so the oval chain Rings aren’t going to do anything to help my knees but they’re certainly not doing anything to hinder them either they feel just the same now I have no discounts to offer on

This I have no association with absolute black and the only the only discount I managed to find was that uh free delivery code so what I will do is if if you are going to look at buying those pop them in the I’ll pop that code in the

Description so you can at least benefit from that saving so I’d look forward to hearing your comments I’m nearly at the end of my ride but I’m stopping here now because I’m going to make a slightly different end to this video today uh those of you that watch my previous video which was

Out just before Christmas you may recall that I mentioned one of our local character as Tony Jackson who had been diagnosed with motor neuron disease a really active man so it was a tragic diagnosis what’s even more tragic is that a couple of weeks ago I received the news that Tony had

Died uh certainly much quicker than anyone expected apart from his family Tony loved the canal he loved the veil of beaver and he loved cycling so what I thought I’d do is just put together just a little tribute really to Tony it’s only a couple of minutes long uh but I

Just felt it was necessary to remember him he was a very colorful character and he’s asked for the mourners at his funeral to follow that theme and dressing color and I know quite a few people are going to cycle behind the cortage so I think he would love that so

I’ll say goodbye to you and I’ll say farewell to Tony [Applause] [Applause]