XX1 style chainrings for Cyclocross. Finally in.

[trickydisco78]

Thanks to these chainrings I lost a regional championship last year

How was it set up and what mech/range of gears were you using?

Also did you have the spring tension on the mech on strong setting?

Interested as i'm building up a 1x11 set up and definitely don't want a chain drop

[vcnz]

Thanks to these chainrings I lost a regional championship last year

How was it set up and what mech/range of gears were you using?

Also did you have the spring tension on the mech on strong setting?

Interested as i'm building up a 1x11 set up and definitely don't want a chain drop

it works great in dry condition, really great ! but I had issues in mud and sand, regardless the chain tension and rd setup (Sram Red)
If you like 1x11 you should go for CX1 which is a native 1x11 setup and you get also a much better and optimized chain line which is something you cannot achieve with hybrid solution. CX1T chain line that works great regardless you're on the 11T or 32T

[nathanong87]

Thanks to these chainrings I lost a regional championship last year

bummer dude

[trickydisco78]

it works great in dry condition, really great ! but I had issues in mud and sand, regardless the chain tension and rd setup (Sram Red)
If you like 1x11 you should go for CX1 which is a native 1x11 setup and you get also a much better and optimized chain line which is something you cannot achieve with hybrid solution. CX1T chain line that works great regardless you're on the 11T or 32T

I just prefer shimano brakes and shifters. I wish Shimano would hurry up and sort out a clutch mech for cross. They already do this for mtb so why not cross.

SRAM make avid brakes which are pish on a mountain bike (which is another reason i'm not using sram for cross)

[ITTY]

Any chance of offering chainrings in Campagnolo BCDs? I have a crank that I've been waiting to use with my CX bike, but it's hard to find working combos for the Campy BCDs.

[tehan]

Hey,
Loosing chain in the mud is very rare.
We have National Champion in Canada Mical Dyck who uses our rings second season and is very happy. By now we have thousands of customers on those and we got only few reports of dropped chain. All of them happened on shimano mech with longer cage. As I wrote numerous times shimano mechs do require this tweak in order to increase spring tension. Oryginal setting is far to weak..

If you lost a chain on Sram group, this could happen only in 2 situations. You got a huge lump of grass or stick caught - this will throw out any system. Or you have dropped several gears at once on the back while riding in bumpy terrain. So you can't blame chainring. On our mtb side of our business we have tens of thousands of users by now who use these chainrings in the most demanding terrain and also in worse mud than you see on many CX races(think Hell of Hawaii race for eg). We have stellar reputation.

It is also not true that your chainline is off. Many put the ring from the outside as it looks better, but in fact better chainline is on the inside. Same in MTB. There is also a lot of possibilities to move a chainline on your bike, so it's only up to you if you do it or not. MTB community seems to pay more attention to that than in CX.

No plans for Campag unfortunately. There is very little interest in those.

[JN2Wheels]

I finally pulled the trigger on a Wolf Tooth setup. I'm running with a shimano 7800 rear derraileur, and no guards. No trouble yet, although all my races this season have been dry thus far. Tons of single ring setups out there... Many opting for 40 or 42. I've got a 38, and can imagine no cx race scenarios where I'll need more than 38x12 or 11. On the other hand, 38x28 is very useful for those borderline muscle-over or run-up situations. Also, absolutely set these things up on the inside... Chainline is nearly centered there, whereas putting it on the outside essentially leads to some heavy cross-chaining in the big ring which is compounded by the tight chain in a properly sized setup.

[Briscoelab]

Just installed a Wolf Tooth 38T on a DA7800 crank this past weekend. No guards or inner watcher, Di2 ultegra RD (so non clutch). It was fine test riding, shifting quickly, bumpy trails, etc. But, on Saturday we had a really muddy race. Threw the chain 6-7 times, at least.

This was despite teh fact I had the chain sized very short. I've ran 1x10 or 1x11 on my cx races bikes for years. But, always with an outer guard and inner catcher.

Used race face narrow wide ring and XO type 2 RD on my mtb last season, no issues. This year I used xx1 with no issues.

So, be aware there are limitations to these types of rings, especailly if you aren't running a clutch RD.

Conversly, I ran the same setup on Sunday at a race with zero issues. The track was MUCH rougher and bumpier than the day before. But, it was dry.

[trickydisco78]

Di2 ultegra RD (so non clutch).

Presumably you can't alter the spring tension in a Di2 rear mech?

In order to get best results we recommend increasing cage return spring tension. New derailleurs are assembled with the spring in the mount that allows the most relaxed position of the spring. However there is another position on the cage which will increase that tension. It is a standard procedure, please navigate to point no.7 in the link. You may also ask your LBS to do it for you.

[commendatore]

I believe there was a thread in the MTB section where someone added the cage and clutch assembly to a di2 road derailleur, might be worth looking into.

[trickydisco78]

I believe there was a thread in the MTB section where someone added the cage and clutch assembly to a di2 road derailleur, might be worth looking into.

wonder if that can be done with the ultegra 11 speed mech?

Got a link?

[commendatore]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=124340

[stephenjames]

Yes you can increase the tension on the Ultegra mech and its a very easy job for any mechanically minded person to do. I have actually modifed a few now for bikes we are running with di2 Ultegra - it is simply different placed holes that the tension spring sits into, so to be correct it increases the pre-load on the spring as opposed to the spring rate, but it achieves the same thing. As standard the mechs are built in the lower tension position. I experimented with firstly the optional higher tension position (maybe 5-7% increase) but ultimately we machined another hole to go one position further still and that is as far as I would like to go, but works superbly. Again, this is not that hard to achieve for anyone that's got some basic mechanical & engineering skill. Pillar drill and tiny file is all you need to make the new hole!

I have used this setup with both Wolf Components and Absolute Black rings (Both I have to say are stunningly good quality) and we have had zero issues whatsoever.

I believe what the chap from Absolute Black said above is very true. If you take some time to consider chainline and how to best position it, minimise chain length, consider carefully the type of rear mech you use then I believe you will have a very good drivetrain with thick thin rings and no guard. In fact, I would even say there are are significant advantages when you do drop a chain from un-avoidable chewing of a stick for instance, and that is it's a heck of a lot easier to get the chain back on without chainkeepers, chainguards or guides getting all fouled up!

[Guy]

Did my first (very) muddy race of the season this weekend. Another lap and I suspect the rear mech would have sheared off due to clogging of the jockey wheels. However, the Absolute Black chainring was faultless. No issues with chain retention whatsoever (also using a clutch mech).

[Peter_E]

I have used Absolute Black chainring for 2 seasons now. On my old bike I used it with a Sram clutch derailleur without issue. Cranks were gxp and the ring cleared the chain stay when on the inner position. No issues with that setup.
I now have a Crux that I just built. Cranks are Sram Red Bb30 and I use a cx1 derailleur. Unfortunately dropped the chain twice on a really muddy race. I am pretty sure it was due to setup though. Chain was too long (cut it now), rear derailleur inner limit was a bit off so the chain was really far when in the lowest gear and that was when I dropped the chain. And b-tension screw was not set up properly. Bike was new and built by me so I hadn't got those Things just right yet. So I still feel confident it will work now. The ring 42 won't clear the chainstay in the inner position unfortunately.