OK, possibly not truly endlessly, however the brand new Race Face Period chainring has 5x the claimed lifetime of typical alloy chainrings, and it’s simply as mild.
The design blends chrome steel chainring tooth with a carbon fiber spider and alloy spindle interface. Right here’s the way it comes collectively…
Race Face has been making machined alloy chainrings for about so long as they’ve been making direct-mount cranksets. However they know that metal chainrings last more, they’re simply heavy. Alloy chainrings are so much lighter, however don’t final as lengthy.
So, how do have each sturdiness and light-weight weight? Add carbon fiber, in fact.
The brand new Period chainring is mainly three elements – tooth, spider, and mounting interface.
The chainring tooth are chrome steel, that are extremely onerous. Race Face says their hardness measures 1300 MPa (Mega Pascals), versus 475 MPa for alloy. Which means they’re extra sturdy, much less liable to put on, and can final about 5 instances longer. (Titanium is 900 MPa, FYI)
The metal tooth ring has further shaping on the inside aspect, giving it loads of spiky floor space captured within the cargon. This proprietary building methodology and “adhesion bettering” components forestall it from separating.
In truth, they declare it may deal with about the identical torque as a Cummins diesel engine, which is far more than you or I’ll ever produce. And the unit has the identical affect power as aluminum chainrings.
Nonetheless not satisfied? Of their fatigue exams, commonplace 12-speed chainrings from the 2 largest drivetrain manufacturers failed in 400,000 cycles or much less. The Period chainring testing was stopped at 2.1 million cycles as a result of it wasn’t displaying any indicators of failure. In all, it’s sufficient for them to present the Period chainring a lifetime assure towards harm.
The alloy middle piece is a direct mount interface for Race Face CINCH cranksets. For now, they’ll solely supply this model – there are not any instant plans to supply chainrings to suit SRAM or Shimano cranksets.
However, they’re appropriate with SRAM and Shimano chains. Like different manufacturers, they provide two distinct tooth profiles, one for Shimano 12sp mountain bike chains, and one for “different” 11/12sp chains (together with SRAM FlatTop).
It’s out there with 52mm and 55mm chain line offsets. And it’s appropriate with most if not all chain guides.
MSRP is $150, about twice the price of alloy, however with a for much longer lifespan. Claimed weight is 83g (32T), and it’s out there in 30/32/34 tooth counts.
Desire a full matching bike? Try the brand new Race Face Period handlebar and mountain bike wheels, too.
