I’ve been riding oval rings exclusively on my bikes for a few years now. I have Rotor Q’s on my turbo bike, I’ve been commuting on Doval’s and I have Rotor QXL’s on my best bike. When I first tried Rotor QRings back in 2014, it was on the basis that if I felt they worked, as the science said they should, then I would sell them in my shop on my personal recommendation. The rest is history as they say. I sold plenty and none ever came back. I can’t praise them enough. For the doubters, try them. For me they make those little drags or climbs you might have to change down a gear for easier. Pedaling is less choppy and they are good for grip offroad too when I used a QXL 1x for cross. You stay in the same, higher gears and your legs don’t fatigue as quick on longer rides and they recover more quickly too as a result of that reduced fatigue. Climbing is easier!
Pound for pound the best upgrade I’d made to my bikes in a decade and I’ve ridden them ever since.
Anyway, I’ve bought a new bike and temporarily I’m getting by on a 50T, round outer ring. I’ve ridden the bike to work this week and my legs are so sore they feel like I’ve run 10km. Seriously, that soreness you get from running when you’re not used to it or you’ve done some weights or squats or worked on your quads. They are so sore my quads hurt when you touch them.
Now, although my gearing is higher (50T vs 46T) I’m not riding bigger gears. I’m just further up the cassette. The soreness is because of the round rings and when you ride with such sore muscles you can feel the additional effort needed to get the pedals over top dead centre where a QRing would narrow and soften the effective gear at that point.
It was interesting at work as I was explaining this to a colleague and he confirmed when he made the switch back from Q’s to round it messed up his legs too.
I’m no scientist, doctor or physio but I can say, with confidence and anecdotally. If you ride oval rings, be careful how you make the switch back to round as it will require some adaptation.
AbsoluteBlack rings (46/30T) coming soon!
Now I’m off for a hot bath to soak my legs in!
