Middleburn chainrings?

[allencb]

I'm getting ready to order a Middleburn crankset and am curious if their "hardcoat" non-ramped rings are a worthwhile purchase. I'm currently running a Surly SS ring, which has served me well. Is the Middleburn a better choice than the Surly? The spider is a 5-bolt CD model if it matters.

Thanks,
Chris

[Dirt]

I haven't tried them, but the Surly is a pretty good choice. The steel rings are pretty durable and you can bend them back in case of damage. They're less likely to fail catastrophically.

I hope that helps a little.

Pete

[allencb]

Thanks. I think I'll stick with Surly. I had not considered repairability. After roughly 6 months of SS/Fixed use, my current Surly ring is showing virtually no wear. The Salsa ring I had before it was showing significant wear by this point.

Off to order my Middleburn cranks... :)

Chris

[Dirt]

Thanks. I think I'll stick with Surly. I had not considered repairability. After roughly 6 months of SS/Fixed use, my current Surly ring is showing virtually no wear. The Salsa ring I had before it was showing significant wear by this point.

Off to order my Middleburn cranks... :)

Chris


Hey Chris.

I've had aluminum rings last a very long time on the 5 spider crank arms... especially the older ones with a larger BCD. I think the current ring on my single speed will actually wear out before I break it. I have no reason to believe that the Middleburn would not work similarly.

In general, I've found that I have broken rings by bashing them on rocks, or planting them on a log and pivoting. I'm generally really easy on parts... I'm not really a terminator. The one exception is chainrings. My guess is that the surly will handle such things as well or better than pretty much any alloy ring out there.

If you use a bash guard, then there is less danger of doing that kind of damage and the Middleburn ring should work perfectly.

Make sense?

PEte

[allencb]

The wear I was experiencing was wearing of the teeth. Even though I'm less than graceful crossing logs and such, I've never so much as chipped a tooth. But, as I said, I could probably pass the Surly ring off as NIB. Not so with the Salsa.

Chris

[langer]

The wear I was experiencing was wearing of the teeth. Even though I'm less than graceful crossing logs and such, I've never so much as chipped a tooth. But, as I said, I could probably pass the Surly ring off as NIB. Not so with the Salsa.

Chris
Where you ordering the crankset from? I gave mtbtandem.com a call last week and the RS-8 is backordered, same thing at chainreactioncycles. Or are you getting the RS-7?

[allencb]

I'm getting the RS-7 because I want 180mm long cranks.

Chris

[rciracing]

Do any LBS carry Middleburn stuff? Looking for an XTR adapter.

[allencb]

No clue, but Mtbtandems shipped the cranks I ordered quickly. I ordered them Tuesday afternoon and had them Friday.

Chris