I converted my bike from 10 speed sram/105/tiagra mix as it came built to 11 speed R8000 series 11spd di2 on my bike for all except crank.
Crank is SRAM rival 10 speed that I got years ago on clearance with stages PM that I am very happy with, so don’t want to replace it as long as it keeps working well.
So the question is - since Shimano chainrings don’t fit, am I better off using SRAM chainrings or a 3rd party chainring that might be better optimized for Shimano chain? Does it even matter? Suggestions welcome. Crazy range of prices and brands and not sure how much value there is here.
After years of poor chain maintenance and dirty chains, and since going to waxed chain thanks to the epic TR thread on the subject, thinking I will replace them so everything is fresh and am guessing they will outlast the bike with clean chains. Much prefer the chain rotation to drivetrain cleaning!
Yea, I realize the chains and drivetrains are generally broadly compatible. Since manufacturers claim that there is a lot of fine tuning between the cassettes and chain, I decided to go with Shimano chain as I figured this would be the most critical piece of shift performance. (previously I had SRAM cassette + SRAM chain)
I’m just not sure if this matters at all for the chain ring - for what it’s worth, the SRAM 10-speed chain ring does work pretty well despite knowing it’s been abused a bit.
Given the broad range of chain ring options, just wondering which way to go as it’s not something one buys often and there is quite a range that one can spend on them.
The question comes down to whether there is any real value or marginal gain in shift performance to select a chain ring designed for a particular manufacturer’s chain?
Since Shimano has no 5-bolt 11-spd offering, is there a 3rd party option that would be advantageous over SRAM when running Shimano chain?
Lots of things will work together as evidenced by mixing 10 spd rings and 11 speed chains, but if I buy new rings, it’s not something I plan to buy again for a long long time, so just want to get the best fit possible.
Ive used many makes of 110 chainrings on Shimano or FSA compacts with no problems or differences in performance that i can think of, on both 9 and 10 speed but not yet had the need to go to 11 speed.
I’d be interested to know how much of a difference using a dedicated 11 speed chain ring makes. I’ve used all sorts of mix and match on my turbo bike with no noticeable change, although I am about the least mechanically sensitive person around.
So now I’m really puzzled as it seems that the cost of an SRAM 11-speed outer chainring alone is about the same price as a SRAM Rival 22 crankset which I see going for about $120.
I’m thinking now that if I’m going to replace my worn 10-speed rings with 11-speed rings, I should instead just get a new Rival 22 crankset instead as it’ll cost less, and then just move my existing Stages Rival 10-speed power meter onto it. Even replacement 10 speed rings, while a bit less, aren’t that much cheaper than the whole new Rival 22 crankset.
I am assuming that the left arms haven’t changed from 10 to 11 speed and should all be compatible if both are GXP?
Picture of the ring in question - hard for me to tell which teeth are intended to be short and by how much for shifting, but two in particular look really bad.
I remembered I had an older 10-spd apex ring without only 3-4K of miles on it and teeth look like they have a bit more meat on them, none as badly worn as the short one in photo.
I swapped that in and will see if chain stays on when under high out-of-saddle loads later today which is the main problem I’ve been running into since using new chain. If so, I’m inclined to just get new Rival 22 set as it’s cheaper than buying new rings. But interested in any thoughts on how this looks just based on photo. My guess is it’s past due - some teeth (but not all) have no curve left and have a completely linear slope on the loaded side. Seems quite uneven.
If you need new rings because yours are worn, buy a new crank. Not worth buying rings for an old rival crankset.
If they’re not actually worn, no need to swap them. They should work fine with 11sp. You can always give it a go and then make the change if you’re seeing issues. If you are it’s due to wear from your previous chain, not the actual 10sp rings being incompatible.
For any future visitors to this thread, that ring I took a picture of was clearly crap. A used 10-spd. spare ring I had with 3k+ miles on it completely solved the issue of throwing chain over big ring under load. Shifting is also clearly much tighter now.
So to conclude, seems like best options are -
Wear out my used 10 speed ring some more - but this ring was also rather abused due to my poor pre-wax rotation chain maintenance habits and with new cassette, new chains, don’t want to wonder if it could shift even better…
Pick up some affordable new 10-spd rings that seem to work fine, particularly with Di2 that just shifts so well anyway or -
Find a clearance 11-spd rival 22 GXP crank that may not cost any more than a pair of new 10-spd rings, and will definitely cost less than 11-spd rings on their own.
In my case, I need to stay with a Rival GXP crank to keep using my stages crank arm PM. I’m not aware of any better option to consider upgrading to that doesn’t involve going to carbon, which would be kind of pointless with an alloy L crank.
