Stronglight showed off their new narrow/wide chainrings for 104BCD cranks. It’s a pretty standard ring, but their sister brand O’Symetric had some wild stuff. We also saw Fouriers’ range, a brand that’s been around for a while in Europe but not really seen in the States. There’s a few other goodies tucked away in here, ending with a really expensive, really light full titanium chain…
Not sure if these were new, but if you haven’t seen O’Symetric’s chainrings before, they’re pretty wild looking compared to “oval” rings. They’re made by Stronglight.
The Juin Tech mechanical-to-hydraulic brake calipers were spotted on a bike not related to their brand, and they look awfully similar to the new Ashima PCD caliper…including the R1 graphic on the arm.
Fouriers makes all manner of drivetrain products and hop-up kits. Their idea of a narrow/wide chainring was a little different, using thinner, taller tooth profiles. This is one version, but their website’s showing another variation:
This more heavily machined version looks to be the final iteration. The teeth aren’t quite as tall, but they keep the “wave pattern” at the base of the teeth to improve chain contact. The holes and small channels milled into the teeth help evacuate water, mud and dust to keep the chain sitting properly on the ring.
Out back there’s a 42T oversized cog and 16t intermediate cog to up the range of a 10 speed setup without having any weird gaps.
The Cassette Spacer takes up freehub body space when using a shorter cassette, like when a 7-speed DH setup is used on a standard rear hub. Two diameters are available, one for a max 19T cog next to it and one for 24T cogs.
The new DCS001 6-bolt rotors are 2mm thick stainless steel, and these were heat colored for show.
The cut is slightly different than what’s available on their website, but the claimed weights of 113g (160mm) and 143g (180mm) are correct.
With top level SRAM and Shimano chains coming in around 240-250g, the Yaban titanium chain comes in significantly lighter at 210g. It may not seem like much, but it’s almost 15%.
The downside? Retail is darn near $200 per chain. The upside? Besides the weight, it should last a lot longer than a steel chain. Available for SRAM, Shimano and Campagnolo.
