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Bling up your bike with KA Engineering’s titanium chainrings and pulley wheels

ka engineering ti chainring
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KA Engineering titanium chainring, in factory

It’s a good thing for riders that a lot of smart people like cycling. Often after finding success in their field of study these professionals take their expertise and apply it to their passion, which leaves consumers with plenty of innovative components, tools or riding gear to choose from.

KA Engineering was created by a group of engineers with experience in the telecom and aerospace industries, who also happen to enjoy action sports. KA produces a line of drivetrain components including some tantalizing titanium chainrings and derailleur pulley wheels. Their ti upgrades are durable, lightweight and of course, impressive to onlookers!

KA does everything from machining and anodizing to packaging products inside their factory in Kiev, Ukraine. Read on to check out all the sizes, specs and details on their ti chainrings and 3-Star pulley wheels…

KA Engineering titanium chainring, laid down

KA’s titanium Sharktooth spiderless chainrings are CNC’d from one solid chunk of metal and feature the company’s own version of narrow-wide, high-profile teeth. These spiderless rings are designed with a variable offset (determined by the tooth count) to ensure the most precise chainline possible.

The company currently produces Sharktooth ti rings that fit Sram BB30 and GXP, Race Face Cinch, or Cannondale Hollowgram drivetrains. KA is already working on creating BOOST 148mm compatible versions as well.

KA Engineering titanium chainring, after 3300kms

The titanium chainrings come in 26/28/30/32/34/36t sizes and are available in round or oval options (with 12% ovality). As for weights, a complete list wasn’t provided but for reference a 34t round Hollowgram ring hits the scales at 79.5g. And despite the weight, these rings should last for quite a while- the chainring shown above was test ridden for roughly 3300km’s by French racer Tomas Skubiszewski, and it’s still looking pretty new.

KA Engineering titanium chainring, blue KA Engineering titanium chainring, gold

KA’s ti chain rings can be finished in raw or your choice of several colors including Blue, Sky blue, Dark yellow, Yellow, Violet and Pink. All models and sizes of the spiderless ti rings sell for $218 USD.

KA Engineering titanium chainring, BCD model

The company also produces a simpler version of the Sharktooth chainring for 76/80/96/102/104mm BCD bolt patterns. These rings are made from a 10mm thick plate of Ti-6Al-4v titanium, so they don’t feature the variable offset and 3-D machining touches like the spiderless rings. They are available in 28/30/32/34/36t sizes, and cost $57.

KA Engineering titanium pulley wheel

KA has implemented the narrow-wide, high-tooth profile on their 3-Star titanium pulley wheels as well. They say this provides precise shifting and ‘fair’ mud shedding capabilities. Aside from their machined out ti bodies, the 3-Star pulleys also use a smaller than typical 686Z bearing to keep the weight down to under 26g for the set. Like the chainrings, the pulleys’ anodized titanium teeth should resist wear and tear for the long haul.

KA Engineering titanium pulley wheels, pair
*Photos courtesy of KA Engineering

The 12t derailleur pulleys are designed for Sram 1×10, 1×11 or 12-speed Eagle drivetrains. KA’s titanium pulley wheels come in silver or grey, and a pair sells for $109.

If the price of ti is a bit too high, KA also produces aluminum versions of the Sharktooth chainrings and a line of alloy pulley wheels. All of KA Engineering’s products can be ordered online, and global shipping is available. Their website lacks some information, so you may have to contact the company for info or ordering details.

kaeng.pro

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32 Comments
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dypeterc
dypeterc
7 years ago

How secure is their alternating NW profile? Do you need to run a chainkeeper?

Nick O.
Nick O.
7 years ago
Reply to  dypeterc

Lots of people do not run a keeper, but I still do. It minimizes dropped chains, but does not prevent them.

Thomas Skubiszewski
7 years ago
Reply to  Nick O.

I never had a single chain drop with their products.

PFS
PFS
7 years ago

Neither have I, but I have never used one of their products.

\m/
\m/
7 years ago

Nice!…and expensive lol

Old fut
Old fut
7 years ago

Your price on the chain ring is off. It’s 89€ so almost $100 USD.

Nicholas
Nicholas
7 years ago

Will there be “gravel” options in larger tooth counts? Still waiting for someone to make a SRAM direct mount 46 or 48t. Might have to get the new Easton crank just to get it.

the biz
the biz
7 years ago

serious question: why would anybody buy a $200 titanium chainring?

Kernel Flickitov
Kernel Flickitov
7 years ago
Reply to  the biz

(deleted)

blah blah blah
blah blah blah
7 years ago

wrong some people work hard make good money and just like/want cool shit!

Not a D.
Not a D.
7 years ago
Reply to  blah blah blah

True but it’s not always about working hard and making good money. Some people save what little they earn or make other sacrificies to buy the cool shit which they desire.

blah blah blah
blah blah blah
7 years ago
Reply to  Not a D.

yep thats me

Robin
Robin
7 years ago
Reply to  the biz

Who cares? Are supposed to be caring about what other riders ride? Oh, wait. I forgot we’re supposed to judge other riders based on what they ride and what they buy. Luckily, Kernel Flickitov already took care of the judging thing, so it looks like the cycling community has done its job.

bob 88
bob 88
7 years ago
Reply to  the biz

if it last longer much than Al rings then it’s a good buy.

JNH
JNH
7 years ago
Reply to  the biz

1) BLING!
2) Improved lifespan combined with light weight, the old light, strong, cheap equation (pick any two).
I’d certainly pair it with a bash guard of some kind, smacking a $200 chainring into the ground and bending it doesn’t bare thinking about.

TheKaiser
TheKaiser
7 years ago

If the article pricing is correct…104bcd FTW over direct mount at 1/4 the price!

ChknBreast
ChknBreast
7 years ago

Once upon a time I bought a Ti chainring ~15 years ago. Supposedly it work hardens and wears way better than steel. It looks virtually brand new, granted it hasn’t seen as much use other rings I’ve used over the years since it is 5 bolt. If the marketing is the same, it should last quite a bit longer than steel.

Thomas Skubiszewski
7 years ago

Here are more details from KA Eng’ : http://www.light-bikes.fr/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=879
And more pictures, including testride pictures : https://www.flickr.com/photos/skubi/albums/72157667189400045
Cheers
Thomas Skubiszewski

light-bikes.fr
7 years ago

It worth it ! Titanium is for life !
http://light-bikes.fr/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=879

Andrew
Andrew
7 years ago

This looks great…. I just wish they had a 30T Oval Cinch option and a 40T Oval option for cyclocross!

Ryan S.
Ryan S.
7 years ago

Hmmmm, too bad component colors aren’t standardized so you could get more matchy-matchy. (cough, cough…mango..cough…nothing close here…cough…oh well…cough)

bla-bla
bla-bla
7 years ago
Reply to  Ryan S.

titanium colors are ‘standardized’ for titanium i.e. you’ll get what you see.

Alex
Alex
7 years ago
Reply to  Ryan S.

colors are superb as for me 🙂

Javier
Javier
7 years ago
Reply to  Ryan S.

Nice colors!

Corey
Corey
7 years ago

Are these guys legit? Ordered a chain ring awhile back. No reply to emails. No contact period.

John W
John W
7 years ago
Reply to  Corey

Hi Corey, any luck with this? I’m about to pull trigger…

Michael
Michael
6 years ago

Hello Everyone, I strongly do NOT recommend to deal with this company (KA-Engineering)! They provide an anodizing services and I placed an order to anodize aluminium alloy parts fabricated in our machine shop. I paid them because they asked for an advanced payment. The quality of anodizing is very poor and five parts worth $ 70 each were damaged. Moreover, very bad attitude towards the client. When I called them and tried to discuss the problem, I was accused that “my parts are improperly made” and therefore they can not do anodizing well. When I asked for a refund, they were very rude to me, and in the end they just hung up! I lost my money, and more, I am feeling humiliated!

Dominic
Dominic
6 years ago
Reply to  Michael

Well sh*t! I hope your story is an exception. It’s also hard to tell who might have been right or wrong from a technical point of view. We can’t be sure from just this if either party did their due dilligence as far as preparing the pieces. Was the particular alloy acurately communicated? What kind of “damage” are we talking about?

Michael
Michael
6 years ago
Reply to  Dominic

Hi Dominic, the composition of the alloy was communicated to the company. All the parts sent to KA-Engineering were from the same production run and machined from the same piece of billet. They returned half of the parts anodized well (bright gloss uniform finish) and the other half were damaged (discolorations, non-uniform color, matte finish, deep discolored etching pits). Moreover, the parts from the same production run, made from the same piece of billet were later sent to another anodizing service provider, and another provider performed anodizing exceptionally well. But my post is not so much about technical problems, they can always arise, I am sharing how rude and offensive they were to me when I tried to discuss these technical problems. So I want to say again – never deal with them. It seems that their motto is “the client is not king” and “let’s make client feel cheated and deceived”.

Andy Ra
Andy Ra
6 years ago

Nice fellas!

palqo
palqo
5 years ago

Would love to, but it seems they don’t exist anymore. Made an order, paid and they never sent anything or reply to email or their own contact form.

Mike
Mike
4 years ago

AVOID!!! Ran off with 500 euros worth of my order – was never delivered

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