Review: absoluteBLACK Sub-Compact Oval Chainrings – 48/32 and 46/30 with Shimano Ultegra Cranks!

Ordered a set. Didn’t like them. They refused to take them back even though they say they have a satisfaction guarantee on their website.

With these rings, can you rotate the chainring to change where the ovalization hits like Rotor’s oval rings?

Hi Pinko,
Thanks for the comment. It’s usually very hard to respond on such mulit thread comment but I will do my best.
1) Rotor is a great company, but we did not and do not copy any of their oval chainrings and solutions. Their rings have different timing, different ovality and most importantly different shape. Even though they look like perfect ellipse they are not. A quick look at their patent from some years back will make it clear.

We have done extensive research over the years and keep doing it with one of the most prominent Universities specializing in human kinematics on the Globe. In fact we cooperate with many top 30 doctors and phd’s in the field of human kinematics to help us measure and improve our design. We also cooperate with Cycling Science company for few years now, who are creators of the most accurate 3D power meter that has been ever made (it is now offered to selected bike fitters I believe for over 20keur). Using this device combined with other equippment allow us to not only measure mechanical results but also measure the body on physiological level like amount of oxygen consumed, lactate and so on. We went so far with that and for so long now that we will soon be able to publish a lot of materials how oval chainrings actually affect our way of pedaling and physiology. No one ever has done it on such a deep and extensive level. All that was tried in the past is merely a measurement of sub maximal power in a 1km time trial with semi pro athletes or similar approach.

2. Yes, we don’t use different timing for our chainrings. And there is a simple reason to it. After few years of research it was clear to us that it’s a lot better to do one setting that fits most riders than offer multiple settings. There is not enough space here to elaborate, but in short – more than 90% of riders given the opportunity to make changes to timing of the ring (like Rotor offers) are actually making their pedaling worse to what they had before. What they “feel” is rarely correlated what their mechanical efficiency and metabolical effectiveness actually is. The only group of riders on “normal” bike that needs a different timing to what we currently offer is Timetrial and Triathlon. Bike position is very different and requires different timing. And this is what we are about to release very soon as well. Our road or mtb chainrings have as good timing as they can ever have based on our research. And to be clear, we don’t only measure “athletes” like other researches did, as they typically have different pedal stroke to an “average” rider . We measure cyclists who actually use our products and are a good representation of the majority of riders out there. Great majority of them are not “pros” and this is where we specialize and deliver the product that offers best possible results for such riders. If you don’t ride more than 10h a week (every week), you most likely fall into this category.

3. Regards cracked direct mount chainrings. This can only happen when the mounting bolts are loose for extended period of time. No chainring on the market will withstand that as it was never designed to have loose bolts. On the bright side this happens actually extremely rarely and I personally seen only handful of examples over few years.

4. Chainguard/Taco. We use the strongest aluminium commercially available and a special polymer with carbon – glass fibers reinforcement. Not sure I would compare that to tortilla because it has a different taste and smell in my opinion.

And lastly. We are actually the first company which produced direct mount oval chainrings and third I believe to make round. The only companies that made any DM ring for Sram before us were MRP and Home Brewed I believe (and Boon decades ago for xtr and middleburn cranks ). And at that time there was a big push back against this idea and only handful of riders used it. Companies like us, WT and few more actually popularized this solution and only then RF, Sram and now Shimano joined it.
While some companies aspire to “be everything” we focus on what we do best and keep doing it better, this is why we are now considered a leader in oval chainrings and soon we will also release other devices that help you improve your pedaling further. This is where we specialize in and have already made new very interesting discoveries thanks to our ongoing research.

I hope this put a bit more light on what we actually do.

Martin