While Renthal is probably best known for it’s dominance in powersports, in recent years the UK based company has released a slew of new products (in their trademark golden hue) for the cycling market. The latest addition to their product line is the new 1XR Retention Chainring, which was developed specifically with British weather in mind.
Our 32T review sample weighed 36 g.
The company was finding that many narrow wide rings tended to wear quickly and perform poorly in muddy conditions, so they spent 18 months developing and testing a number of different chainring profiles.
The Renthal 1XR rings hare made from hard anodized 7075 T6 aluminum.
Ultimately, they found the narrow/wide format worked best, but tended to wear faster, because as the tooth face wore down – the inner chain plates would begin to ride on the wide section of the chainring tooth, rather than just the roller. This resulted in added friction and reduced chainring life in competitors products, so they heavily tapered their tooth profile of the wide teeth to allow for more clearance.
Having addressed concerns with longevity, the company turned to solving mud clearance issues. They had observed that on competitors products, mud quickly built up both on the shoulders between teeth and on the machined faces of the wide teeth. This tended to cause either the chain to lift and de-rail, or premature wear, so they created “mud evacuation grooves” between the tooth seats, and profiled the front of the wide teeth to help shed mud.
Of course, California is in the midst of a crushing four year drought, so I can’t speak to the mud shedding ability of the chainring….but I was surprised by how well the chainring helped reduce the build up of drivetrain gunk. Between the mud grooves and the occasional dolop Squirt, there was literally no need to ever clean my drivetrain.
We’ve had the chainring on hand for nearly a month, and in that time we have yet to derail a chain. That said, it is still to early for us to weigh in on long term performance. If you’re in the market for a new chainring, particularly if you live somewhere it actually rains, then the Renthal is well worth a look. The 1XR is available now in 32, 36, 36, and 38T configurations, and we will update shortly with US pricing.
