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Morning All,
Current set up is 1 x 11 with a 34t round ring and an 11-46 cassette and find this gives me a comfortable range of gears. I would like to have an oval ring again as found it made my pedalling more efficient but don't want to upset the range.
For some reason I have in my head that in essence an oval ring gives you the equivalent of +/-2 depending on which section of the ring you are on so a 34t would equate to 36 top and 32 middle if that makes sense? I'm not sure it does but haven't slept today yet after finishing my night shift this morning and am a little muddled 😵
If you are used to riding a 34, I’d say go for the 34. I don’t think it really equates to a 36 anywhere in the stroke in terms of gearing so you should be able to pedal it just fine - apart from any considerations for frame clearance you might still need to check first.
Your gearing will stay EXACTLY THE SAME!
An oval ring will make some parts of the pedal stroke feel harder and some easier but for any given gear you will travel the same distance for the same number of pedal revolutions.
I sort of agree and sort of disagree with Whitestone, at the top of the oval you will be pushing a bigger gear, at the bottom of the oval you will be pushing a smaller gear.
For the same cadence, nothing will change except your knees will experience less stress at the top and bottom of the stroke as they are pushing a lower gear.
I would stick with whatever tooth count you use on a round ring
I’m sure a while back people were advising the opposite (size up on your narrow-wide because it makes pedalling easier). Whatever, I didn’t notice much of a difference going NW. If you’re used to 34t, the closest thing will be a 34t.
From the OP:
I would like to have an oval ring again as found it made my pedalling more efficient but don’t want to upset the range.
Ergo he needs an oval ring with the same tooth count as his existing round one.
@13thfloormonk - we are saying the same thing just in different ways 👍
+1 same toothage, round or oval
Its amazing what lack of sleep does for your ability to massively over think and complicate things! 10 hours sleep later and it all makes much more sense, thanks for the replies all 🙂