I’ve just made the switch back to round rings from Q Rings. I decided to go with compact cranks for IMLP after my early season HIM made it obvious that regular cranks were way overgeared for me. I ran my best run ever in a HIM (It felt like I was floating… easiest run ever at any distance I would say)… but my bike was also one of my slowest ever, and where I got passed was on every hill as I ground up at 50RPM and people spun right by me. This made it painfully obvious that I was overgeared and I switched to compact cranks. I love them but am a bit worried going back to round rings this close to placid will hinder me. Mostly just freaking out as I have not yet had a good workout since the HIM but I also got an intestinal infection afterwards and pretty much did no training for a week and a half. I liked the Q rings but dont’ want to drop $200 to get the 110BCD version. So has anyone else switched from Q Rings back to regular? Any Issues?
I tried a big ring out for a few rides,i swear from the start of the first ride i could not tell it from a round ring,Till i hit my first hill and shifted onto my round small ring,man felt like my legs were frailing all over the place.I used the ring on a few rides i do often and my first ride seemed slower,i never felt any increase in speed or power so i went back to my round rings as i was training for a 40k TT my legs seemed fine being back on round rings
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I have had the Q rings on my bike for 2 years now, so there may be a bit more readjustment time. I felt faster when I put them on my bike, but my bike splits have not shown any improvement… and have actually gotten worse since having them on. Granted there could be tons of factors influencing that. Anyway I’ve decided to go back to trying round rings for a while but did notice my legs fatigue in certain spots much more than with Q rings. My guess is it’s the muscles Q rings don’t really work (the dead spots). Anyway 5 weeks out from IMLP I may have to go back to the Q rings through IMLP as it appears there may be quite a readjustment period (at least for me) to go back to regualr rings. I’d like to be able to ride my compact rings in placid… I had to grind up hills with the 53/40 Q setup, but all my training was done on them and I ran fantastic off the bike in a HIM, so I may have to wait til next season to make the switch back to round rings. I am a fast spinner by the way (95-105 RPM in races, unless I’m forced to go lower on hills)