ROTOR Q-rings and Cranks: The Cycling God’s Gift to Men

A product that I use and love is the ROTOR Qring and crank setup.  I also have a Quark Power meter that fits nicely with the setup.

A Qring is a special type of chainring that is asymmetrical, meaning it is thicker(diameter-wise) through one cross section than another.  In effect, my 53 tooth outer chainring is a virtual 55 tooth during one section of the pedal stroke and a 50 during another section of the pedal stroke.  This is designed to work with the design of your body.  Your legs can push down much harder than they can pull up, so it makes sense to have a chainring that will help to smooth out your pedal stroke.  For me this leads to less fatigue during a race and a smoother sprint at the end game.

There is no issue with changing back and forth between regular rings and Qrings.  I’m not going to say it adds a noticeable power increase in timetrial performance testing, but I did get rid of some knee pain and pedaling smoothness issues by using them.  I have also noticed I can spin at higher cadences with less “bounce.”  Every once in a while I have had some shifting issues*, even though ROTOR says they should actually shift better than normal rings.  They are are also pricier than normal chainrings, and might be cost prohibitive for some folks.

ROTOR sponsors Garmin-Cervelo and there are many pros on this team using the Qring setup.  Off the top of my head Ican think of Heinrich Haussler, who just did great in the Tour of Qatar.

ROTOR cranks are the best you can buy, seriously.  I had been using carbon SRAM Red cranks until Phil at Shama Cycles had me make the switch.  I could immediately tell the difference in the stiffness and response when I put power into the pedals.  The Rotor website has a great explanation about the technology that goes into the 3D crank, but in a nutshell they are hollowed-out aluminum cranks, with makes them both stiff and light.  I was surprised to feel the difference, but the extra power transfer was there.

Phillip Shama has had a lot of success putting people on these cranks and chainrings, and I highly recommend them! Below is a video from last year about the Qrings.

*When I have shifting issues, it usually drops the chain to the outside when shifting to the big chainring.  This is a huge problem on a regular chainring, but it just takes shift down to correct the problem on Qrings.  Really annoying, but hasn’t destroyed a road race for me…… YET.  I might need to adjust the limit screw on the derailleur.