Fibre-Lyte aero carbon chain ring

After plenty of race and training miles on Fibre-Lyte's aero carbon fibre chainring the common fears of durability can be quashed, but apart from aesthetics are there any other benefits? Quite a few it turns out.

Hansell Composites LTD have been manufacturing carbon fibre products since 1992; their Fibre-Lyte range is their specialist lightweight parts offshoot. Full carbon chainrings are what they've become best known for, especially in the world of time trialling so it only seems right that we give one of their Aero rings a test.

Fibre-Lyte CNC machine each ring to order so it's pretty much a bespoke service which is why the asymmetric ring you see here isn't on their website. In the past they've made rings from 12t up to 86t so if there is something specific you want it's best to contact them just like I did.

Our ring has 54 teeth, with a 135mm BCD (bolt circle diameter) to fit a Campagnolo chainset and it was a perfect fit straight out of the packaging. Beautifully finished too, with each edge smooth and burr-free. It's a single ring set-up so the usual teeth ramps and drop pins that you get on their double rings are missing but the back has been machined to set the teeth width for a 10 speed chain. It's worth noting that if you order a double set of rings they will be machined as a pair to make sure that shifting is as clean as it possibly can be.

Once set up the first thing you notice is how quiet and smooth it is as the chain rolls over the teeth. Admittedly mt transmission wasn't exactly noisy with the Stronglight rings it replaced but it's noticeable and that smoothness transferred to the ride too. Whether it's down to carbon's natural ability to absorb vibration or not I'm unsure, but even at the extremes of the cassette there was no noise when the chain was at quite an angle to the chainring.

It's stiff too, with the larger surface area of the ring providing much needed support for when you're really pushing high loads through it in a time trial. It weighs only 100g so you aren't getting that stiffness at a weight penalty. The solid Fibre-Lyte ring weighed the same as the original ring it replaced.

The wear issue is the first thing people ask about and I can happily say 'What wear?' Even after wet races and training rides with plenty of grit being picked up by the chain there isn't a single scratch or mark on the teeth. With plenty of people on various forums quoting thousands of miles of usage on Fibre-Lytes's carbon rings, longevity is certainly no more of an issue than it is with alloy ones. Letting your chain get excessively worn will probably trash them just as it does aluminium rings, so don't do that.

While this isn't a review about the benefits of asymmetric rings against rounds I'll say that I've noticed some impressive gains and the shape seems to suit my riding style. I don't ride with a power meter so I don't have any hard data but just going on feel I'd say the non-round rings suit my low cadence (80-85rpm) time trial rhythm. Pushing hard on the pedals means they feel as normal as round rings to ride but spin and ease off the pressure you will find they give a kind of bouncing feeling.

Overall then, the Fibre-Lyte chainring is full of benefits: light, stiff, quiet and most importantly durable. It also happens to look smart and would be the finishing touch to any bling race machine. The price is respectable when you consider that Vision's aero ring (carbon/alloy) and SRAM's Red (alloy) offering are priced around a fiver more and a Rotor Q-Ring (alloy) is around £45 more.

As already mentioned there is a huge amount of customization available with the Fibre-Lyte products. You can choose your carbon pattern, size, BCD and they can even be etched with logos. Take a look at the website for all the options.

Verdict

Carbon bling to pimp your ride but full of performance benefits too