So clearly I won the Dozer prize of being a test monkey on the ring for the price of a review. Trouble is that between receiving the ring at the end of June and writing this review I've had two weeks in Argentina for work, and a solid dose of man flu, backed up with a sinus infection which kept biking time pretty much non existent for July. Hence the tardiness of the review. I'll now stop whining about life's complications now and get on with it.
Bike used: Titus Motolite with Fox RP23 130mm rear shock, Fox Talas 100-120-140 travel adjust fork, tubed wheels with Conti Mountain King/ X-King tyres, SLX 1x11 drivetrain and old school qr 'dropper' post.
Fitment: Pretty fuckwit proof. Remove four chainring bolts from old 104BCD circular NW ring and slide ring over crank arm. Insert Wolf Tooth ring over crank arm, slide up to spider, attach four bolts making sure the arrow on the ring is pointing in the correct direction with crank arm forward (vertically), tighten up bolts after making sure you aren't crossing the threads (ask me how I know). I use 4mm spacers between the spider and ring to improve the chainline on my bike, and there were no issues using these with the elliptical ring.
Drivetrain Comparison: The elliptical ring replaced a 30T circular NW ring, with the rest of the drivetrain an XT chain and 11-42 cassette out the back, so strictly speaking this wasn't an apples for apples comparison. A 30 / 11-42 setup gives a ratio spread of 0.71-2.73, whilst a 32 / 11-42 is 0.76 - 2.91. I'm a large unit at around 98kg kitted up, and most of my rides average around 20-25km in length with generally between 700m and 1000m vertical climbing. Yep Tassie does a good line in hills so I was slightly concerned about moving up to the larger ring, but given the proponents of ellipticals love to claim that you can move up a size I figured this would be a good test of that claim. Chain length was one potential issue, but that proved not to be the case. I always size my chains using the Campy method (small - small) and I still had plenty of play in the rear derailleur despite moving up a ring size.
Trails tested: My local trails are in Coningham Nature Reserve, and you can see a short video of some of the trails below. The authors only spent half a day there without a guide so they missed most of the best stuff, but in essence it's a mostly single track XC/ Trail network with a few technical Enduro sections, a steep rough fire trail for bombing and plenty of pinchy switchbacks to climb and descend. In addition I also got some lunchtime rides in around central Hobart stuff (Domain, Knocklofty).
[video=youtube;mvtAVTBrJ88]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvtAVTBrJ88[/video]
Riding Experience: I've never ridden an elliptical ring before so was interested to see how the feeling translated and whether I could detect any benefits. Firstly when riding on the road or smooth surfaces the impression was the ring reduced the amount of shock movement but felt basically like any circular ring. However the power delivery does feel like it's translating in smoother fashion, but I wouldn't say I was necessarily travelling any faster for the same effort. Climbing for me was where the ring really shone. On the steep stuff I didn't notice any extra effort required between the slightly larger 32T elliptical, and the 30T circular ring, and again the smoother power delivery was really apparent and made it easier to maintain a consistent speed and cadence through tight twisty switchbacks. I also shifted less between gears because of the broader smoother power delivery. Descending the ring was like any other NW ring, I never dropped a chain, and it in general was quiet and smooth throughout the test.
Verdict: Definitely gets a thumbs up from me. I can't comment on the longevity of the ring, but in the 50 or so km I've been testing it there's no abnormal wear apparent. I'll be picking one up for my other ride (Intense Primer)