A "so thats how it works?!" moment....

anyone else had one of these moments recently?

i've only really just looked at a chain ring and had one of those 'ooooooooh, thats how it works' moments...

the pins on the back of the chainring for the ramp that helps transition a gear change.

then i googled it and found this:
https://wickwerks.com/technology/chainrings/

suddenly discovered a 'new' design for something i didnt have a grasp of/ever had a problem with before....

anyone used one of these Wickwerks chain rings with the 'bridge' design?

I can add something else to the useful(?) stuff part of my brain now

just out of interest, do these parts wear down as much as the rest of the chain ring (i.e. the teeth) and has it contributed to 'dodgy' shifting in anyones past if they have worn down?

i would think that they dont wear down much, as the pins would be hardened(?) - i would imagine they should be - as the contact point between chain/pin would be minimal, so would be useless if it rounded off easily....

anyway, just though i'd share this incase im not the only one thats never given attention to this part of a bike :?

these parts stay hidden from view so much that its only when they are completely dismantled do you really take a closer look and appreciate the design that goes into them.

another reason i bloody love bikes - still discovering stuff despite the simplicity of them

I think I'd have found Wickwerks system more compelling if they actually had a shift off between their system and a competing one. Otherwise, it sounds nice but who knows whether it is actually quicker.

Personally, I remember being rather disappointed when they started introducing all of these fancy chainring profiles/ramps etc as it meant you could no longer rotate them/flip them around to manage the wear.

I can't imagine ever wearing out the pick up pins before the rest of the ring though.

I've seen the same ramp design in (IIRC) QBP rings in the past. The pins on TA rings (at least) are stainless steel to resist wear.

Certainly the ramps on Shimano rings seem to contribute to chainsuck in my experience. In my personal view Shimano went over the top with ramps etc, but they boxed themselves into that corner by indexing the front shift. To me a thumbie or fully variable lever shift like front Campag Record road levers works much better and eliminates trimming issues as well.

After reading this, i had a good look at what happens when shifting up from middle ring with shimano, and yes, you can ckear see the chain being lifted by the pins. Great stuff.