As Shimano is the market leader when it comes to cranks, Rotor knew that making QXL chainrings to fit the S-company’s cranks was essential. Here you have an Outer Chainring.
Rotor makes round rings, but their pride is in their oval chainrings. The Q-Rings have been proven to increase power output, so they took oval rings to the next level with QXL. Their QXL Outer Chainring has increased ovality—16% rather than 10%--meaning a 53-tooth chainring varies from a virtual 49-teeth at your pedal stroke’s dead spot to a virtual 57-teeth at your moment of peak power.
If these numbers mean nothing to you, you probably don’t have Rotor Q-Rings on your bike. That’s important as Rotor believes that experienced Q-Ring users will benefit the most, and adapt the easiest, to QXL rings.
The basic idea of Q-Rings, which is taken farther with QXL, is that since your body can’t produce equal power throughout the pedal stroke, it would be better to work with your body’s strengths and weaknesses to have a bigger gear where your legs are most powerful and a smaller gear where your legs are least powerful. This, btw, is the reverse of the much-maligned Shimano Bio-Pace system which came and went years ago, but has given non-round rings a bad name ever since.
Rotor sees these rings as ideal for racers and other folks who produce lots of power and pedal at higher cadences. The dead spot area offers more rest and the power stroke area more power. The result is you go faster with less effort.
The rings can even be tuned, which is why you see multiple bolt holes throughout the ring. There are five positions, which Rotor calls OCP5, for Optimum Chainring Position 5, so you can adjust the point of peak power and peak rest to perfectly mesh with your pedaling style. A guide comes with the ring to help you determine your perfect position.
The rings start out as solid 7075 aluminum plate and are CNC-machined into shape. Steel shift pins are inserted to make moving between rings easier. The rings are solid for improved aerodynamics and shifting.
The rings are designed for Shimano’s four-arm 110mm bolt circle diameter cranks. Currently, they are available in 53-tooth large rings.
They are designed for 10- and 11-speed derailleur systems, though 9-speed should work as well. You can mate them to round and QXL inner rings.
As derailleur adjustment can become complicated, the QXL Outer Ring is delivered with shims that can be placed between the front derailleur and the hanger.
The Rotor QXL Shimano Outer Chainring brings the oval revolution to Shimano.