The Beauty of Single Chainrings
There’s one component brand which I have not changed since 1991 - Action Tec. All my mountain bikes since then have been equipped with their chainrings. At first as a triple 48/36/24T setup, then either 34 or 36T single chainring setups on the various singlespeed bikes I’ve owned. These chainrings are the pure embodiment of reliable low-tech. In NorCal they lasted forever. On my Swiss mountain trails, they do show some signs of wear after a couple of years, but that’s no surprise considering the gear I mash up the hills. When it came to equip the new singlespeed with a chainring, there was no question what was going to be mounted, a heat treated 34T ELS chainring. Nothing nicer than a single ring crank.
