{"id":2793,"date":"2017-04-21T21:12:04","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T12:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2017-04-21\/2793"},"modified":"2017-04-21T21:12:04","modified_gmt":"2017-04-21T12:12:04","slug":"rotor-valiantly-succeeds-in-avoiding-my-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2017-04-21\/2793","title":{"rendered":"ROTOR Valiantly Succeeds in Avoiding my Money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 40mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMichael Powers Up to Mochikoshi Pass<\/span>\nwith his ROTOR chainrings of some sort\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Chainrings — the big gears at the pedals of a bicycle<\/span> — are normally round, but there is the idea that\nslightly oval ones can be more efficient because they can take advantage of the naturally-strong part of the pedal stroke\nby placing more leverage there, and less where the stroke is weakest.<\/p>\n\n

I was thinking to get some to try, but the company that makes them, ROTOR, is apparently willfully, egregiously<\/i> not\ninterested in selling them. They make a dizzying<\/span> number of different models of oval chainrings<\/a>, with scant\ninformation on their site about the difference among the various lines.<\/p>\n\n

Every<\/i> first-time buyer will have the same set of questions.... which ones fit my bike, and among those, which are right\nfor me, and in what sizes? They leave most of this for you to somehow figure out on your own (or, failing to have confidence,\njust abandon the idea of buying them).<\/p>\n\n

Their willfully-stupid site makes me wonder whether their products are also willfully stupid, and it should have been a sign<\/span> to\nwalk away, but I thought<\/span> I'd at least ask, so I sent<\/span> them this request:<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Hi, I'd like to buy some chainrings, but I'm not sure of compatibility.<\/p>\n\n

I currently have Shimano Ultegra 6800 with a semicompact<\/span> 36\/52 up front and 11-34 in the back. It seems<\/span> that for replacement chainrings I can<\/span> choose from among “<\/span>Q-Rings Aero Shimano 110x4”<\/span>, “<\/span>QXL Shimano 110x4”<\/span>, and “<\/span>Q-Rings Shimano 110x4”<\/span>, though after reading everything I could<\/span> find at your site, I'm still<\/span> at a loss<\/span> as to the difference among them.<\/p>\n\n

I often spin out at high speed, so I'd like a bigger<\/span> big chain ring. Would a 36<\/span>\/54 combo (“<\/span>Q-Rings Aero Shimano 110x4”<\/span> or “<\/span>QXL Shimano 110x4”<\/span>) work, or would it hit some limit with the Ultegra front derailleur? What about a 34<\/span>\/54 combo?<\/p>\n\n

In any case, whether I can go with a bigger<\/span> range or I must<\/span> stick with a 36<\/span>\/52 combo, what's the difference among the three product lines?<\/p>\n\n

Thanks much,\n \n Jeffrey<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It's so frustrating when a company seems to care so little about what they sell that they don't bother describing the product\nsufficient for even the most basic purchase decisions. I guess<\/span> I shouldn't<\/span> have been surprised when the reply\ndidn't even try to answer any of my questions:<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

ROTOR Customer Service <no-reply@rotorbike.com><\/b>\n

Hi Jeffrey,<\/p>\n\n

Thank you for get in contact with Rotor. Based on your information, you will need to purcharse the Rotor oval Q-rings BCD110x4 specific for Shimano crankset which we recommend at the first time with oval chainrings. You will notice<\/span> the advantage with your pedal stoke using our Q-rings.<\/p>\n\n

Best regards,\nEnzo.<\/p>\n\n

Ticket status has been changed to Closed<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

That last line was the end of it... the ticked was closed and there was no avenue to reply. Notice their customer-service email\naddress? “<\/span>no-reply@rotorbike.com”<\/span>. At least<\/span> it's not “<\/span>fuckoff@rotorbike.com”<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n

Wow. Just wow. Of all the companies in the world trying to avoid accepting my money, these guys really go the extra mile.\nThat's too bad, because my friends that have them like them, though it's a mystery<\/span> to me how they knew what to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAndy Photographs his ROTOR Chainrings<\/span>\nalong with the rest of his fine steed\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chainrings -- the big gears at the pedals of a bicycle -- are normally round, but there is the idea that slightly oval ones can be more efficient because they can take advantage of the naturally-strong part of the pedal stroke by placing more leverage there, and less where the stroke is weakest.<\/p>

I was thinking to get some to try, but the company that makes them, ROTOR, is apparently willfully, egregiously not interested in selling them. They make a dizzying number of different models of oval chainrings, with scant information on their site about the difference among the various [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2793\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}