USE track chainring review

The technology of the current Dura-Ace track chainset and BB is over 10 years old now, so British company USE has taken matters into its own hands.

USE’s cunning plan is that you put a modern Shimano-pattern five-arm 130 PCD road chainset (obviously the latest four-arm spiders won’t work) on your track or fixed bike and fit this single chainring for 1/8in chains, which has set-back teeth for a track chainline.

Now, in theory, you can benefit from a lighter and stiffer chainset. However, the USE chainring, which is machined from a solid piece of 7075 aluminium, at 261g (52t size) is well over twice as heavy as an ordinary replacement Shimano or TA ring, making it weightier than before.

This chainring is undoubtedly stiff enough for pro track sprinters, but those of us with normal-sized quads will worry that our track or fixed TT bike now weighs even more than they did before, and probably don’t look right either.