Osymetric rings

[petie]

So I've suffered in silence long enough, I'm looking for advice in dealing with my osymetric troubles. I've got them fitted to my bike, it's a new build and I've got them running (barely) with a SRAM rival 22 FD (yaw). I think when I was initially planning the build I read somewhere that the Yaw derailleurs coped better with the weird osy's than Shimano. On trying to tune the damn thing I have re-read everything and that appears to be completely false!

Anyway, I'm at the point where I think they will be coming off the bike. I've ridden it about 30km and they actually feel great to pedal, but they just have been too big a pain in the arse to even get in the ballpark of setup. The wild variation in chain height over the rotation of the ring is the main problem, with the chain dropping over the big ring with a mistimed shift with the Yaw derailleur. And setting limits is also a huge challenge with the overly shaped derailleur meaning clearance is too much at one point in rotation and rubbing in others. So i can ride maybe 70% of the gear range with no chain rub, but the other 30% is noisy, with 10% of that being out of this world unpleasant grindiness! Disappointing considering Yaw derailleurs are meant to let you use 100% of the range, rub-free! I have googled and youtubed extensively with nothing helpful to date. None of this is helped by me never having setup a Yaw deailleur before and needing to learn that process...

Anyway, does anyone have any helpful tips or tricks before I give up and go back to circles?

[petie]

I guess this thread could just as easily be in "the shed" but i figure it is part specific enough for this sub-forum?

[softy]

The first thing is Sram front derailleurs don't have a good reputation. I like Sram but only there rear change. the three different brands I have tried of front derailleurs I rate Sram the worst (be it I haven't ridden all the latest).

Now you throw a very off shape ring in, these from my experience don't change as well and can stall till the big part of the ring comes around. So it will never be as good as a round ring. I have heard that some of the pros put the off shape ring only on the inside, for climbing. This then doesn't present the problem going up to the off shaped big ring.

So no real cures here, maybe a different front derailleur, someone may have a suggestion?

[Duck!]

Throw both the rings and the derailleur out (well, figuratively if you like) and fit normal versions of both. SRAM's derailleurs have improved in stiffness from the earlier models, but Red in particular which originally had a horrendously flexy titanium cage, but the Yaw concept is an utter pig to set up because it completely throws out the standard setup step of aligning parallel with the rings. It's bad enough on round rings, so the variable clearance of the oval rings can only make it worse.

[petie]

That's depressing, I was going for some sort of heroic saviour who could show me the light and fix everything. Oh well!

Throwing the rings out is easy enough, apart from being a sad waste of money, but can I just swap out the FD for a shimano version and run it with SRAM brifters?

[Duck!]

Yep, Shimano FD in a SRAM system works fine.

[petie]

OK, so the oymetrics are gone. Quite sad really, as I love the idea and the feel, or lack thereof, through the pedals. Climbing was most noticeable for me, but I also felt benefit on the flats. Especially directly comparing it to the round rings on there now.

I have to say, setting up the Yaw FD on normal rings, as per the instructions, was so so simple. And it works really nicely! I'm a doubletap convert. Bit late to the party now ETap is around though

[nickobec]

Don't have any issues but I am using Rotor Q rings with DA 7900 on a TT bike with TT shifters

[SmellyTofu]

I don't have any issues with Osy rings. 3000+km so far and works well with my 105 FD. It's tricky to set up but once it's there, it's good. Sure it doesn't pop up and down the chainring like round ones but there maybe a slight delay going up as the chainring catches the chain. I find the trick is to point the cage slightly outwards and have the limit bolt allow the cage to extend slightly beyond the chainring but bounce back once you've not put any pressure on the lever.