Quote Originally Posted by Marco View Post
Last autumn one of my mum's neighbours bought a well-equipped £2400 bike from the Lancashire company named after the river. Carbon frame, carbon wheel rims (but with calliper brakes), 105 equipment and a compact 50/34 chainset.

As I have said, many times, it's very flat around here with the occasional short hill that rarely exceeds 1 in 10. It means for fit, and experienced, cyclists the 50 tooth chainring is all you need. For a newcomer, however, the hills are too steep for the big ring

I saw his bike after he'd ridden it four times, and less than 100 miles, and there was a visible loss of metal from the outside of the front chainring, which was the result of the shearing action of the chain in the big chainring to biggest sprocket. Based on what I saw, if he continued riding the bike in this way he'd need a new front chainring after 500 miles. He told me that he didn't use the 34 chainring because it was too small. I did wonder why, when spending this amount of money, he didn't specify a 42 inner ring.
Single chainrings are increasingly popular mainly on gravel and mountain bikes but it's creeping into road bikes aswell. Apparently studies have found that the wear is very minimal and manufacturers are starting to spec them. (anything new gets people spending money)
Personally I think they look wrong with the huge cassette on the back.