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Are You Oval Ring Curious? Rotor Is Now Offering A 30 Day Trial With TryQ

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Rotor has been building their business on the performance benefits of oval-shaped chainrings, that are said to get rid of the dead parts of a pedal stroke. However, selling oval chainrings in the bike industry can be the butt of many jokes, after the unfortunate life of Shimano’s BioPace rings. These jokes can make people skeptical, and not willing to give the idea a try.

Rotor is launching the TryQ program only through shops so they can adjust each customer’s Optimum Chainring Position to the precise point when the rider delivers the maximum power during a single pedal rotation. The program exists so that at the end of 30 days, if the customer decides to return the Q-Rings, he or she is entitled to a full refund. Check out all the details after the jump…

rotor 3D-plus oval cyclocross single chainrings

According to Rotor, nobody pedals in perfect, round circles, where force is applied evenly throughout a single pedal rotation. Q-Rings orient the chainring around a rider’s unique pedaling characteristics relative to both the ring’s ovalization and form factors.

FROM ROTOR’S PRESS RELEASE –

ROTOR Bike Components has launched an aggressive program to encourage loyal, curious, and even skeptical cyclists to try its flagship Q-Rings. The campaign offers a 30-day trial of any of its oval Q-Rings, which are available for road, triathlon, mountain bike, and cyclocross. The program has improved upon a similar ROTOR initiative to “TryQ” with a multimedia campaign intended to inform and educate consumers on the benefits of oval chainrings. Videos, testimonials, a microsite, and an authoritative white paper (PDF) span a range of useful information to help consumers make an educated decision about Q-Rings

“We want the user to experience the full benefits of Q-Rings, which includes fine-tuning the angle between the centerline of the cranks and the largest diameter of the chainring according to the rider’s unique pedal stroke.” said Ignacio Estellés, ROTOR president and co-founder.

ROTOR believes this campaign will send a strong message to consumers that Q-Rings feature proven performance benefits and that ROTOR is confident that customers who try them won’t want to return them.

TryQ program details

  • The 30 Day Guarantee is valid for all Q-Ring models, with the exception of special edition Q-Rings
  • This is a brick-and-mortar only offer and NOT available to online stores!
  • Customers have 30 days from the time-of-purchase to ride, test and evaluate Q-Rings and follow the adaptation phase guide in order to determine their Optimum Chainring Position (OCP).
  • If, at the end of the 30 days, after the customer has gone through the adaption phase and determined his/her Optimum Chainring Position, the customer is not satisfied, s/he can return the chainrings to the retailer where they were purchased.
  • Customers are advised to please consult with the retailer at time-of-purchase to determine if chainrings will be refunded for cash or store credit; this would be at the retailer’s discretion.

The 30-day trial is valid for all Q-Ring models through local bike shops that are ROTOR dealers.

www.rotorbike.com

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Bruce
Bruce
9 years ago

Thanks for the info. I live in Seattle and went to the Rotor microsite you linked to and searched for a participating dealer. I first searched locally within a 100km radius and got nothing. I then searched “All” and it looked like there are no participating bike shops on the entire west coast of the US. There appears to be a distributor in the SF Bay Area. Really? At least for some of us who have been contemplating Rotor Q rings, this is not much of an offer.

craigsj
craigsj
9 years ago

“According to Rotor, nobody pedals in perfect, round circles, where force is applied evenly throughout a single pedal rotation.”

This statement is utter garbage. The pedal travels in a perfect circle because the crank demands it. The foot is forced to comply. Whether “force is applied evenly” is irrelevant.

The marketing is as stupid as the concept is flawed.

Christie @Rotorbike
9 years ago

Hey Bruce,
The ROTOR microsite only lists distributors in the USA, I’d give one of them a call at 1-866-391-0493 or see their website for dealers near you: http://www.rotorbikeusa.com/dealers/

Looks like Herriott Sports Performance or Cycle University West Seattle both are ROTOR dealers.

Good luck!

John
John
9 years ago

@craigsj, please stop being so pedantic since most of us know precisely what was intended by Rotor’s claims. And as a racing cyclist who wants to improve my own performances, I consciously have tried for as long as I can remember to try to spin in “circles.” Sure, I’m constrained to spin in circles, and this is quite obvious, but the common meaning of “spinning in circles” has been around for as long as I can remember. Even Greg Lemond in his book written sometime in the 1980’s talks at length about the techniques he used and what he recommended for others to use. Now, can Q rings help in this area? I don’t know, but at least they have been giving it a go with plenty of scientific research and testing with accomplished riders such as Bradley Wiggins. Whether it works or not may be more subjective on individual riders and their own physiology and how it works with the bio-mechanics of the Q rings. I don’t think I’ll try them, but I won’t bash them either in their attempt at improving cycling performance for others all while trying to make a buck or two.

Jugi
Jugi
9 years ago

I’ve had Rotor Q-Rings on my road bike for the last couple of months, which I have spent quite a lot of on my turbo trainer. The biggest realization I’ve had is the mediocrity of my spinning technique. I didn’t feel it before, but now it is really evident – no matter how steadily I try to spin the cranks, I’m infact speeding them up with my quads on every revolution, then trying to maintain that speed with the other muscles related to pedaling and then speeding them up again when either of my quads gets their turn.

Going back and forth between oval and round rings reveal that, especially when pedaling standing up (slow cadence, little or no spinning technique). When going back to round rings, I feel like the pedals go into small holes when the crank descends past the 4 o’clock position, as the crank velocity is at it’s highest. When using oval rings, this is remedied by slowing the crank down when it’s getting close to that 4 o’clock position, which gives me more time to utilize my quads. That, in fact, makes me feel like I’m pedaling rounder circles, which in essence is making the pedaling easier and therefore helping my neuro-muscular system to sustain it.

For a rider how is meticulous about ergonomics and power delivery, Q-Rings make perfect sense. And I’m also sure they are not suitable for everyone, as every rider has their own kind of technique, for better or worse.

Evanstonian
Evanstonian
9 years ago

Too bad the dealers in the USA are not listed on the Rotor web site. I just checked for dealers in the Washington, DC area and … nothing. Why would you force people to call a support phone instead of listing the information on a web site?

Evanstonian
Evanstonian
9 years ago

Correction — the site linked above by Christie lists USA dealers (for Washington, CycleLife is out of business)

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