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Roc d’Azur Sightings – Bring on the Crazy (and Cool)

ogival oval shaped bicycle chainrings for road and mountain bikes
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ogival oval shaped bicycle chainrings for road and mountain bikes

As with any tradeshow, there are the items that stand out. Roc d’Azur was no exception. Some are unique takes on existing tech. Some are far out designs that almost seem to be more design study than practical application. And some are quite obviously just for fun. For all we know the products could be excellent, and without actually testing it, we’ll reserve judgement, but the generally unifying feature is passionate people behind them. Say it with me: Aaaaaahhhh, cycling.

Above are Ogival ovalized chainrings that come to a dramatic point. They claim to be Bernard Hinault’s chainring of choice, applying 21.4% more force during the stronger part of your pedal stroke and 42.8% less during the weak part, keeping your effort even. With the mountain bike rings, a 38T has the effort equivalent range of 33T to 44T.

More pics and “interesting” items past the break…

ogival oval shaped bicycle chainrings for road and mountain bikes

Rings are available for road and mountain bikes and come in a variety of sizes. They also make an extended mount to raise the front derailleur to accommodate the increased height of the rings.

ogival oval shaped bicycle chainrings for road and mountain bikes

Velobois wooden full suspension mountain bike

If you have to ask… Velo Bois literally translates to Wooden Bike, and if you search the term you’ll find plenty of galleries and this blog with some pretty interesting wooden (and other materials) bikes.

Velorbis wooden full suspension mountain bike

Velorbis wooden full suspension mountain bike

Ingeartec internal gearbox bicycle drivetrain on a mountain bike with Gates belt drive

Ingeartec was showing off their internal gearbox drivetrain on a belt drive equipped downhill mountain bike. The claimed benefits are instant shifting regardless of pedaling or movement (ie. you can shift when you’re coasting or stopped), lower center of gravity and reduced unsprung weight. The latter comes from removing the cassette and derailleur from the hub.

Ingeartec internal gearbox bicycle drivetrain on a mountain bike with Gates belt drive

Putting a Gates belt drive on it further reduces weight and maintenance. The suspension design, while not the highlight of the system, is interesting in that the rear triangle is bolted together around what appear to be pivots, yet it’s pretty much a solid triangle. Seems like they could have dropped a bit more weight and improve stiffness by simply making it all into a single piece since none of the pivot-looking parts aren’t actually pivots.

The other benefit over a single chainring and standard cassette set up is an improved gear range, jumping from a standard 216% up to 299% to 440% depending on the model.

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18 Comments
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bikefx
bikefx
12 years ago

Hey BIKERUMOR: Enough with the useless “….past the break…” or ” more after the break” nonsense! Why bother? What break?? There is no break! The article simply continues on. No superfluous or pretentious suspense needed. Worse yet, this is copying engadget’s way of writing, which is also superfluous.

Rob
Rob
12 years ago

@bikefx. Grow the f**k up. Your opinion is both pointless and cruel. In future, keep them to your self.

Josh
Josh
12 years ago

@bikefx. The author is free to write with whatever style he feels like. You have two options: follow @Rob’s instructions or don’t visit the site.

wv cycling
12 years ago

@bikefx – it allows them to expose viewers to more advertisements. When viewers click a “read more”, it allows them to keep track of what is clicked the most…This in theory would allow them to cater to things that the readers are more interested in.

Turbofrog
Turbofrog
12 years ago

@bikefx – most importantly, it doesn’t clog up the splash page with very long picture-laden articles from posts that not all readers may necessarily be interested in. This is Blog 101, seriously.

Kovas
Kovas
12 years ago

I love that wooden bike! So very Flinstones! Except for the $1000 fork up front! Seriously!? – What up with that!?

Steve M
Steve M
12 years ago

Holy shinto. We have goofy chainrings, a barn door bike, and some clown is attacking the editors?

Jack
Jack
12 years ago

I love the one piece crank on the wooden bike, haha what a joke.

Huffman
Huffman
12 years ago

The Ogival ovalized chain rings look like Biopaced rings on steroids. What’s the old saying – “Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It”.

Justin
Justin
12 years ago

Interesting chainrings. Would love to give them a try.

phlat albert
12 years ago

with the claim of those rings i wouldn’t need a clipless pedal system. As far as Hinault’s preference..is that now @ 60something or la vie claire Hinault?

walter
12 years ago

Let me guess: There was no diagram showing the mechanical efficiency of the gearbox. Only some vague “you have to feel it” – mumbo jumbo.

craigsj
craigsj
12 years ago

Good thing they increased the gearing range on that DH bike. 😉 Perhaps that will make up for the low pivot point and lack of anti-squat. No thanks.

The iumpy rings look awful as well. Huge change in effective gearing, discontinuities in the shape, and no timing adjustment.

It’s a shame when that hideous wooden bike is the best thing there is.

nh
nh
12 years ago

@bikefx – I agree with you. There is no need for the “after the break” in the articles. There is a link that say “more…” under every article on the home page so there is no need for the author to add it in their articles.

bike1225
bike1225
12 years ago

Evidently Ogival rings can accommodate a drivetrain devoid of lubrication as well

Bernard Rosset
12 years ago

This board is a circular bike and regular variable.
To a remarkable efficiency. It should be used. It’s fantastic

Rick Vosper
12 years ago

@Huffman: BioPace rings were designed to do the *opposite* of standard ellipticals (smooth out the rider’s pedal stroke as opposed to maximizing downward force), so they were 90° out of phase relative to the Ogivals you see here.

If you’ve been around cycling awhile, you know elliptical chainrings come up about every five years, like swarming locusts. And to about the same effect. Check out this Popular Mechanics review of the BioCam bike from back in the ’70’s: http://books.google.com/books?id=cc8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=biocam+bicycle&source=bl&ots=DLipq6G8_n&sig=Cr5hN-pujQ5RC3YMRgOJur8AyIA&hl=en&ei=HQnNTpaFMKbX0QGj-4Ub&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg#v

All, the terms “after the break” or “after the jump” are pretty standard. “Correct” usage of either term in web style is when an article is continued on the same page, but there’s a large photo (or an ad) that might prevent the reader from realizing it.

As far as Tyler’s usage, heck, it’s his blog and he can do whatever he wants. I don’t think it’s important what text he uses– no one’s going to get confused, and that’s what matters.

Just my 2 cents.

bernard Rosset
12 years ago

New oval trays back often. This is because-we did not find the right one. It works well. The oval tray Ogivalring, is sold in France and Europe for a year now with hundreds of cyclists who are very satisfied and are shopping with. We must try it to believe it is a great discovery to advance all the bikes. World champion Bernard HINAULT has tested and approved. There on the site a “blog” with comments from users: http://ogivalring.over-blog.com

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