![\"Non-circular](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kramon_E3prijsHarelbeke2012_DSC1189---Version-2.jpg\")
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Tech features<\/a><\/p>\n Remember when Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome rode Osymetric rings to Tour de France success? Were they onto something?<\/p>\n Non-circular chainrings aren\u2019t anything new. The first designs emerged way back in the 1890s<\/a> and in recent decades several brands have brought their own versions to market. Shimano\u2019s Biopace<\/a>, available in the 1980s and 1990s, is one of the best-known examples, but more recently, brands like AbsoluteBlack<\/a>, WolfTooth, Rotor, and Osymetric have all tried their luck in this space.<\/p>\n Over the years, various riders have sung the praises of non-circular chainrings, not least four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome and his once-teammate Bradley Wiggins, both of whom won the Tour on Osymetric rings. In fact, go back to the early 2010s and you’ll find a handful of riders (many of them from Team Sky<\/a>) using non-circular rings.<\/p>\n Others, meanwhile, have long dismissed non-circular chainrings as more of a marketing gimmick or a solution looking for a problem.<\/p>\n So do non-circular chainrings actually offer any benefits? Or can we safely ignore them as we push ever onward in our quest for performance gains?<\/p>\n A bunch of researchers out of Portugal and Spain might have some answers for us.<\/p>\n This post is for paying subscribers only Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n \n \ud83d\udc4dYep![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Matt-de-Neef-150x150.jpg\")
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The Columbia Model 32, revealed in 1893, featured an elliptical chainring. (Image: Online Bicycle Museum.)<\/p>\n
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