I seem to be having lots of problems with my Race Face Chainrings, not all of them, just the middle Chainring,it keeps losing teeth, they are just snapping off, this last ring has lasted 3 weeks and 4 rides, I'm on my 3rd Ring in the past 2 months, The shop has replaced this ring free of charge but should this be happening? Has anyone else had any problems of this kind?

Nope - sorry!

hey Chris

I'be been running RF chainrings for 2 ro 3 seasons and had no problems at all.

Are you sure they are snapping off? there are some shorter pick up teeth which look a little crazy but are supposed to be like that.

Definitely snapped off,this is part of a mail I have had off them and my reply............

Race Face have forwarded your e-mail to me, we are their UK
importer/distributor.

Snapped off teeth on our Racerings is a very rare occurrence, so for you
to have suffered this problem three times in as many months suggests a
common cause not associated with a manufacturers defect.

It's very difficult to diagnose the cause of the snapped teeth via
e-mail, but I would guess that it may be due to a high load being
applied to the pedals during shifting.

This is what I sent to them........
I have been riding for more years than I care to recall on and off road, fallen off a few times as well, never had a chainring lose a tooth till the past 3 months at all, I know what you are saying about the pressure during shifting but I would say that 90% of the time I usually pretty well prepared for a shift, usually I try to get the pedals spinning freely\shift well before the steep hill that I never quite make it up! ;-)

I wasn't having a go at you as distributors, I was passing on what I was told by the shop when I phoned them today and they stated that the distributor wouldn't replace a 3 week old chainring, I'm at a loss, the reason I opted for the RaceFace gear was because of the good reports and the long life of the parts, the original chainring lasted 9 months which is pretty good going, the last 2 have lasted 6 weeks, I have a new chain, cassette, front mech and the transmission is running smoothly.

Any ideas to what can cause this would be greatly appreciated.

My RF rings just wore quickly and caused cahinsuck, and it was not due to a stiff chain link either. Poor, despite being a quality company?

my experiance would suggest that you will get half the life from raceface, rings over shimano, and dont get me started on their botom brackets....

the best chainrings i've ever used are Blackspire chainrings - much harder wearing than RF IMHO and just as black :-) CRC used to do some deals on sets of them...


I just found my RF rings seemed to wear quite quickly, never snapped teeth off, but have you been suffering from chainsuck -0 might explain it???

I have moved over to Middleburn rings, no hassles, the problems I had with RF was on a new drivechain, so no chainsuck etc

Have used Race FAce chainrings for about 5 years. Last approximately ten times longer than Shimano (which are made of cheese) and would recommend them.
Never lost any teeth I'm afraid Chris, Race FAce rings shift better than Middleburn which is why I went for them in the first place. Are you talking racerings or their cheaper prodigy rings?

Been using RF inner & middle rings for the last year or so (just what they had in the shop at the time); longer lasting and less chainsuck than the stock XT rings they replaced.

If you have problems with consumables like chainrings (as opposed to structural components like frames, forks etc), just chalk it up to experience and try another make. If you want to vent about it, post a review. Bitching on a forum will only get you a bunch of contradictory opinions and not solve anything.

Depends whether the rings came with your cranks or whether you bought them seperately. I imagine the aftermarket ones aren't too bad, but the ones that came with my RF Prodigy's were cheese and bent fairly quicky. The bash guard is quite good though. Shame about the pedal threads and the BBs... cheap RF cranks are a no-no I've decided. Shimano all the way! Or posh RF if you've got money to burn.

TA rings are worth a look, not a trendy brand but good quality and a decent lifespan. There's another contradictory opinion to chew over.

Aye, I had a TA chainring on my slalom bike for years (back in the days when red chainrings were trendy) and it was ace. Not too pricey either.

Th expensive machined RF Race Rings for Next LP and Turbines will outlast any Shimano rings.

However, their cheap rings for Prodigy and Evolve are pants IMO

Same goes for their BB's. The expensive Signiture ones are very good, the cheap ones are piss poor

'Buy cheap, buy twice' as my mum always told me ;-)