48t 104bcd chainring for Vado

hankj said:
11-46 is a nice cassette! Good wide range of gears there!

I think I understand you on the oval ring not being right for an e-bike. I've never used one on an e-bike, and I've never felt compelled. But maybe the oval ring works in relationship too. The position of the crank arms, whether or not they free wheel.

But either way, an oval ring helps you have less resistance in the parts of the pedal rotation where it is harder to turn the pedals. Having a motor basically takes care of this for you. So yeah, oval and e-bike doesn't seem like any benefit.
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To be precise: You pedal the internal gears of the mid-drive motor, and it is the motor gearing to drive the chainring. Therefore, the crank position relative to the chainring is variable. While the oval ring is great on a traditional bike or a hub-drive e-bike, it is a waste on the mid-drive e-bike. (With a mid-drive, you can freely backspin the crank with no effect on the chainring).
 
Stefan Mikes said:
To be precise: You pedal the internal gears of the mid-drive motor, and it is the motor gearing to drive the chainring. Therefore, the crank position relative to the chainring is variable. While the oval ring is great on a traditional bike or a hub-drive e-bike, it is a waste on the mid-drive e-bike. (With a mid-drive, you can freely backspin the crank with no effect on the chainring).
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Got it thanks!
 
Dredging this one back up. My eBay chainring turns out to not be so great. For some inexplicable reason (boredom + alcohol), I took it off the Vado Sunday just to have a look. All 4 holes for the mounting bolts are slightly wallowed out. Now, I am not putting out crazy human power, so this is a little concerning. And yes, I did properly torque the mounting bolts and used blue threadlocker, so loosening of the bolts was not the issue.

I did remount it and went for a ride, and it works, but since I know this it bothers me muchly. I'll be investing in a quality chainring asap (likely Garbaruk, unless I can find another reputable mfgr).
 
Garbaruk are quality. I have had one of their chainrings on my Creo for the last 4000 miles, with zero issues and zero chain drops. The ring is still in excellent condition. They are also less then half the weight of the Praxis ring. I can completely recommend them
 
Dazmanturbo said:
Garbaruk are quality. I have had one of their chainrings on my Creo for the last 4000 miles, with zero issues and zero chain drops. The ring is still in excellent condition. They are also less then half the weight of the Praxis ring. I can completely recommend them
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I have completely changed to Garbaruk chainrings, partly because Praxis chainrings in the sizes needed for Vado or Vado SL seem to be totally unavailable. I admit taking a Garbaruk ring in your hand is a pure pleasure; you feel it is a hi-tec thing!
 
Stefan Mikes said:
I didn't look at it in greater detail, Bob. Certainly, the chainring is at least Narrow-Wide. As the Garbaruk chainring handles fantastically for me, I have just put my trust it is the perfect chainring.


Not. I chose the 38T steel Shimano ring as it was simply easy to buy.
Click to expand...

Does the Praxis 48T require specific chain placement similar when compared to the Praxis chain ring on my Vado SL?
I don't see the little graphic on the back of my Vado chainring like I do on the Vado SL.
 
mfgrep said:
Does the Praxis 48T require specific chain placement similar when compared to the Praxis chain ring on my Vado SL?
Click to expand...
Yes it does.


mfgrep said:
I don't see the little graphic on the back of my Vado chainring like I do on the Vado SL.
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The diagram should be on the inside of the chainring. If it's not there, just look carefully from the top when placing the chain on the teeth. It will become immediately obvious to you what the correct placement is. It is hardly possible to place the chain wrongly!
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Yes it does.



The diagram should be on the inside of the chainring. If it's not there, just look carefully from the top when placing the chain on the teeth. It will become immediately obvious to you what the correct placement is. It is hardly possible to place the chain wrongly!
Click to expand...
I hear you in theory Stefan BUT:
The diagram is not on the back of the chain ring as it would be on my Vado SL's chain ring.
The Praxis wave pattern (if any) on this ring is NOT very pronounced (if it is there at all).
The wave pattern typically has its teeth alternating where one is slightly on the bike side and the next would be slightly on the drive side of the ring and so on.
These teeth all look uniform to me....not alternating. Frankly this ring looks cheaply made and 'stamped' out of a press?
I did not remove the crank star which shields the entire front view of the chain ring. I did remove the chain guard to lubricate and have a look.
I put the chain back on the bike in the way that it SEEMS correct, however, I could EASILY place the chain one notch down if I chose to do so.

Hmmm.
 
Perhaps this diagram could help?

1713322650402.png


As I can read it in another forum, the WAVE chainring is not directional. The chain placement graphics could be well hidden behind the chainguard in your Vado.

I can remember a debate with a German forum member here: I said the graphics was on the outside, and he claimed the graphics should be inside the Praxis chainring :)
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Perhaps this diagram could help?

View attachment 174192

As I can read it in another forum, the WAVE chainring is not directional. The chain placement graphics could be well hidden behind the chainguard in your Vado.

I can remember a debate with a German forum member here: I said the graphics was on the outside, and he claimed the graphics should be inside the Praxis chainring :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the diagram....that makes sense. The diagram must be on the front of this chain ring and covered by the Specialized plastic ring cover?!?....because it certainly is not on the rear of the ring.
The big Vado drivetrain setup does not make it easy for routine tasks including lube application and chain placement. I can tell you from what little can be seen from any/all angles just standing in my garage and without ring removal....the chain ring looks like a simple stamped pot-metal ring.

OK....I went out and removed the chain ring and its guard(s) to have a closer look. The Vado 4.0 chain ring indeed appears to be manufactured by stamping and has no markings whatsoever. If this is a Praxis chain ring then Praxis wasn't too proud of it....as the name is not on it. Clearly this is not a "Wave Technology" chain ring....the teeth are not offset at all. I don't believe that this ring would require any specific tooth to chain configuration for installation. Hmmmm....this is not the chain ring that I had expected.
PXL_20240417_132926561.jpg

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Now just for giggles....here is the Praxis 44T chain ring that I had previously removed from my 2022 Vado SL 4.0
PXL_20240417_133915523.jpg


and this one has clearly off-set "Wave Technology" teeth and accompanying Praxis markings.
PXL_20240417_133926194.jpg
 

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mfgrep said:
Thanks for the diagram....that makes sense. The diagram must be on the front of this chain ring and covered by the Specialized plastic ring cover?!?....because it certainly is not on the rear of the ring.
The big Vado drivetrain setup does not make it easy for routine tasks including lube application and chain placement. I can tell you from what little can be seen from any/all angles just standing in my garage and without ring removal....the chain ring looks like a simple stamped pot-metal ring.

OK....I went out and removed the chain ring and its guard(s) to have a closer look. The Vado 4.0 chain ring indeed appears to be manufactured by stamping and has no markings whatsoever. If this is a Praxis chain ring then Praxis wasn't too proud of it....as the name is not on it. Clearly this is not a "Wave Technology" chain ring....the teeth are not offset at all. I don't believe that this ring would require any specific tooth to chain configuration for installation. Hmmmm....this is not the chain ring that I had expected.
Click to expand...
Wow, that looks like a totally generic chainring. I wonder if the shop swapped it out or just grabbed the wrong one prior to building it? Anyway, I'd not lament the absence of the Praxis Wave ring, and instead just get a quality narrow-wide chainring and happily ride for thousands of miles...
 
mfgrep said:
Clearly this is not a "Wave Technology" chain ring....the teeth are not offset at all. I don't believe that this ring would require any specific tooth to chain configuration for installation. Hmmmm....this is not the chain ring that I had expected.
Click to expand...
Shocking! It does not look a Praxis chainring to me at all! Does it at least accomodate the chainguard and is mounted by nut-less (threaded) bolts? If yes, such a chainring is a rarity anyway.

Well, the chainring is not the most critical e-bike component. The big chainring wears out extremely slowly, and I do not expect chain drops with the urban use. Keep it.

Except the Ukrainian company we both know and love (but which is expensive!), there is only one chainring maker producing compatible big Narrow-Wide chainrings (but these won't accomodate the chainguard, and would require MTB bolts and nuts), and it is Deckas.

Deckas Chainrings

I'd say, 48T, mounted by threaded screws, with a chainguard... Keep the chainring you have got. @Avg_Joe: it is not Praxis but it is not a random chainring either. It has threaded holes, also for the chainguard.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Shocking! It does not look a Praxis chainring to me at all! Does it at least accomodate the chainguard and is mounted by nut-less (threaded) bolts? If yes, such a chainring is a rarity anyway.

Well, the chainring is not the most critical e-bike component. The big chainring wears out extremely slowly, and I do not expect chain drops with the urban use. Keep it.

Except the Ukrainian company we both know and love (but which is expensive!), there is only one chainring maker producing compatible big Narrow-Wide chainrings (but these won't accomodate the chainguard, and would require MTB bolts and nuts), and it is Deckas.

Deckas Chainrings

I'd say, 48T, mounted by threaded screws, with a chainguard... Keep the chainring you have got. @Avg_Joe: it is not Praxis but it is not a random chainring either. It has threaded holes, also for the chainguard.
Click to expand...

The entire reason that I questioned the chain ring is because I dropped a chain the other day on the Vado 4.0. It made no sense....traveling very very slowly with my daughter. When I went to replace the chain atop the teeth I was unsure as to whether this needed to be done according to 'wave tech' etc but observed very evenly spaced teeth. Then you suggested that a glance from the top would reveal the order....but as you can see this is not wave tech and observation from the field revealed nothing.

It seems clear that this ring is made to accommodate a Specialized bike....with its threaded holes and ability to attach the chain ring guard. I'm not particularly a fan of the Praxis or the wave tech.....but this ring looks like a piece of no-name unbranded junk! The Praxis rings that I have observed at least APPEAR to be of good quality.
 
Avg_Joe said:
Wow, that looks like a totally generic chainring. I wonder if the shop swapped it out or just grabbed the wrong one prior to building it? Anyway, I'd not lament the absence of the Praxis Wave ring, and instead just get a quality narrow-wide chainring and happily ride for thousands of miles...
Click to expand...

I did this with my other bike a Vado SL. Changing that ring isn't quite so simple. Few folks manufacture a 48T or a 44T in 104BCD and none provide the mounting holes to retain the chain guard. I merely wish to be certain that the tech did not do, as you suggest could be possible, install the wrong chain ring on my bike. I'd be stuck with Deckas or expensive Garbaruk.

Frankly losing the chain guard on my Vado SL is preferred and I'm happy with the Garbaruk ring that I bought. On this new Vado 4.0 I would prefer to keep the guard if at all possible.
 
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