Raceface Era Chainring

Taking on the torque of a 5.7L Cummins Diesel

Raceface introduced The ERA Chainring in the beginning of May, and it’s unlike any chainrings we’ve seen before. Utilizing their proven Cinch mounting, paired with a lightweight spider, and durable teeth, this chainring has captured the eyes of many.

Many brands have been coming out with lighter, stronger chainrings utilizing materials such as carbon fiber in areas we’ve not seen used. This was first seen with the introduction of Carbon-Ti chainrings in Road / TT racing, but the high price point mixed with the short usable lifespan makes it a component out of reach of most people and reserved for World Tour Teams and those that are swimming in gold pools like Scrooge McDuck.   

Raceface set out to change this by incorporating 3 materials into a design that’s been proven time and time again. Using Aluminum, Carbon, and Steel in a chainring was yet to be done, but recent manufacturing advancements have made it possible to get a chainring with less weight and 5x the usable lifespan of other chainrings on the market. 

Aluminum is used in the proven Raceface Cinch mounting mechanism, a carbon spider has cut down on weight and increased strength. The real magic happens when you realize the teeth are made of steel and bonded to the carbon spider. These steel teeth have given the chainring a much longer lifespan compared to the softer milled or stamped alloy counterparts. They have gone as far to say that it will comfortably out perform any other chainring on the market and offer 3x the lifespan that was proven in their testing. 

Now, there’s no doubt that you could go out and buy a steel chainring from most manufacturers at a fraction of the price, but with that comes more weight, and at the end of the day who wants a $25 chainring on a 10k bike?? 

Is this product really cool? 

Yes, absolutely. 

Is it game changing? 

Oddly, yes and no. The chainring will do the job of every chainring that you’ve ever had before it, and that is to reliably drive you forward. The game changing aspect only becomes apparent when you take a look at the manufacturing advancements that have been made and how the bonding of these 3 materials can come to benefit frames, components, and other related tech. 

And for those skeptical about the strength of carbon chainrings / carbon spiders, Raceface made sure to test this against a 5.7L Cummins Turbo Diesel Motor…

The ERA Chainring was fine after testing.