chainring wear 'n' tear

Russman

Question re wear and tear on a chainring.......

I was swapping out my middle chainring on the front the other night and noticed that the original ring was quite worn and the teeth were not uniform anymore, some appeared quite worn down compared to the ones beside them if you know what I mean. Anyway I had a look at the big ring and the same is true of it.
Is this normal or is it a sign of something more sinister ? I only have the bike around 6 months and haven't put on huge mileage, could it be that the crappy entry level chainset (FSA Vero I think) just isn't great quality ? If this is the case can anyone recommend a half decent chainset (no, not Dura Ace or Super Record, something reasonable )

Thanks all

Is your chain worn? Chainring and sprocket wear is secondary to chain wear. Good explanation about this here.

DirkVoodoo

6 months? Doubtful. More than likely you are looking at the teeth that look like they have had the tips broken off and thinking it is wear. It's designed for better shifting. A worn chainring will have teeth that look "spikier" and the troughs between them appear wider. Chainring wear should e quite uniform, which is what makes me think this is just part of the machining for better shifting.

Worn chainring:

Russman

Thats it exactly ! the teeth aren't spikey at all, if anything they look a bit "stumpy" - just seems that some look a little shorter than others.

Thanks for that Dirk !

DirkVoodoo

No problem, I remember when I first investigated this I thought I had been given a dud chainset as a lot of the teeth looked broken.