130 BCD 'cross rings?

[quenya]

I'm building up a cross bike to race, commute, and explore poorly paved and dirt roads on. I've got a great deal on a used frame and brakes, my shop will hook me up with a good deal on a fork and, I have an ultegra group to put on it. The crank is a standard 130mm bcd. So my question is, are there any cool solutions for a 'cross rig with a standard crank? I'm picturing a 44 tooth small ring with a bash guard or something. What's the smallest big ring you can put on a 130 bcd?

 

[alfeng]

The smallest available 130BCD inner Chainring (38t) could theoretically be your Single Chainring.

 

[daveryanwyoming]

I'm running a 130 BCD crank on my cross bike setup with 38/46 rings. It's very nice for cross racing where I pretty much race in the big ring and good for basic getting around. Front shifting is super clean with the relatively small jump in chainring sizes.

I sometimes miss having a 34 tooth small ring when out training on dirt trails where I run into longer steeper climbs. In an actual cross race there aren't any really long climbs and I'd run anything really steep.

We were just having this discussion over on the wattage list and someone pointed out the SRAM wifli rear derailleur as a good option to support a 12-32 or 11-32 cassette which basically gets me back to the gearing I'm missing by not having a 34 tooth ring.

Several folks make good 42, 44, and 46 tooth cross rings to fit 130 BCD spiders. Check out: http://www.cyclocrossworld.com/cyclocross or ebay.

The single ring and bashguard is a good way to go as well but also use a chaincatcher or double chain guard to avoid dropping your chain up front.

-Dave

 

[quenya]

Great info, thanks so much guys.