XKM Chainring 1x Drivetrain Components

Chainrings to suit singlespeed and 1x drivetrains aren’t hard to find nowadays, XKM Chainring is one of many brands producing narrow wide chainrings, both in direct mount and spider mount. XKM Chainring are also manufacturing 40/42T cassette conversion cogs and lightweight 1x spiders to suit many SRAM cranksets.

XKM Direct Mount Narrow Wide Chainring

My latest trail bike came with an X01 drivetrain and 32T chainring. I knew that I wanted to run a 30T from the start and while the SRAM X01 X-Sync chainrings look nice, you don’t get much for your money. I wanted to go with direct mount from the start, and while there are loads of options for chainrings, XKM Chainring was interesting enough for me to give them a try.

Ridiculously easy to install, 3 hex screws remove the standard SRAM spider and install the XKM direct mount chainring. Direct mount chainrings will fit SRAM S1400, S2200, S2210, X9, X0, X1, X01, XX1 Cranksets. One for every price range! At just 50g for the 30T chainring, I was concerned about flex, but after seeing the chunky design and putting it through it’s paces there are no issues here. For comparisons sake, the standard SRAM X01 30T chainring weighs 53g, plus chainring bolts and spider.

XKM Type 1 spiderless chainring just arrived for testing. #mtblife

A photo posted by Jase R (@jaseridesbikes) on May 5, 2014 at 10:02pm PDT

I chose the “Type 1” design purely on looks from photos I had seen – in person it’s even better, the accents are clean and look great. The hard anodizing seems to be very durable so far even with riding through the muddy season.

Chain retention has been great – I haven’t used a guide at all and am yet to drop a chain.

At the time of writing, XKM were selling the cheapest spiderless chainring on the market. That said, it’s worth shopping around for a better deal on chainrings.

XKM Chainring 1x Spider

Something that is a little less common is XKM’s 1x spider. Designed as a replacement for OEM SRAM spiders, it allows the use of 104BCD chainrings – perfect for singlespeeders and racers that like to change chainrings and gear ratios dependant on where they are riding and racing.

At less than 28g, it’s over half the weight of the standard 66g X01 spider. Sure, this this doesn’t mean much in the real world but it’s nice that some bling helps you drop weight instead of add it.

I have been using the XKM 1x spider on my Transition Bank. Set up as a dual duty pump track bike and Whistler commuter, the Bank is singlespeed with a 30T RaceFace Narrow Wide chainring and of course, SRAM X0 cranks. Integration with the XKM 1x spider was flawless and flex is not a problem.

XKM Chainring products are available through their website at: http://xkmchainring.com/