Front chain ring question

[lightning]

My Ebike has a Shimano 34t front chain ring and l have been trying to get a spare.

My LBS has got stock coming in next month.
Mine is an aloy one and they recommended the steel replacement as it "will last three times as long"
It's also 1/4 the price, £17 as opposed to £65 for the alloy version.

ls there any difference apart from weight? lf not it seems like a no brainier as l can get two, and still have £30 left over from buying one alloy chain ring.

They are getting both the steel and alloy versions so l can have either.

The 12 speed cassette is a steel NX 12 speed apparently "the only one certified for ebike use"

 

[MrPeaski]

Just briefly looking at the spec of your bike (Kona Remote 160??) it looks like the chainring is a fairly common 104 BCD narrow/wide ring.

So theoretically any 104 BCD narrow/wide ring will work.

for £17 I'd try it, and yes as long as it has a narrow/wide teeth pattern, the only major difference is weight.

There are some alloy rings out there that will say their profile is better because........mud shedding blah blah, but theres not a lot of difference.

I'm sure I've seen on here somewhere that some of the guys are running a £10 alloy china special (not knocking) from ebay

 

[MrPeaski]

And I also think whoever told you that the steel NX 12 speed apparently "the only one certified for ebike use" is having you on.

There's thousands of eBikes out there with Shimano Deore, SLX, XT, XTR, Sram GX, X1 etc. etc. all without problems, so I'd take that with a pinch of salt

 

[salko]

Basically on emtb for a drivetrain you should stick to steel version of anything if you want it to last longer, but if you don't care as much about durability (or maybe you want lighter bike) then you can use whatever you want to use on acoustic bike ...

 

[lightning]

Okay thank you for the advice, l've ordered two steel chain rings.

 

[jimbob]

Can anyone recommend any steel chainring brands to go for?

 

[lightning]

l would say anything you can get, in the current spares situation.