How to tell when 1x Sram Xsync chainring needs replacing

Question

I have an x01 12 speed drivetrain and when I push down on my cranks to pedal it seems like theres a slight amount of play between the chainring and chain. It's in the direction of the chain movement, almost as if theres been excessive wear on the chainring giving the chain extra room to move each pedal stroke. Is it time to replace it? I just put a new chain on last week.

Answer 1

When your new chain isn't meshing properly and either has that feeling of play or makes a noise or rough feeling as you pedal, that is a sign that the chainring is worn out or worse.

For all their differences in tooth profile, NW rings can be inspected for hooked/sharktoothed teeth, chainsuck, or light shining through with the new chain, same as any chainring.

With 1x12 bikes in general, depending on the relative values of the parts, part of the question with chainrings isn't so much worn out vs not worn out, it's when is the most economical time to replace it along with chain replacements in order to preserve wear on the cassette, which is vastly more expensive in a lot of cases. The more a rider uses the small end of the cassette, the more important this becomes. There are not very unified rules of thumb about this, but in the case of money cassettes it can make a lot of sense in my opinion to replace the ring every 2 chains or so.