I recently added a Wolf Tooth Components Oval Drop Stop chain ring to my gravel bike and the difference was remarkable. You really have nothing to lose by trying one. I noticed that i was spinning better and it was easier to maintain a good pace. You should give it try at least.

BIG News. SRAM is going OVAL!
Surprised? We are not. After Sram purchased dozens of absoluteBLACK oval rings to test late last year, they are about to release their own (̶c̶o̶p̶y̶)̶ version in the near future.

If you still have sceptical friends around saying, “ovals don’t work otherwise 'big S' would make them surely” - SHARE this news with them then!

We have always believed absoluteBLACK Oval chainrings will become a mainstream drivetrain choice - for all riders - because of their excellent functionality.

With absoluteBLACK's huge international success, even the world's biggest players in bicycle drivetrain technology join now our #ovalrevolution by mimicking our work and raising global awareness of the #gooval movement.

However, not all oval chainrings share the same performance characteritstics as absoluteBLACK. The 'clocking' (timing) and shape of the oval are the most crucial parts of any oval chainring design, absoluteBLACK spent three years in design development and have perfected both timing and shape design elements - ensuring the ride quality of absoluteBLACK oval ring will be different and superior to ovals from other brands (as many abosluteBLACK customers already realised).

Our longterm belief in oval and development of our design, has led absoluteBLACK to become the most commercially successful oval chainring product in the world. So keep in mind that not every oval chainring is equal to an absoluteBLACK.

absoluteBLACK's motto: “Try an oval and never look back” has surely made an impression on SRAM.

https://goo.gl/CE6rcQ