# OK to change from Specialize chainrings to Shimano Ultegra Chainrings



## kgv2828 (Jul 31, 2009)

I have a 08 Specialized Tarmac S-works with DuraAce 7800 drive train and brakes. The crankset is a specialized carbon crank with 53/39 chainrings. 

I want to move to a compact setup and the LBS is going to change out the spider and attach either a Shimano R700 or Ultegra SL compact chainrings and keeping the specialized crank in place. I am going with Shimano because I have received feedback that Shimano is better and there is more availability. 

Is the combination of Specialized carbon crank and Shimano Ultegra SL or R700 chainrings going to cause problems. The rest of the drivechain is DuraAce


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

I don't think this would cause problems. In fact, I think it would work better than the Specialized chain-rings. You will be all Shimano for the actual contact points of the drive-train. You could also use plain Ultegra chainrings depending on whether the finish matches better than the SL. I think the R700 rings would be less aesthetically pleasing, but equally functional. You might also look into just buying a complete Shimano compact crank-set on the internet and using just the chain-rings from it. For (non-SL) Ultegra and R700 this might be cheaper than (or comparable to) buying the chain-rings by themselves at list price ...


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