At the end of last year we promised that in the new year we would be reviewing Q-Rings, the latest in biking technology from Rotor System Components. We took some time to decide who would be best equipped to review them and decided that bike ace Julie Dibens, who used them through out her highly successful 2007 season, would do the best job. So it's over to Julie to report on why she won't be without her Q-Rings in 2008.

Mid-way through the season last year I found myself riding a new time trial bike set up with Q-Rings. I wasn't too happy about this and remember kicking up a bit of a fuss (like most pros!) and asked to get them removed straight away. However, I was persuaded to at least give them a try. My initial thoughts were that I would ride them once (just to keep everyone happy) and then switch them back to some normal round chainrings. Even though I understood the science behind them, and how they worked to reduce the negative effects of the dead spot in the pedal stroke, I thought that because I naturally have a fairly smooth and efficient pedal stroke, I wouldn't see the typical four percent improvement that they claimed.

So, my new bike showed up in May, attached with Q-Rings. The first couple of times I went out it felt a little strange initially, but towards the end of each ride I had forgotten all about them. So far so good. I slightly changed my thinking to that of, as long as they don't slow me down, then I can keep riding them and keep everyone happy.

The next day I headed out for my usual mid season Wednesday ride, I typically head out to Chew Valley lakes and do about an hour's worth of time trialling around the same loop. Now I had done the same exact session at least four or five times previously that year on the same route and so was anxious to see how things would go, I certainly didn't expect what I found though. I ended up dropping about one minute per lap off my previous best time. So I dropped just over three minutes from my one hour effort. Wow, I'll take that! Now I know that this was nowhere near a valid scientific test, as there were a lot of variables, but all the signs told me that these things do actually work.

From there I then went on to post the fastest bike split in every road triathlon that I did and posted numerous bike course records. Probably the most significant of these was at the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, where I out-split the other girls on the bike by at least four minutes. Now, I do still believe that it is very much the engine that counts rather than the machine but I don't think I'm ready to take that chance without them! The way I see it, this sport is hard enough as it is without giving other people an unfair advantage.

So I now head into a new season with a fantastic new sponsor, Planet X, and I find myself asking them if it's OK for me to ride Rotor Q-Rings this year. Not only that, but I will now ride them on all my bikes, including my mountain bike for XTERRA. Quite a change from last year, hey! Roll on 2008!

So my advice to anyone interested in squeezing a few more seconds out of your bike split is, give them a try. What's the worst that can happen? Just don't tell the other girl pro's! (So Mirinda, Sam, or Emma... Don't believe a word of this).

For more information go to:www.rotorbike.com