I am using a pair of 52-36 absolute black oval chainrings for 4 years now. I could not find anything on ali at that time so I bought this used set on ebay. I have not looked if there is anything good on ali nowadays.
I have switched stock ultegra 6800 chainrings to these absolute blacks. On the very first ride I felt some difference. I cannot describe it but it felt somehow different. Then the feeling went away after maybe a couple of hundred meters. My commuter has regular round rings and when I switch between that and my best bike with oval chainrings I cannot feel any difference anymore.
One thing did change and it seems like it is here to stay which is occasional chain drops when switching from the big ring to the small one. I could not figure out when it is happening because it is so random and rare-ish. But I have never had it with the ultegra rings. The indexing is correct and everything.
Before buying them I did a lot of research and found multiple forum posts on the internet describing similar problems. One of them suggested to get a chain catcher. I followed that advice and I am happy that I did. I would definitely suggest the same to protect that precious carbon frame.
