SRAM has acquired Ochain, the manufacturer of a chainring spider that enables a bike's chainring to move independently of the cranks, improving mountain bike suspension feel and performance.
The acquisition sees Ochain join SRAM’s growing portfolio of brands, which includes RockShox, Time, Hammerhead and Velocio. Ochain founder Fabrizio Dragoni will continue to lead the company from a new SRAM office in Italy.
Given SRAM’s presence in the OEM market, its acquisition could also be a sign that drivetrain decouplers are about to go mainstream and begin to be widely specced on complete bikes.
What is Ochain?
Ochain replaces a standard spider, enabling the chainring to rotate slightly without moving the cranks. This partially decouples the drivetrain from the effects of suspension, resulting in a quieter, calmer ride with reduced pedal kickback.
In the supporting press material for the announcement, Flynn George of SRAM explained how the move came about: “We started thinking about how to make descending better through drivetrain development.”
SRAM engineers used “the most complicated data acquisition bike we’ve ever made” to evaluate drivetrain and suspension interactions using more than 20 sensors.
That testing, George said, “highlighted a bunch of different mechanisms that we were testing… and a couple of different ways or products in which we could achieve… that type of stability, silence and traction.”
SRAM ultimately “landed on the chainring-based solution being the best, and Ochain being the best chainring-based solution,” George continued.
Of the acquisition itself, George added: “These guys know what they’re doing, they’ve done something cool and unique. They were first in the space, and they’re also awesome… so we said, OK, let’s figure out how we [acquire Ochain].”
Dragoni reflected on the milestone: “When I founded the company, I said to my team, 'Maybe in five years the company will be part of SRAM'.”
Are decouplers going mainstream?
Drivetrain decoupling has become a big talking point in recent years – and not just for downhill bikes.
A patent uncovered in 2023 showed Fox was developing a hub and derailleur system that can automatically disengage under compression – effectively decoupling the drivetrain and enabling the suspension to move more freely.
Meanwhile, e*thirteen’s Sidekick hub disengages freehub pawls while coasting, disconnecting the drivetrain effects on the suspension and eliminating pedal kickback, offering a similar effect to Ochain’s chainring-based system. This approach has found favour with some downhill racers, including Joe Breeden.
Given SRAM’s massive presence in the complete mountain bike market, its acquisition of Ochain is significant – SRAM clearly believes decouplers are a feature OEMs may soon begin to spec as standard.
