1x drivetrains to reach roadbikes

[rkelsen]

Back to the topic, my initial reaction to the idea of 1x was outrage (even with a 10t a 46t or smaller chainring is just too small), but when a 50t was mentioned and i checked the range available with that, i now think it's just a bit silly.

Personally, I find it to be very practical. I get a fairly complete range of gears with less parts. What's not to like? It looks better, and works better to boot.

[piledhigher]

1x sounds ideal for my commuter, but I probably have 10-15 years of hand me downs to go on the commuter before it gets brand new kit.

[cyclotaur]

Back to the topic, my initial reaction to the idea of 1x was outrage (even with a 10t a 46t or smaller chainring is just too small), but when a 50t was mentioned and i checked the range available with that, i now think it's just a bit silly.

Personally, I find it to be very practical. I get a fairly complete range of gears with less parts. What's not to like? It looks better, and works better to boot.

It's certainly not suitable for every cycling situation, or every cyclist, but then it won't be compulsory, so .....

As things stand, if you have a bike that you only ride in fast crits or on Beach Rd, or you probably never need the inner ring, especially if it's a 34.

[cyclotaur]

Back to the topic, my initial reaction to the idea of 1x was outrage (even with a 10t a 46t or smaller chainring is just too small), but when a 50t was mentioned and i checked the range available with that, i now think it's just a bit silly.

Personally, I find it to be very practical. I get a fairly complete range of gears with less parts. What's not to like? It looks better, and works better to boot.

It's certainly not suitable for every cycling situation, or every cyclist, but then it won't be compulsory, so .....

As things stand, if you have a bike that you only ride in fast crits or on Beach Rd, you probably never need the inner ring, especially if it's a 34.

[ldrcycles]

Personally, I find it to be very practical. I get a fairly complete range of gears with less parts. What's not to like? It looks better, and works better to boot.

Or you could have a range of gears for every situation, using only a handful of extra parts which are cheap and rarely cause any issues. What's not to like about that?

I'm with you on looks though, i had a single chainring on my old Tom Wallace for a little while and it did look very nice. Form should follow function though!

[Xplora]

^^^^^ this. I feel a bike needs to be a Swiss army knife, ready for many situations and while you sometimes only have a couple tools in your knife, at least it has a couple. If XX1 is any guide, it won't even be cheap!

[simonn]

City bikes which have lower performance and speed requirement have long had single chain rings.

Which is possibly why you see fewer of them (and fewer cargo bikes), and normal people riding bikes in general, in hilly areas.

If anything I want a (far) wider gear range on a city/utility bike than on a road bike so I can ride up hills (up to ~8%) carrying shopping and/or a kids without getting sweaty in normal clothes. I've just come to the conclusion that hills really are enough of a barrier for the majority of normal people that there is no, or at least only a tiny, market for bikes like this.

[rkelsen]

Form should follow function though!

Absolutely. And to be honest, I sorta found all this stuff out by accident when I was building up a frame which I had professionally resprayed about 4 years ago.

The FD was one of the bits I left until last. I hadn't got around to installing it when a friend asked me to go for a ride... The rest is history.

I'm a bit of a Fred, not often finding myself ahead of the curve, so please let me enjoy my time in the sun!

Did this ride last year with a 42t ring and 11-28 cassette (long course which turned out to be >127km):

http://www.cyclingprofiles.com.au/HTM/R ... 14MMCA.htm

[RonK]

BikeRadar have written about the 1x11 road groupsets here.

Blame Tapatalk.

[RonK]

BikeRadar have reviewed the SRAM 1x11 road groupsets here.
At $US688 for a Rival groupset with mechanical brake actuation to $1475 for Force with hydraulic actuation they are hardly expensive.

[silentbutdeadly]

BikeRadar have reviewed the SRAM 1x11 road groupsets here.
At $US688 for a Rival groupset with mechanical brake actuation to $1475 for Force with hydraulic actuation they are hardly expensive.

True. Not expensive. However, since many roadies can go 1x10 or 1x11 for the cost of a single chain ring on their current setup...one wonders why they would bite for the full SRAM http://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://absoluteblack.cc/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for example

I run 1x10 on my MTBs but it is 2x10 on CX and roadie (for the moment). Without inflaming the debate, the choice to go 1x these days is mostly about personal preference rather than actual performance. And there are many factors that influence personal preference!

However, 1 reason to go 1x not touched upon by any poster to date...weight. Going 1x on my Giant Anthem MTB took only a NW chainring....and it resulted in a 440 gram lighter bike (due to removal of two chainrings, FD, FD shifter and cables) - so it lost roughly 4-5 % overall. Obviously on a road bike the weight loss is smaller but just as potentially significant, percentage wise.

Plenty of roadies pay a heck of a lot more than $75 to drop less than a percentage point worth of weight off their road bikes...

[RonK]

However, 1 reason to go 1x not touched upon by any poster to date...weight. Going 1x on my Giant Anthem MTB took only a NW chainring....and it resulted in a 440 gram lighter bike (due to removal of two chainrings, FD, FD shifter and cables) - so it lost roughly 4-5 % overall. Obviously on a road bike the weight loss is smaller but just as potentially significant, percentage wise.

Plenty of roadies pay a heck of a lot more than $75 to drop less than a percentage point worth of weight off their road bikes...

Errr - no! The BikeRadar article makes it pretty plain you wouldn't do it to save weight, and that the main advantage would be the cost saving.
They measured only 47g difference between Force22 and Force1.

[Xplora]

Depending on your pedalling style, the loss of weight might be dwarfed by the lack of efficiency on the bike.

[KGB]

However, 1 reason to go 1x not touched upon by any poster to date...weight. Going 1x on my Giant Anthem MTB took only a NW chainring....and it resulted in a 440 gram lighter bike (due to removal of two chainrings, FD, FD shifter and cables) - so it lost roughly 4-5 % overall. Obviously on a road bike the weight loss is smaller but just as potentially significant, percentage wise.

Plenty of roadies pay a heck of a lot more than $75 to drop less than a percentage point worth of weight off their road bikes...

Errr - no! The BikeRadar article makes it pretty plain you wouldn't do it to save weight, and that the main advantage would be the cost saving.
They measured only 47g difference between Force22 and Force1.

Because of the large range cassette adding weight, just to clarify.

[silentbutdeadly]

Because of the large range cassette adding weight, just to clarify.

You may not actually need the large range cassette. All depends on your terrain and personal preferences. Though I quite like the idea of 46 to 11-32 on a roadie...works for the CX and it's hard to get into the small stuff on our flat roads with the fat tyres so on thin tyres...no worries.

I assume too that SRAM wants you to use their XD rear hub for 1x11? You don't have to of course if you use an 11spd Shimano MTB cassette and are happy with 11t as your smallest. And it can be on any old 10spd rear hub too...much ace.

[singlespeedscott]

Because of the large range cassette adding weight, just to clarify.

You may not actually need the large range cassette. All depends on your terrain and personal preferences. Though I quite like the idea of 46 to 11-32 on a roadie...works for the CX and it's hard to get into the small stuff on our flat roads with the fat tyres so on thin tyres...no worries.

I assume too that SRAM wants you to use their XD rear hub for 1x11? You don't have to of course if you use an 11spd Shimano MTB cassette and are happy with 11t as your smallest. And it can be on any old 10spd rear hub too...much ace.

The smaller SRAM cassette doesnt use the XD driver. Only the 10-42 requires it.

[Duck!]

Because of the large range cassette adding weight, just to clarify.

You may not actually need the large range cassette. All depends on your terrain and personal preferences. Though I quite like the idea of 46 to 11-32 on a roadie...works for the CX and it's hard to get into the small stuff on our flat roads with the fat tyres so on thin tyres...no worries.

I assume too that SRAM wants you to use their XD rear hub for 1x11? You don't have to of course if you use an 11spd Shimano MTB cassette and are happy with 11t as your smallest. And it can be on any old 10spd rear hub too...much ace.

The smaller SRAM cassette doesnt use the XD driver. Only the 10-42 requires it.

Any cassette with an 11T top gear will fit a conventional freehub (unless SRAm design it otherwise). The XD driver is only required for the 10T because it's too small in diameter for the regular hub.

[silentbutdeadly]

Any cassette with an 11T top gear will fit a conventional freehub (unless SRAm design it otherwise). The XD driver is only required for the 10T because it's too small in diameter for the regular hub.

With the caveat (that I recall you acknowledging) that an 11 speed 11-28 (or smaller low gear) cassette probably won't go on a conventional 9/10 speed freehub without fouling on the hub or spokes...but an 11 speed 11-40 probably will.

In which case, a 'budget' 1x11 road bike drivetrain is possible without resorting to an entire SRAM group.

[Duck!]

11-40 will work on a 8/9/10-sp. hub, because that range is only available in Shimano XT (well, will be soon) and XTR, which are designed so.

Trawling through the SRAM tech docs, all 11-sp. cassettes up to and including 11-36 are designed for the longer freehub platform of Road 11-sp (which SRAM adopted from Shimano), so can't be fitted to lesser hubs. It's not about fouling hub or spokes, it's about not fitting the end sprocket & locknut onto the hub! The next available size is the behemoth 10-42, which as previously noted requires the XD driver (it's the only cassette size SRAM produce for their 11-sp. MTB groups).

[Thoglette]

In which case, a 'budget' 1x11 road bike drivetrain is possible without resorting to an entire SRAM group.

Bugger 1x11.

1x7 (40 and 30-11) is enough for me for general road riding (and the street outside my house is about 13%) I'm keeping the 53 tooth big ring because I'm too cheap to replace it with spacers (or a 1x crankset)

[Duck!]

I'm keeping the 53 tooth big ring because I'm too cheap to replace it with spacers (or a 1x crankset)

Or short chainring bolts.

[trailgumby]

I've ridden 1x11 on a very nice Trek Fuel 29er and thought you might find my observations to be of interest.

* I agree completely that the larger gap between gears is very noticeable, and I didn't much like it.
* Could you adapt? More than likely. But it's not as nice as a more closely spaced cassette.
* Is ditching the FD shifter an advantage for the intended use? For off-road, I can see it would be as the extra force and throw required with thumb shifters is often awkward when trying to maintain control of the bike over rough terrain. For on-road it is much less of an advantage, especially with Shimano brifters. CX could be a suitable market.
* The flipside of a larger-than-comfortable gap between gears is that when I *really* needed to dump a lot of them in one go when the gradient went steep (such as a short pinch or an uphill obstacle), it took longer because I had to take two or more swipes at the paddle to climb back up the cassette instead of just dumping it into the small ring at the front. The gears also made some pretty horrible noises while doing so especially under load.
* Will a clutch RD be useful on the road? Meh. I'd use one, because I like them on my 29er, and it would help stop the occasional dropped chain that I seem to suffer from, but it does make shifting rougher. There is a very loud "clack" whenever I shift gears on the Scalpel. And I have broken a chain in a race, something I have never done with a non-clutch RD (which incidentally were mostly Low Normal)

Hope you find this useful.

[Thoglette]

[Or short chainring bolts.

Buy new bolts? I get upset when I have to spend money on new bartape!

[silentbutdeadly]

Trawling through the SRAM tech docs, all 11-sp. cassettes up to and including 11-36 are designed for the longer freehub platform of Road 11-sp (which SRAM adopted from Shimano), so can't be fitted to lesser hubs.

Outstanding info!! Might be very very helpful for the next bastardized drivetrain build!

[rkelsen]

Buy new bolts?

Naw, just file down the nuts a little bit.