Thanks for all your feedback lads, as usual it seems it’s a case of horses for courses. Most of my riding hope Valley or cannock chase, going to coed y brenin in June, so a good mix of seep techy stuff, I guess I’m gonna have to try and demo something with 1×11 fitted .

njee20 – Member
EDIT: I don’t really race
I do, and still find it fine (as was 1×10 with 36t and 11-36), so that’s another use case it works for

Snap! (Apart from the race bit and wouldn’t go back to 2xanything. My other bike is 1x er, 1 🙂 Gets you fit!

10 @ 35mph is about 140rpm, and you’re nowhere near spinning out ??

I am pumping the trail at that speed just like I would on a 3x. The spreadsheets might say differently, but in reality you are pumping, turning or braking long before you run out of low end.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand all the advantages of a 1x or 2x setup but for me, I love the versatility of my 3×10. It’s like three different 1x bikes in one 😀

It means when out playing, I can twiddle my way up a steep slippery gully one minute and then do 3 miles down the road at 24mph the next minute.

Yes there’s loads of overlap but that’s good because I’m only ever a click or two away from the right gear.

Anyway, as mentioned, by all means listen to anecdotes but only you can decide the option that suits you. Unless you just want to be fashionable of course……

Only use 1 x 10 on my bikes now and it has made me a much better climber

I run a 30t ring and a standard XT 11 – 36 on the back

Because i no longer have a silly little 22 or 24 chain ring i can no longer drop it into a silly little gear – so i don’t loose all my momentum when climbing stuff

Its also built up the strength in my legs a lot 🙂

I went from 3×9 to 2×9 with 26/36 up front. Then got fitter and put a 38 up front. Then realized i stopped using the granny ring so went 1×11.

I’ve had no issues with low or high gearing and I moved from 2×9 running 11-34 with 26/38 to 10-42 with 32. To give you some background I am relatively heavy at the mo due to my medication and also not particularly quick/strong right now as a result. Still, I can winch up most natural stuff from Snowdon, Long Mynd, Malvern, Peaks to any of the climbs on the major Welsh and Scottish trail centres and go pretty quickly coming down too. The gearing doesn’t limit me.

I ran a 1 x 9 setup on the hardtail when i bought it and didnt like it, uphills were a slog and i could spin out

I don’t think it’s fair to compare an 11-32 or 34 cassette to the SRAM 10-42, it’s got 44% wider ratios!

doesnt give me anything that a 2 x 10 doesnt already have…in fact it takes away ratios!

11x loses one top and one bottom gear, OK it’s a loss, but how long do you actualy spend in the top gear? I swapped my 1×10 to a 12-36 (by accident) and didn’t notice untill it was worn out!

I can see the agruments in favour of a tripple if you have to do a lot of downhill or flat road miles, but really 11x and 2×10 are so close in terms of ratios that the only thing splitting them is increaced cost decreaced weight and better usability (be honest, front shifting is rarely perfect).

I’m not a fanboi, I don’t own any 11x drivechains, but the arguments against it are (IMO) purely financial ones, there’s no functional downside unless you really do need a 22-36 bottom gear or 36-11 top gear, the former of which I can’t ever say I find useable* and the latter isn’t useable off-road, it’s only 20% (2 MTB shifts) below 52-13 which was the highest gear of most road bikes untill 9s came allong.

*too much torque makes the wheel slip, if it’s that steep the front wheel lifts, below walking pache there’s no momentum so it’s too easy to stall on obstacles it’s just not a useable gear, infact much below 22-28 is barely ever used/useable except for short sections.

1×11 doesn’t just lose one at the top + bottom, it loses plenty mid range that make riding smoother with less of a jump.

Anyone that can’t set up a front mech to work properly needs to get on a general maintenance course. If you can’t set up a front then how on earth do you get a rear shifting smoothly?

Out of interest what sort of riding do those running 1x usually do? I personally cover most aspects from trail centers to long distance bw trips taking in road work. Having tried 1×11 I just can’t see how it would be anything but a compromise for my riding.

Out of interest what sort of riding do those running 1x usually do? I personally cover most aspects from trail centers to long distance bw trips taking in road work. Having tried 1×11 I just can’t see how it would be anything but a compromise for my riding.

I think the important thing to bear in mind for any gearing discussion is that it’s both the riding you do and how your body pedals best – some are much more powerful & efficient within a narrow range of cadence, other have a broader rpm range within which they’re happy pedalling. Also, the more you push yourself within your ability, the more your cadence range will tend to narrow. I know I can spin really quickly on road sections and am happy to stand up and grind at low rpm on steep stuff, so basic 1×10 is fine for me. If I were XC racing I’d want some lower gears so I could maintain a higher cadence on climbs because that would help my endurance when pushing myself that hard.

Out of interest what sort of riding do those running 1x usually do? I personally cover most aspects from trail centers to long distance bw trips taking in road work. Having tried 1×11 I just can’t see how it would be anything but a compromise for my riding.

General trail riding, occasionally trail centre’s, uplift days, DH days, DH racing, enduro racing, etc.

Run a 34T front, 11-42 on the back.

Never felt like I need more gears top or bottom.

Last bike I rode with a double on the front nearly ended up thrown in a bush. With no guide I don’t think i’ve ever dropped so many chains in a day.

Out of interest what sort of riding do those running 1x usually do?

Bit of everything, more the XC bias – local riding is Surrey Hills, so 30+ mile rides there, bit of road to and from trails, some local bridleway stuff, XC racing all over the place, the odd trail centre.