hello,
i currently have a 3×9 set up and was wondering about 1×10?
i have been riding almost 2 years and live in the calderdale area.
just after some real life experience from other people that ride in this area……

Any thoughts would be great, cheers.

How strong are your legs and do you mind pushing?

I’ve run 1×10 on rides around calderdale (32x40t lowest gear) and could grind up a lot of stuff, but then my ego allows me to push if it’s too hard

nah, i don’t mind getting off to push from time time.
but you got me thinking, perhaps i should work on legs first then the bike.
plan for the long game and think about the change once i improve strength and stamina.

cheers for reply

How good a climber are you anyway?

I’ve been OK on 1×10 there, but 1×11 is a little bit nicer (with 42t rather than 40t biggest sprocket).

perhaps i should work on legs first then the bike.

Best way to work on them legs is on your bike so get it done.

Go 1×11 if you can. 42 or 46t on the back and a 30 or 32t on the front. You’ll be fine, I did it.

I used to run 1×9 around here for years, waaaay before the advent of 30t chainrings and expander cogs. Run 1×11 now with low gears but never not been able to get up anything that I would do on a bike with 27 gears etc. Just in the process of building another singlespeed too – if you want to brutalise yourself, get rid of all your gears! (although I may relent and put 1×11 on it as well).

im fat and very unfit.

i push a lot.

its ok but i find it very hard work. comming from 3×9 youll be fine.

Trying 1×10 round here at the moment (came on a bike I bought) 30×40 its ok but i miss my granny ! you can get up most stuff with a bit of gurning (penny steps still taunts me)but after 20 miles I begin to think about 2×10 and its sit down and enjoy the scenery gearing !

I ran 1×10 for a couple of years on my old Five. 30×42 if I remember rightly. I don’t think I ever really missed the previous 3×9 and it was ridden just about everywhere round here.

So entirely doable, even for averagely fit old blokes….

What you need to do – ignoring all the gumph about extended range rear cassettes – is to have a kick down bailout granny gear.

Both my bikes with 1×10 have it on, and it means that you can run a narrow/wide ring up front with a standard 11-36 cassette out back. If you get tired, or the hill is too steep, just nudge the chain over with your heel. Job jobbed. Top of the hill you stop for a breather, and put the chain back on the bigger ring.

Hardly ever used, and I ride around some steep stuff in Devon and on Dartmoor, but it’s good to have as a last resort.

As seen here on my Bolt…..(yeah I know that back patio is a mess, it’s winter!)

32f 11-40r on FS & 30f 11-42r on fatbike, no issues 99% of the time, happy to push the rest.

I have left the granny ring in place for the rare long climb, only used it up in the lakes occasionally.

I would caution against it. You will have fewer gears.

cheers guys
good to hear from people who have been converted!
as an average fit guy it sounds do-able and if i keep to granny ring as a back up sort of kick down gear until i’m comfortable.
or maybe i could get another bike. always a winner!!

Shirley the Peckett well or Blue Pig descents are worth that bit of thigh muscle sacrifice ?

The tarmac climb up to the PBW New Rd to Horsehold road is a good training route.

I live there (top of blue pig) and distinctly average, I’m on 1×11 with a 40t top and it’s all pretty doable

Just fit a suitable extender cog. If you’re worried about fitness, then you sure as heck won’t care that you loose a bit of top pedaling speed, because the last thing an unfit person can do is pedal a heavy, draggy, aerodynamic brick of an MTB at over 15mph for more than a minute or so!

Fit a 30T front ring with a 46 (or even 50) tooth extender and ride up everything!

Just out of interest, has anyone climbed Shoebroad Lane, behind the old Unitarian Church in Tod?
🙂

Only walked it and driven it, but always wondered if it’d go.

I’m in Calderdale too, easy gear is 32×42 on 26″ wheels.

I wouldn’t go lower myself.

Just out of interest, has anyone climbed Shoebroad Lane, behind the old Unitarian Church in Tod?

A Strava segment search shows it as a descent but not an ascent. If you’ve driven it then presumably it should be doable, unless by “drive” you meant in a 4×4 or ridden on a trails bike.

Hebden based, both main bikes have one gear, 32/20. CX bike 42 with 12-36 rear. Few things I can’t ride up, but that took a while to get there. Fitness and less weight are your friend.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/rZDtm7]Sunny Salsa[/url] by Greg.May, on Flickr

Rusty Spanner – Member
Just out of interest, has anyone climbed Shoebroad Lane, behind the old Unitarian Church in Tod?

Yes. It’s not that bad if you take the turns on the less steep outer side. Climb up to the Packhorse at Widdop by the scout hut is worse.

Also, if you’ve not tried some of the uber steep roads up to Great Rock/Bridestones area…well, you’re in for a treat 🙂

Also – the segment is called ” Honey Hole Rd to Lumbutts Rd ”

Greg – do you mean this bit of road?

whitestone – Member
Greg – do you mean this bit of road?

I do, for some reason it wipes me out more than the other piece. Suspect as it’s normally part of a longer ride, and the few “bumps” before it are a bit tiring SS.

Rusty Spanner – Member
Just out of interest, has anyone climbed Shoebroad Lane, behind the old Unitarian Church in Tod?

It’s doable on 32-42 but you’ll probably be stamping up the Honey Hole section. Was with DazH the other week and he did it on a single speed…

Singlespeed? 😯

Only done it a couple of times in that direction – I normally do the Colne-Widdop-Hebden loop the opposite way but then you’ve got this!

I don’t find that bit below the Packhorse as bad as this road. But when we are doing that we’ve done all of 400 metres from the car park as warm up 🙄

Mind you some gradients are just “wrong” even if they aren’t *that* steep. I still haven’t done Mythom Steeps! Surely it can’t be as bad as Thwaites Brow in Keighley. Can it?

Mythom Steeps!

It’s a funny one – very close to my house so I’m usually fresh riding it and have zero issues on it SS. But, it does take quite a bit of grunt.

There is a climb hidden in behind Cross Stones Road that I was shown once by TimK on a ride that was nuts – not for it’s gradient persay, but more the continual length and gradient combined. Must go find it again.

Hey Head Lane by any chance?

whitestone – Member
Singlespeed?

I suspect it was no longer in the 36-36 configuration from last spring 😀

Singlespeed?

It was a close run thing. 32-20 gear and I nearly gave myself a hernia 🙂

The real scary one is Doghouse Lane behind the station. Haven’t plucked up the courage to try that one yet.

I still haven’t done Mythom Steeps!

The Mythom bit is ok, its just when your legs a feeling it then kicks up again up Ratenstall Bank.
We wont mention Trooper Lane…..

1×10 30/42 is fine around Calderdale you’ll just need to get on with it rather than spinning away.

Trooper Lane – is that tarmac or cobbles/setts? There are all those short steep things around Calderdale in the 100 climbs book that I’ve not done.

How about The Buttress?

Buttress is fine on 1×10. The problem is more one of grip than the gear. Not tried it on a singlespeed yet. Will be doing Trooper Lane on Sunday as I”m showing someone the Calder cobbles as a prep for Flanders.

No one’s mentioned Penny Steps yet which is surprising.

I ride 1 x 10 in the Calderdale area a lot. Pennine way, pennine bridleway, Stoodley Pike, Warland, Gaddins Dam, Blackstone Edge, Langfield Common, Watergrove, Hades Hill, etc.

Do wheel sizes effect gearing my lowest gear is (I think) 30 x 42.
When its steep, It feels hard. It feels like when my gears wear out, I need to replace them with a smaller chain ring.
Is 30 x 42 on a 29er the same as 30 x 42 on a 650B or even a 26 inch wheel size?

Yes, wheel sizes affect gearing.

Assuming that you keep the same cassette then the following are roughly equivalent:

26″ wheel & 34T chainring
650b wheel & 32T chainring
29″ wheel & 30T chainring

@dazh – might be worth a go on the crosser then! I’ll wait until after a dry spell though and before the trees come into leaf.

Ok thanks
I think I’m going to get a 26T or a 28T chainring then next time I replace my gears. I find that I’m struggling at the low end a lot, but never running out of gears at the top end.

Trooper Lane – is that tarmac or cobbles/setts?

The easy bits tarmac, then it gets steeper and cobbled 😉

Shout up if you want a day around Calderdale and we can pick up some of the classics.

Not sure i’d use it for training, unless thats walking…….

Not done the buttress on the cross bike either I must admit. Last time I did it was on a 650b+ with a 34-36 gear. Still hard obviously, anything with a 35% gradient will be, but it’s doable. Also the top section is the slippy bit, just when your legs are screaming and your lungs bursting you need to concentrate to keep the back wheel weighted to stop it slipping.

If you go that low then you won’t fit those chainrings on a 104BCD spider, you’ll need to go direct mount as the mounting pins will foul the chain. An oval chainring helps with climbing IME, smooths out the pedal stroke. A bit easier on the knees as well.

I struggled a bit when I first got a 1×10 drivetrain but after about three months I got used to it. If I can’t get up something now it’s invariably something that even on 3×10 I wouldn’t be able to do it. I ride with either 30T or 32T up front with an 11-40 cassette (standard XT cassette with 40T extender), it’s not often I’m in the 40T.

dazh – Member
Singlespeed?
The real scary one is Doghouse Lane behind the station. Haven’t plucked up the courage to try that one yet.

Man up Daz. It’s not _that_ bad….

Buttress is fine if it is dry.

Greg, it’s that “if it’s dry” bit that worries me! Every time I’ve ridden past and looked at it even the bottom bit is damp and greasy.

i’ve just gone from a 3×10 on my short travel full suss [lowest gear was 22t/36t (0.61) far too low]. to a 34t / 46T (0.74), damn crook on ebay said it was a 32T chainring. but i did 65km and 1350metres last saturday and found the 34T with the bigger cog adequate..

i’m doing the rochdale rideit tomorrow which will prove if its right for me.

on a bigger suspension bike 140mm/150mm i find the 30T / 42T (11 speed) is the highest chainring i can go for the big hills, but the topend gearing is plenty (30/10 = 3.0). where i’d say you need around a 3x if you ride some road sections.

it all depends on your fitness, weight, bike (hardtail < > big suspension) wheel size, and prefered cadence

one thing i’ll say if going xt m8000 11 speed, the jump from 46T granny to the next gear 37T is massive and i didnt like it, but all the other gears felt amazing..

not been to calderdale in a few months, so think i’ll get the train over next saturday.. ;0)