So I pretty much live in my 26 front ring ‘cos the 36 is far to big for me to push. Looking at changing to an oval single ring and as the ab’ black rings come in 30 now should I go to that or 28? Should be able to fix the chain line with spacers if needed.
Riding is trail centre type stuff with the odd trip to bigger things.
10speed none-big range cassette (11-36 or something).

Cheers
MG82

It’s all very personal and probably depends more on wheel diameter TBH. Personally I found fitting a 40t big sprocket coupled with a 32t N/W (round not oval) gave me an acceptable range of gears (on 26 x 2.3″ tyres)… Before that I tried a 30t with an 11-36 cassette and found it slightly too spinny at the tall end, might suit a 29er though…

Big range cassettes make 1xN drivetrains work much better for general riding IMO, otherwise you’re just giving up the granny ring and fitting a frustrating intermediate sized chainring…

Why not simply try fitting a 32t to your current setup first and see how losing 4 teeth improves things…

Also be open to the idea that 1x might simply not suit your riding needs.

As cookeaa says it does depend on wheel size. On my 29er I started with 30T and a 11-36 cassette with 40T extender. I reckon it took three to four months to get properly used to it and build up the strength for the harder climbs here in the Dales. Single chainring drivetrains suit me and I can’t see me going back to a double or triple on future bikes but they aren’t for everyone, my wife prefers a double chainring on her HT.

After a year when the chainring wore out I fitted a 32T chainring (it was all that was available locally at the time). Again a little bit of struggling but I soon got used to it. I’m now on a 32T AB oval which I do like. The 30T hadn’t come out when I got it.

A 30T on 29″ is equivalent to 32T on 650b and 34T on 26″, the same reasoning applies to other sizings: go down one tyre size => go up two teeth. My bike currently has 650B+ wheels on it which give an effective gearing midway between 29er & 650b, i.e. it feels like it’s a 31T chainring.

Looking at the AB site it says that the 30T comes with special bolts and spacers to fit the 104BCD 4 arm cranks, the 26T and 28T will only fit 64BCD cranks.

Any truth to the urban myth about a 28T 64BCD giving a better chainline for 1x, making the 1x bit not wear so quickly?

I’d be interested in that too.

So when I was on 26 I used to jump between 30 and 32 single ring. Only reason I’m on double now is due to being a new bike. Always planned on going 1x down the road (or trail).

Have you seen the price of the AB 30T oval ring? I like AB stuff and run their 32T and 34T rings but the price of the 30T is Absolute Madness.

If you are running normal 104bcd cranks then you can get a smaller ring that fits to the granny tabs.

The granny tabs do give a better chainline for the largest sprockets on 1×11, not sure they are needed for 1×10.

tbh for the OP I would be looking to expand the cassette or switch to a sunrace 10 speed cassette. You are losing far too much off your high gear for my liking by going with a small ring. I think for 1x to work for you you are going to have to bike the bullet and get a larger cassette or switch to 1×11 now SLX is quite reasonable and get an 11-46 cassette.