Just a quick diversion from the main thread to point out that no matter how clogged up the rear mech, brakes, frame etc have become in a race, I’ve never once had a front mech clogged up. That’s not why cx’ers go 1x.
My pro 6 gets significantly less mud clogging the rear tyre now it doesn’t have a front mech to build up on- admittedly I haven’t been racing on it since the change but it’s had plenty of riding in claggy north downs grass/clay with not much problem.
OP- I went from a 46-36 and 11-28 to a 42×11-36. I got a little bit more at the bottom at the expense of top end speed, but the way I see it I can push my 50×20 ss rat bike up to 20mph for a reasonable distance, so for the same cadence I should be able to take 42×11 up to about 30mph, which will do for me on the cross bike. I’d like to figure out how to get an 11s 11-40 on there and then I can go back to 46 up front for the same bottom gear but a bit more at the top if I want to use it as a roadie.
Other than that, I prefer the slightly wider gear spacing on the cassette, I think it’s spending more time on the MTB, but I always used to be double shifting on the road.
Finally, I think the bike looks nicer!