Cheapest way I can see is to just leave middle 32 ring on, but buy shorter chainring bolts.

Tidier / proper option, buy a bashguard and replace outer, using existing bolts.

The current wagons are now 2 X and I’m toying with options on resurrecting the steel hard tail that’s been demoted this year.

You dont need bash ring & n gear jump stops anymore. (you would have needed the Jump Stop for the inside)

so its just short bolts & one of these from Superstar & shorten chain.

If you buy a plastic bash you’ll need longer bolts. But with an N-Gear Jump Stop on the inside it works well – haven’t lost a chain yet… I wouldn’t ride 1x without a guide of some sort.

Used the superstar above and it was rubbish. Still managed to somehow drop the chain now and again and it always rattled and the adjustment grub screws kept coming undone. Swapped to an N-Gear jumps stop which was great, but on its own still dropped the chain now and again on the outside even though I cheated on the cheapness with a singlespeed ring. Now got a cheap bash to stop all chain dropping, even in the Alps.

Cheers fellas

I’m popping in to Evans later this afternoon to get some stuff but other than some short chainring bolts, can’t see anything that fits the above shopping lists.

For those with time to kill :wink:, am I missing something on their site?

From experience of trying to do this cheap (single, ramped ring and an adjusted front mech) and not quite as cheap (On-One singlespeed ring and Superstar 1X guide), I can safely say, going with the slightly more expensive option (still only £35 or something) is well, well worth it. Without it you’ll be constantly stopping to put chains back on etc. Anyone that says they 1x on a conventional ring/chain setup without some form of chain retention without it coming off are either lying or riding places that you may as well be on a road bike…

And FWIW, the Superstar guide (not the one above, the BB mount one) I used was superb. Easy to set up and very, very rarely (maybe once or twice in the year I ran it) dropped the chain. I can also reccommend the On-One stainless SS ring. Heavier than some others but after 2+ years of use, first on a 1×9 hardtail and now on my singlespeed its barely showing any wear at all.

FWIW I’ve gone 1×9 for the first time on my commuter/winter bike. Using a middleburn middle ring ( with ramps etc) and a superstar bottom bkt chain device. So far so good. Not dropped the chain but i bet without the chain device it would have done. Not done anything mega rocky but lots of stutter style rooty bits and its be fine. Makes you wonder why we need 27/30 gears. Think i’ll eventually go 1 x 10 and get a specific 36 tooth ring.

i had a bash already so just fashioned a jump stop from a reflector mount and a bit of metal.

been great.

There are loads of 1×9 chain guides now to choose from, I just linked the first & about the cheapest.

On the note I beleive this is a new version & it has been improved somewhat, I got this info from other threads on the subject.

There are loads of 1×9 chain guides now to choose from, I just linked the first & about the cheapest.

And the shittest.

Chainset in question is a XT 770 iirc so I don’t want to swap that out.

Frame is a 04 Explosif with thin tubes. The description on those Superstar widgets suggests fitting on fatter seat tubes so would the BB mount be a better option? ❓

I went 1×9 on my soul – still using the original ramped 32 teeth chainring

I just got short cage mech (maybe not essential but I was swapping bits around on bikes anyway)

Short chainring bolts and superstar chain device

Works like a dream, never dropped the chain, saved loads of weight, love the simplicity – not feeling the loss of any gears

The seat-tube mounted Superstar one pictured above is gash, IME. The BB mounted one is decent, though- functionally identical to the E13 one it copied.

Proper single-ring may work better than a ramped one for chain retention. Not totally convinced about this myself, if there’s a difference it’s not huge tbh but it might be there.

Its pretty rubbish anyway, I went back to a triple, the weight saving isnt worth much, the loss of low & high gears is a nuisance, it still looks crap as you need a device of some kind.

Just go SS or stay geared, 1x anything is pants.

Setups I tried.
1×9 with 11-34 unramped front 34t.

It was OK gearing wise on a tame local loop & would drop the chain once or twice a ride, my record was 13 dropped chains in a 1 hour race.

Same setup but bash & N gear, no more dropped chains but did a 100k offroad sportive & the lack of ratios did become quite apparent.