Hi all,

New to the forum and wanted to ask a hopefully simple question. I have researched and believe I have a basic understanding but don’t want to get to the end of my winter/cx build and realise it won’t work. So just want some clarity and guidance.

So I generally only ride road bikes. I however don’t like using my current bike through the depths of winter so have bought a titanium lynskey frame for the winter.

Now I’ve built my current road bike up from scratch so have knowledge of how to build a bike. I am however just a bit unsure on which group set will meet my needs.

Ideally I want to use a 1×10 or 1×11. I’m looking for a wide range with the addition of a 10-46 or something similar. The bike won’t be used for heavy racing so just wanted something a bit different with a wide spread.

What groupset (I’m guessing MTB) will meet my need and be compatible on a roadie.

I’ve looked at SRAM set ups including there X ranges as I believe their shifters are compatible between MTB and road bikes. However, I’m happy to be corrected.

Any options or ideas are appreciated. Or what others have done and know work.

Budget is not too much of a concern although don’t want to spend huge money. I’ll consider anything if it works well.

Thanks in advance
Nick.

My cx bike comuter came with sram rival 1×11 hydro disc on it can’t fault it. Can get up must things off road shifts along om Road even with loaded panniers. I’m sure the cassette is heavy but it’s still going after 3500km so I’m not fussed. I’d like to try the force set up to see how much better that is.

My charge plug came with 1×11 hydro Rival, with that sort of range. Clutch mech as well.
Works a treat.
Have a look on the German sites as they seem to have the best options.
For an ultimate build what about a Di2 hydro build with a xtr rear mech. No cables at all for that winter bike to get manky.

Mine (Ti Charge Freezer) runs an Absolute Black narrow wide 38T. I use 130 BCD SRAM carbon red cranks. Shifting is with Gevenalle 1×10 shifters (mine are road, but go with mtb ratio for proper V brakes) and a BURD rear derailleur. For cross I use a 10 speed 11-32, with the 11 removed and a HUUP spacer inboard to protect the wheel. For road I use 11-23 on my old race wheels.

Works fine for both, but you will spin out on road descents.

I’ve looked at SRAM set ups including there X ranges as I believe their shifters are compatible between MTB and road bikes. However, I’m happy to be corrected.

I ‘think’ ROAD and MTB 11 speed are still slightly different. But its not a problem as a long cage road mech is designed to run upto 42t rear sprocket. Cheapest setup is Apex, but more you pay fancier it gets.

Ive been very happy with the function of my 10s SRAM S700 hydro, went into it sceptical but its been stellar. I dont like the big jumps of an 11-36 10s cassette on the road, but its my commute bike which also goes offroad so I put up with the gaps for the range. Ive just bought a 1×11 SRAM setup for my cx bike though, 11-32 11s is much better.

Forgot to mention that my winter road bike is actually a Boardman CX Pro. I built that up with Ultegra 6600 10-speed with standard 39/52 and 11-28 gearing and permanent mudguards.

I like the 1×10 very much though.

Thanks for all the replies so far. From doing more research the sram rival/force and apex seem to have a huge premium slapped on them because they have road shifters. Seems a bit of a roadie tax in comparison to their MTB equivalent.

What other options are people running as it all seems very limited unless you’re a SRAM user.

I’ll be on mechanical brakes as opposed to the hydros.

Thanks again

I run ultegra shifters (cable trp hyrd) with a xtr/xt clutch mech and a massive cassette. This works by using the Wolftooth tanpan.

Thanks Tang, does the wolftooth work well then? Any issues? Or difficult to dial in.

What cassette are you using and with which chainring/crank?

Thanks in advance

does the wolftooth work well then?

Works great. I have the 10s with 10s road shifters and 10s mtb mech for my roadrat. When I go touring on it I swap singlespeed for 2×10 and it the tanpan gives me a nice low range for load lugging.

Also got the 11s running 11s road shifters with a 10s mtb mech on a 10s 11-36 mtb cassette. That was a little trickier to set up and occasionally the extra shift you have to ‘hide’ at one end seems to wander into the main shifts and give a dead shift but on the whole is fine. I’ll be getting an 11s mech and cassette when this lot wear out and expect them to be fine.

I use Ultegra 10 speed shifters with an older 9 speed XT mech on 11-36 10 speed cassette. All works well as the 9 speed mechs have the same pull ratio as the 10 speed road stuff.

Swanny853 – thanks for that. It’s good to hear. And nice to hear that it’s quite flexible.

Wynne – I have heard he pull ratios are the same and to be fair would probably be the way I would go for cost reasons.

However, I have a spare set of dura ace 9000 levers so may aswell utilise then. I’ve also got a set of dura ace 9000 derailleur a which are pretty much brand new which I think I’ll sell to fund the XTR/XT mechs and towards the cranks.

The other thing I meant to say is that whilst I think clutch mechs are great on the mountain bike I’m not convinced you need them for CX. I have done a lot of extreme CX riding and racing in the rockiest bits of N Wales and have yet to drop a chain. I do have a narrow wide chain ring on the bike though, but that’s mainly because it came with the SRAM chainset I bought.

Shimano with cable operated discs is going to be the cheapest way to go 1 x with discs. Bloody sram stuff is £££’s. Just the brakes with a rh shifter will cost you £400.

No issues here have used up to a 42t cassette. Cranks are road with either hope/blackspire/wolftooth narrow wide rings. I have used a road mech before by just using the wolftooth road link (repositioned the mech so big cassettes are ok) the main issue is baggy chain in high gears with a short/med mech plus slap, which I don’t like. The sg clutch mech sorts this out.
For proper cx I always run a smaller cassette. The big ones are for the hills.

+1 for not needing a clutch mech for CX 1x. Raced 2 full winter seasons, half way through second summer series, plus recreational
riding on a normal Rival road rear mech with nothing close to a dropped chain.