I don’t really get the whole idea of 1×9. There seems to be quite a few folk running this way on here.

Is it weight saving exercise?

Is it a “theres less to go wrong” thing.

Is it fashion?

What’s wrong with 27 gears or even the new 30 speed that Shimano and SRAM have been developing for years.

Surely it’s a backward step?

If you want any of the above suggestions I made, why not go single speed?

I’m baffled by this trend.

It’s just the latest STW bandwagon, and probably OK if you only ride Trail Centers 🙄

I see it as less weight and practical* gear range with no overlap.

* one size does not fit all however!

Front mechs are a joke. That’s the overwhelming reason for me.

I don’t need the easy gears a granny ring supplies, i dont care about spinning out on a road/fire road descent (it is MTBing).

Though i do need some gears to make the bike comfortable usable off road for myself.

Shorter mech, better chain security, less chain, less weight, less noise, greater reliability, more ground clearance. Looks better too. It also makes you a “stronger” rider too. I’m not any slower, most probably faster up the hill than anyone i ride with with a triple. When i have a go on a granny ring now, it’s not any easier, just takes longer.

Different stroke for different folks though. I’m not going to worry whether people are using a double/triple/single.

I’ve been running 1×9 on my DH bike for years, never really considered sticking a triple on it. Is that what baffles you?

On my AM and XC bike I noticed that I just never shifted up front. I just left it in the middle ring and with 9/10 outback I just didnt feel like I needed more range. Its down to where your ride and how you ride.

1) simplicity of use
2) less weight by quite a bit
3) ability to run a proper chain devise
4) neat cockpit
5) aesthetics

If it’s a fashion thing then I’m one of the ones who started it 😀

I’ve been running 1×9 and now 1×10 for about four years. My reasons for going down this route initially were simplicity and weight. Going 1×9/10 saves about 300-400g depending on what kind of chain device you then fit (and you will need one unless you’re riding very gently).

The overwhelming benefit in my view is that you’re always in the right ring up front and given that shifting big rings is a real faff and works less than perfectly right when you need it to work really well, there’s a big benefit to be had for the ease and simplification of set up (think about why people like to ride single speeds and you’re on the right lines).

All of this would only be valid if actually you didn’t need your other two rings.

The big ring is a waste of space; you only ever need that if you’re riding on the road, which I never do. A 32t to 36t middle ring is more than big enough for all off road riding (personally I don’t see the need for anything bigger than a 32t and I’ve yet to be under geared going down hill).

The granny ring can be missed, but even a 100kg heffer like me still managed to ride around the Alps with nothing but a 32t by 36t low gear.

Its not really that different to 2×9 or 3×9 I like riding rough stuff and I was always dropping the chain. I rarely used the big or little chain ring so it seemed like a logical step. It is a pain on big climbs as I am not really fit enough to ride up everything, I will probably be pushing up parts of Llandegla and CyB this weekend but it offers me the security of knowing what my chain will be doing when I come clattering out of a rock garden.

FWIW I run 2×9 on my HT as I use that for more trail sort of stuff. I would be using it for Llandegla but we are riding Snowdon on Sunday and thats what big bikes are made for.

EDIT:

If it’s a fashion thing then I’m one of the ones who started it

I’ve been running 1×9 and now 1×10 for about four years.

[willywaving]I used to run a DMR single ring guide on my GT Timberline and later Revel 4X back in the 90s[/willywaving]

1×9 is alright, I liked it, I also like singlespeed and having a triple.
Oh and I had a bike with a double for a while, I quite liked that too.
Does this help?

I used to run a DMR single ring guide on my GT Timberline and later Revel 4X back in the 90s

I think you’re willy is bigger than mine 😀

because I can and I want to

Don’t use the granny or outer cog, so why keep them on?

If it’s too hard to pedal with 1×9, then I’ll push – and not afraid to admit it 😉

Plus with a chain guide (mrp g2), I can continue to put the power down when it gets really bumpy..

Pretty much what geetee and xiphon said. I haven’t had a front mech for over 3 years now, and can’t really see an occasion when I might want one. My initial main reason wasthat I hate front mechs because I am shit at maintaining/aligning them.

Its quite ridiculous to claim it is some new stw fashion to do this when people have been riding 7-8-9 speed for years. Its only gears for christs sake.

If it is steep enough for a granny ring, I’ll probably walk it. Managed 26 miles with over 3000 feet of climbing on Sunday (not in a trail centre) and didn’t feel undergeared.

I only realized how lazy i’d got as a rider when i changed to 1×9. I’m not very fit, but have very rarely found an incline i can’t get up, so don’t miss the granny ring. Although this is helped by running a significantly lighter bike than normal.

And FWIW, I run 32t front, 32t-11t rear.

In the days gone by, the only way to run a single front ring, was via a heavy DH specific chain device. ( Remember the sandwiched MRP plates + rollers?)

Single MRP/e13 have developed their G2/LG guides, the weight has just fallen off, increasing the appeal to trail bike riders.

For the riding I like to do most a front mech is a liability… with a bit more effort and grunting I can make the 1×9(10) drivetrain do all I need, except for the really big stuff where I use a Hammerschmidt to get me a low winching gear.

If 1×9(10) works for where and how you ride then it’s brilliant. My local forest is a bike wrecker and having strong kit with as little to go wrong as possible is sensible. Losing the front mech makes a huge difference as it really is a frequent cause of problems.

For me singlespeed is the ideal drivetrain as there is little to get damaged and bounce off; but it doesn’t work well where I ride unless I am in the condition of my life, it’s dry, the bike is 20lbs for the climbs… but still built for the descents. So for me singlespeed is too much of a compromise to be my main use bike.

I’ve tried a Rohloff in Gearbox and hub options but they were not the answer for me.

Next logical step is 1×9(10) since you get a good enough spread of gears for most riding. Yes, you no longer have the winching gear for huge climbs and the big gear for the road home but I’m happy to pay that price on my hardtail (which I mainly use in the local forests).

For a 1×9(10) type chain security but with a bigger spread (i.e. the low winching gear) for the big days in the hills I have a HammerSchmidt on my big bike… it’s not as weighty as people think and it works brilliantly, I’ve never lost the chain off the front (despite losing the funky plastic guide ages ago).

has anyone got any weight save data? i am considering trying 1×10 on my heckler.

i already have a e13 chain device and an ally 32t chainring. do i have to use a shorter cage rear mech, or can i just take some chain links out and carry on?

so i guess i will save the weight of:
shifter
cable inner and outer
front mech
4x granny ring bolts
granny ring
big ring
difference between an xt middle ring and a renthal ally ring
several links of chain

and add
chain device

and, i get to put the reverb remote under the lh bar

I recently went from 2×9 to 1×9/ Removed my left hand XT shifter, XT front mech, cables, inners and bolts and it weighed about 340g.

I’ve never had a problem with a front mech out on the trail in over 20 years (plently of problems with rear ones, though). I can’t believe that up here in t’North a 32 ring with an 11/32 cassette would suffice. You lot must be rock ‘ard.

I find 1×10 spot on for my riding. I think I’d find the narrower 9 speed cassettes a bit limiting, I run a 36t ring with 11-36, a little bit spinny on the road, but fine otherwise.

Because my bike used to be a singlespeed, but I needed gears to carry a kiddie seat and it was only supposed to be temporary and I was too lazy to put the front rings back on.
4 years on the kiddie seat has moved bikes and it’s still 1 x 9

But I do have another bike with proper gears on for when I go to places with proper hills.

I’ve never had a problem with a front mech out on the trail in over 20 years

I was having issues last night with a simple top 1×9 guide. It’s been fine all through the winter but the ground was solid last night and I was riding really hard so the chain bounced off a few times… time for a full top and bottom chain guide.

Like failedengineer, I’ve been riding for about 15 years and never had a problem with front mech’s.

I understand why DH’ers don’t use front mechs, but don’t see the logic in pretty much everybody else not running one.

There’s a couple of comments about “if it’s too steep I’ll just push it”. Surely thats what a single speed is for?

I’ve also ridden singlespeed so can see the other side of the coin, as it were.

Isn’t it just SS lite?

flatfish – I only use a single ring up front. If I ride uphill in a granny ring, I just spin like a whisk… while not actually gaining much ground. It’s faster/easier to walk, while pushing the bike. Nothing wrong with that…

Also, without a bottom roller, my chain just bounces off…

.. hence the use of a single ring chain device 😉

What chain guides do you lot use?

Don’t on-one have a nice basic one that attaches to the seat tube?

DH = SuperStar Laser

AM = MRP G2

My front gear cable snapped once on a ride. I jammed a stick in the front mech, using middle ring only. 18 months later the stick fell out. I removed components and went 1 x 9

been running single chainring set-ups on my mtbs for nearly 20years too, personally I only run 1×8 and 1×7 on my DH bikes (5 gears would be enough for a race bike). I absolutely hate the extra chainslap you get from anything bigger than an 11-28 cassette when descending in the smaller sprockets it’d be horrible with enough chain for a 36T sprocket flapping about.

Nae use to me. Switching to a single ring for me would be a compromise I don’t feel the need to make. I enjoy steep, nose of the saddle climbs as well as the flexibility to just spin when I need to. If it works for you, great but for me it’s a solution to a problem I don’t have. I’d love a hub gear that doesn’t weigh a ton and is reliable but until that arrives, I’m happy to keep with the triple at the front.

It’s made me a stronger and quicker rider, especially uphill. Have yet to find something I can’t ride up with 32t 11-34 if I attack it appropriately.

pretty sure most of us could find you something fairly easily chief.
do you just not ride properly steep or technically challenging climbs or climbs with damp/wet/loose surfaces?

I only ever used the big ring to keep chain tension on rough stuff, so that was first to go. Then the granny ring went when I found I used it so rarely as to make no difference. Chuck that stuff off bike, lower weight and less faff and clutter. WIN!

I didn’t have all the parts when I built my hardtail up for 3 x 9 gears so ended up with a 1 x 9. So far so good.

porter_jamie – Member

has anyone got any weight save data?

I worked it out at the time (massive nerd that I am) based on quoted weights, and it saved me about 330g.

Just sold me 1×9 so just got a couple of singlespeeds.

I like 1 x 9.

Saved about 370-400g going to 1×9.

Now run a e-thirteen G ring and bbg bash and jumpstop = 120g or something.

you simply need to subtract the weight of all the components you ditch and add the weight of those you’re adding.

could be as much saving as 2lb, as little as none.

Don’t use the granny or outer cog, so why keep them on?

What he said and because its cool.

because its cool.

… and because it makes people ask me why I’m riding a bike like that which means I can explain to them in detail about it in the car park at the trail centre instead of being up on the hill riding my bike (with 3×9 obviously… ) 😆 .

Getting of and pushing is a defeat for me :() It’s why I gave up on the s/s). Same with a 1/9 set up round by me, theirs far to many steep technical climbs for me to do without a granny. I like to feel some resistance when I’m pedaling on descents as well, so I need the big ring for that. But each to their own whatever works for you.