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Having been off my bike for two years for various reasons, I am in the process of building up a new bike (SX Trail with Shermans etc) which will be used for a bit of XC, bit of trail centre riding, mucking around on drops and jumps etc.
I am just trying to decide on which drivetrain set up to choose - either a 2 x9 or a 1 x 10. I'm just worried that a 1x10 set up will be a bit limited for XC, especially if I am not especially bike fit at the moment. I also can't seem to find many 10 speed chainring options.
I have a 9 speed X9 mech but is a bit floppy these days so could probably do with replacing hence the reason that I thought about a 1x10 set up. I have a chain device kicking about that I can use.
Any advice / experiences would be welcome.
Thanks
I'd go 1 x 10. I'm currently running 1 x 9 and won't be going back to 2 or 3 chainrings. 32 x 11-36 will give you a range that will be fine if your not at you're fittest and you could easily change to a 34 or even a 36 as you get fitter if you want.
[*]I've just converted my bike 29er to 1 x 10 using Shimano XT 36-11 cassette and a Salsa 32t front chainring ( which works perfectly with a 10 speed chain even though it only states S/S or 1 x 9 purpose, but 10 speed was around then!) I'm also using a chain stop from Superstar and thats it!
Cheers chaps.1x10 sounds promising, especially if I need a new rear mech.
My only concern other than being too fat to peddle it anywhere is lack of chainring choice. I read somewhere that the 10 speed set ups have a different pitch and spacing to a 9 speed. I do like the idea of running a chain device, especially when mucking about on more gravity oriented stuff.
Are you guys running Sram or Shimano stuff? How has it coped with mud etc so far?
Full XT from the new 10 speed shifter, new 10 speed xt780 rear mech and the xt 36-11 cassette with a KNC 10 speed chain and a Salsa ring on my original XT H/T2 crank. Lots of mad deals around, Merlin, C/R etc!
PS, Hope are now doing 9/10 speed rings in black and gold!
Only one short ride since finishing it yesterday, but feels great.
Not quite what you ask but I run 1x9 on one bike, and 2x9 on the other (both with 11-34). The difference being the 2x9 bike is used for all day rides, so the really low gears come in handy for tough climbs late on when I'm tired, whereas the 1x9 bike gets used for shorter, 'punchier' rides where I'm happy to blast up all the climbs.
1x10 with a 11-36 gets round this issue to an extent though obviously. I'll stay with 9spd probably for the near future so I can swap kit between the two bikes.
Ran my Inbred 1 x 10 over summer, 11-36 SLX cassette, shifter, mech & 32t 9spd Deore steel ring. Superstar XCR device kept the chain on all summer.
tbh If fat and unfit the last thing you want to do is reduce your (lower) gear range