Really like the idea of 1x chainring set up with disc brakes for road bike. But does it work? I ride hilly routes, 20% hills sometimes in Surrey, and have to try and keep up with road climb mates. Also worried about chain wear as the chain lines seem extreme. Thoughts?
I thought 1x on a road bike wouldn’t work, but someone pointed out you could get the same upper and lower ratios as on a compact chair set. I guess the only thing is you won’t have so many closely stacked ratios. No idea if that would be a problem or not. I went for a 2x11 in the end. With an 11-28 cassette and 36/52 front chainrings. Quite happy with that.
Got 1xAlfine on the commuter if that counts? Lacking top speed,spinning out at 25ish downhill,any faster requires more hill.,otherwise fine, really happy with it. Big climbs around here.so charging ri g sprocket to make it faster isn't really an option.
there's no issue replicating the range of say a compact double - 50/34 with 11/28 cassette has 375% range if I've got my maths right, which would equate to a range of an 11/42 cassette (more or less). It's more a case of jumps between gears, which you may or may not see as a problem
I do find my gravelly 36 - 10/42 a bit gappy at times but use it off road more
Pretty much as charliemort says- if you don't mind the gear spacing then range likely isn't an issue.
I actively like the wider spacing on MTB cassettes and it's also my cross bike, so I think it's bbrillian but plenty of others don't. Can you get a go on one?
I've been running 1x for the past 18 months to 2 years with absolutely no issues.
I'm running 42t up front and 10/42 cassette at the back. Some say they don't like this set up due to the jumps between gears but it doesn't bother me to be honest.
I'm regularly riding in Surrey Hills and have no more issues keeping up with faster mates than I did when I was running a 2x set up. I've done a week road riding in the Alps doing some of the big Cols and had absolutely no issues there. I was spinning out at 40+mph on the descents which is plenty fast enough for me!
If you don't mind gear spacing and massive ridiculous looking cassettes you mean 😉
What we need is a 12 Speed road cassette to squeeze the ratios in a bit!
I've just got the 3t exploro its a 44t up front and 11-42 on rear, I'm finding it sound and just improving my cadence. Like others have said I'm from a mtb background so don't really mind the jumps in gears
Running 1x10 on my road bike. 42 and 11-28. Works fine. I only changed because with a compact 2x10 I was always in the small front and lower end of the cassette or big front and upper end of the cassette constantly front shifting to find the best gear. 1x solved this.
I run 46 11-36
Really not very gappy
gives me 1.26 which is about equivalent to a 34-27 ish
top end - I’m rubbish at descending so I’m coasting before I’ll spin out.
My Roker Pro has 44 front and 10-42 out back. To be fair I don't ever feel the need for a higher gear to go faster but I have found myself pushing up some of the tarmac climbs here in Wales when my fitness was down a bit. I think a somewhat smaller front ring would be an advantage for me. Given the choice I would prefer 2x on this bike for the kind of riding I do.
Just give it a go.
I use 42T and 11-42 cassette, not had to walk up a hill yet, if you're concerned then there's lots of gear calculator apps you can use to find what 1x selection will match your current gear range.
If you're used to 1x mountainbike then 1x road is really no different. I can see die hard roadies getting their knickers in a twist about the gaps between gears, but for the rest of us its nit such an issue.
Chain wear is really no worse than 2x10 or 2x9 etc. There's really very little in it.
Surely it all depends on how fit you are and how steep the hills are. When I was fit I had a triple on the front of my xc bike and as it was just as 1x was becoming fashionable I made a conscious effort to only use the middle ring for a month or so to see how I got on. It wasn't an issue so just removed the inner and outer
Fast forward to the first month after the winter lay off and I really struggled. Moral of story... Gear your bike based on the least fit version of yourself or be happy with big jumps in your cassette if you are determined to go 1x regardless
Rode 1x10 cyclocross bike round the Fred last year and there were clear range issues at the top end - obviously we're not talking Surrey here but it was hilly riding nonetheless. Now on 1 x11 with the CX and thought a wide cassette would take care of things for this year's Fred, but it was actually cheaper and easier just to fit a double crankset.
I'm not bothered about gaps in ratios as far as just riding around is concerned, so I reckon 1x11 road can fit the bill if you spec it new. Converting an existing set up, though, can be less clear cut - more of an outlay for no real performance gain.
Too gappy. I run a 38T on my cross bike and 11-23 10 speed to keep the spacings tight. Yes I can get up over the Surrey Hills, and coast down them, and it's nice to use the 11T on the flat when feeling strong. But in reality it needs a 42T on he front, and that would make climbing hard work on proper hills. And for context, I'm 69kg and I ride 42x14 fixed on rides of 250 km and 2000+m of climbing.
I like the semi-compact 36/52. This feels like a real spread of gears. Compact 34/50 feels like the 34 is a bailout gear, and I hardly ever use it.
For one-off ~20% peak gradient climbs, 1x8 with 34T chainring and 11-30 cassette worked for me on the roads with the Wazoo, bit gappy at the easy gear end but I could live with it.
It was hill reps, doing that same steep hill several times in a session, that made me knees sore after the session and made me resort to 2x8 again.
I went for an 11 speed 11-40 cassette which just pulls the gaps in a little bit compared with 10-42 or 11-42. 42t up front works for my riding which is a mix of tarmac and mild off-road. Like a previous poster, I found on 2x I was constantly shifting at the front, 1x is so much sweeter, I won't be going back. Has to be said though that I'd already gone 1x on the mtb so was already adapting to bigger gaps between gears. I used to love a tightly spaced cassette, but now find I much prefer the other benefits of 1x...
What we need is a 12 Speed road cassette to squeeze the ratios in a bit!
What we need is a 10-36 SRAM cassette (11spd) so I can slot it straight in. All we have at the moment (in 11spd) is either a 10-42 from mtb, which is a bit too 'mtb' for me, or 11-36, which lacks the 10t option.
I currently use a 42t oval ring and either 11-36 or 11-34 at the back, which is fine, but a 10-36 would be ideal as it'd stretch the range a bit so I could get a slightly higher gear (10t)