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After a bit of advice, looking to try a 1x10 setup, sunrace cassette and deore 2x cranks. Looking to buy a 32 tooth nw chainring and bolts for the front. At the back should I go for an expander ring and lose the 17t sprocket or a whole new cassette with a better spread of teeth?
Riding is mostly in the Peak so climbing is a requirement.
Thanks
These days I'd just get a cassette: a Sunrace 11-42T cassette is £36 (Shimano Deore is the same price) while an extender is £22.
Dropping the 17T cog might be noticeable but it depends on your riding - when I used an extender it was noticeable if I used a 32T chainring but not when using a 30T one since the gap on the latter tended to occur at about the point I went from uphill to downhill. YMMV of course.
Depends how much life is in your current cassette. Price wise not much in it these days. Probably better/simpler to buy a new cassette and chain anyway but more so if your current cassette has any signs of wear.
Presume you don't want 1x11 (new mech + derailleur).
Presume you don't want 1 x 12 ( New mech , shifter , cassette , wheel )
PlanetX has some dirt cheap aerozine 40t expanders at the moment.
I find the peak challenging on 1x10 but I only visit 2-3 times a year and the rest of my riding has only very short steep climbs. If you are used to it, then I would say give 1x10 a go.
Edit: with a wide ratio cassette.
X11 and x12 out of the picture owing to costs. Absolute black chainrings OK? £20 seems a good price on crc.
New chain needed owing to increased number of teeth or are they nw specific?
Might stick with 2x10 if 1x10 is a struggle in the Peak or would 32f 40r be enough or maybe 42r?
Cheers
If your rear mech is a long cage one then I’d get a Sunrace 11-46 and a rear derailleur extender off eBay <£3.
New chain needed due to number of teeth.
Superstar or Uberbike may be cheaper for chainring.
The answer to any gearing question is ...
it depends.
My 1x bikes are 30f, 42r and I'm rarely in the 42, that's in the Dales, Lakes and Scotland. So I'd say 32f/40r would be OK for me.
AB chainrings are fine - £20 is an excellent price - I have them on 2 out of 3 of my bikes and I'm just waiting for the original Raceface chainring to die before replacing it with an AB.
Chains aren't NW specific.
AB chainrings are awesome. I've had the full fat ones from their own store and the cheaper less detailed ones they sell on CRC (possibly not still, seemed to be out of stock last I looked). Both equally good, one prettier than the other.
Personally, given a choice of expander or whole cassette I'd go whole cassette every time.
Would the chainring need shimming or are they machined with the offset needed for the correct chain line?
Any requirement for new chainring bolts either longer or sorter?
They are machined for the correct offset. I had one bike where I needed to move a BB shim/washer from DS to NDS (or vice-versa) to get the best line when I changed cranksets
You'll possibly need shorter chainring bolts - it's a while since I set one up as I'm moving my bikes over to direct mount. When you get to the smaller chainrings they are threaded themselves rather than the "traditional" bolt and sleeve. With oval chainrings then things change again as the spider arms can foul things so the shorter dimension will use some thinner bolts.
Best to give yourself some time before needing the bike to sort it all out
Im using a shimano XT 11-36 and a 32 tooth XT 11 speed chainring . Works fine.
a 11-46 10 speed cassette will have some big ratio gaps, i tried a 11-42 and hated it for that reason The 11-36 is much tidier , small gaps in between ratios and the 32-11 ratio will handle all but the very steepest most technical climbs, for me anyway...
I had a Sunrace 11-42 cassette (10 speed) with a 32t nw chainring and it wasn’t bad. It pretty much kept the same lowest gear I had on the bike as a 2x10 but I lost a bit of top end (not a problem for the riding I do generally).
The only place I struggled a bit (but had done before anyway) was at Cwmcarn up the Cafell climb. But I’m crap at climbing.
These days I’ve got a 30t chainring with a 10-42 cassette and that’s better still. Even considering going 28t up front as I barely ever use the 10t highest cog at the back.
Slightly ot but not by much.
Put one of those 40t rings in the PX sale on to a gravel bike this week. And added a hanger extender off ebay.
Works spot on with an 10sp ultegra derailleur.
Total cost less than a tenner.
Get one of the Sunrace cassettes.
And a pilo link and enjoy