[Closed] Anyone gone 1 x on road bike and been happy with results

Doesn't answer your question properly but a few guys at our club run 1x gravel bikes as winter bikes, with full guards and 28-32mm road tyres.

They all usually say "it's ok". Faster guys say they struggle a bit on the fast club rides, slower guys on my slower rides seem to struggle up hills. So seems to me you end up compromised at one end of the gear range or the other without spending on trying to find the perfect chainring/cassette combination.

I'm staying 2x for the foreseeable on the road bike based on what I've seen and heard.

I'd do it all day for a winter bike but probably not for the full monty road bike -
Depends on where you live. I did the Fred Whitton on the cross bike 38oval 11-32 and the limitations were obvious, but that's an extreme example of needing a big spread of gears. Flatter, rolling territory would be fine.

Also depends on your roadying - if you like getting stuck into the local chainy, or throwing some sprints in with your mates etc then a 44 isn't going to get it done.

I had a 1x10 on my Whyte that was great for a winter commute, but no massive hills round here and no real need for massive speed.

New road bike is 10-42 on 46

From my rough calculations the range is slightly bigger than the compact I had before, with the overlap at the easier end. So for me climbing is easier, and the hardest gear about the same. If you regularly spin along on the flat at 25-30 mph then it won't work for you because there are not a lot of gears there. Likewise if you want to hit 40+ on the downs because I spin out about 35. Same if you are fussy about cadence.

I like it. The range works for me, but I'm not super fast. The gaps are less than expected. The silence is good. So is the simplicity. I think it looks good too.

But then I fall for all the marketing / tech bollocks, so ymmv

It's not a road bike, just a skinny tyred hybrid but I went 1x on mine with a mtb cassette and a 48T ring and it's worked great. I wouldn't climb an alp on it as it lacks low grinding gears but I don't need 'em.

Basically depends on your riding I reckon. The compromises are the same as mtb but more so. I can live without the low gears but I don't want to live without the high, I think most people would go for a more middle of the road approach.

Exceptionally interesting and timely thread.

The range of gears should be similar to my existing set up apart from loosing some top end speed with 2 teeth less on the chainring but the oval should compensate acording to absolute black marketing 🤔
I think i will order a chainring and new chain and give it a go.

Got it on my winter bike. Fine for pootling about in the lovely crappy weather but I do find there are a couple of gaps just where I want to tweak my cadence a bit.

Nothing you'd notice on maybe a cross or mountain bike as theres a lot more stop/starting but I've had a few times where it's just either too low, or too high a gear for my liking especially on decent long stretches of road. And that was on a 11-32, the jumps might be even more noticeable on a 34 max.

New disk braked bike for this winter and I've put on outer chainring again.

For bestest bike, I'd maybe say no regardless.

as above, not so bothered by the extremes of gear range but the gaps between cogs can really piss me off and quite often want to be in a gear that's between two on the cassette
this may bother you more or less depending whether you have a steady cadence or not

My winter bike is also a CX with road tyres on it. Running 42t and 11-42.

I think it's great for around here in the Peak District. Mostly long and steep climbs with descents so step and fast that I'm not pedalling anyway!

Don't ride on the flat much at all anymore but the gaps between gears weren't ideal but you quickly got used to it

I can't see why not...

I used to winter train on fixed 48:18 as did quite a few of the club racers over the winter. You get dropped on the fast descents, but normally lead all the climbs (as you have no choice other than to stand up and try and keep the cadence up).

My riding is usually flat to rolling hills with some short steep sections. I do like hills though and prefer riding the smaller lanes

Coming from an MTB background, when I first got a road bike I thought 1x would be ideal. I even ran a commuter like it for a while.

Now I ride with a faster group I don't think it would be versatile enough to handle big climbs in the Peak one week, and full gas chain gangs the next. Currently on a compact with 28t cassette.

Not road but I run 1x11 on my gravel bike which I love. I would have it (probably 1x12 actually) on my proper road bike if I ever upgraded, personally I think it would be fine as long as you weren't racing or doing race-style training i.e. fast club runs.

Currently on 42T oval front, and 11-36t rear. Fairly flat terrain round here (SW London and surrounding area), but have happily been up Box Hill on that gearing. Don't think I actually used the 36. With that gearing I'm fine doing c. 50miles with around 3,000ft of climbing. Not huge, but I just get bored of the stop/start of traffic lights etc... more than physically knackered.

I'll pop in a 11-40/42/46 when I take it offroad - but that's only a few times a year for events.

Dunno but for any ratio obsessives that haven't seen this bang goes the rest of your afternoon

https://ritzelrechner.de/

You have my gearing AICMFP, glad you like it. My winter bike is 1x1 42x15 fixed for club rides and rolling terrain.

One tooth on the back is three on the front. I’d go 44T and expect to work a bit on the hills. Oval rings limit your spinning if you are over 100 rpm, if that matters.

My road bike is the only one I have with a front mech the others, including the winter bike, are 1x. There's too much variation in speed around here (edge of Yorkshire Dales) for a 1x with anywhere near the same range to have the close ratios that the road riding requires. On Sunday I was using 34:25 to get up Lofthouse before the elite womens' race got there and 50:11 blasting back along the dale trying to keep up with a nippy chain gang.

Winter/commuter bike has 38T up front with 11-36T at the back but it's hefty - 13kg so not one to be blasting around on.

I have a cx bike that doubles up as a road bike & gravel bike , i ride it on the road out here in the Alps with a 46x 10-42 and it gives a great range ( it’s pretty light though at around 7.4kg) , it makes a big difference running a Cassette with a 10t small cog, enables a pretty wide range of gears. I rode the 75k Jereboam Gravel on it last week too (with 40mm tyres ) .

I'm nearly done with assembling my winter/commuter/tourer build which is 1x9 (11-34) with a 42t chainring, friction shifting and a rapid rise mech.

The drivetrain is together now and playing with it on the stand it's going to be hilarious to ride, the lever is in the wrong place (downtube) and works backwards, nobody else will ever be able to re-wire their brain to operate it...

But the overall range makes sense to me as I'm comparing it with the 38/50 : 12-30 gearing I've been using on my normal road bike for a while now.

As it's friction I can play with different cassettes to my hearts content and I might try a 10 speed 11-40 (the mech looks to have sufficient reach) which is of course a proper MTB cassette these days.

On my CX/Gravel bike I've been running 1x9 with a 38t and an 11-32 cassette for some time but I've fitted an 11-34 (same as the winter roadie to extend range.

The only bike I still have with multiple chainrings is my proper (now just for summer use) Road bike, if my winter 1x experiment pays off I might start looking at changing that to 1x...

I’ve been running a Mason Bokeh as my road bike for the past here years or so with 1x11 gearing, 42t and 10/42 cassette, and it’s been faultless.

Personally I don’t  have an issue with the gaps between the ratios but that’s a personal thing. I’ve done week long Alps and Pyrenees trips on it with the 1x gearing and 32mm tyres and never struggled with the gear range. The only time I’ve wanted more gears was the final ascent of Ventoux when we did the Cingles challenge a couple of years ago but in all honesty any gearing wouldn’t have helped by then. For club rides the only limiting factor is the rider, not the gearing.

I wouldn’t go back to a double set up now as the 1x works perfectly for me.

Thanks for the gear chart - interesting reading.......

42t or 44t oval on a 10-42 11spd here. Wouldn't go back to two rings.

I run 1X on all my bikes bar one. My "fast" bike.

Its the only situation that I feel let down by 1X which is on those fast club runs or chain gangs. Here, the more subtle nuances of cadence and gearing require (for me) closer gaps between gears. Its never a top end, low end problem as you can generally match those to a 2X system. Its just the smaller jumps between gears that is sometimes missing.

New road bike is 10-42 on 46

I think that would work for me, currently have a 48 outer on my gravel bike and its fine on group rides but I dont really see why not having a double is an advantage on the road.

My cross/road bike is another on 10-42 at the back. Swap between 38 and 42 at the front depending on whether I'm doing a lot of road or off road.

Either of those combinations have me still pedaling at 30mph which is enough for me. Generally I get on better with the spacing on mountain bike cassettes than road ones- I always found myself double shifting on an 11-28- but I'm pretty solitary when on the road bike so if I rode in a group more I might appreciate the finer spacing.