[Closed] Converting to 1x10 gears

Hi mate apart from the obvious rear mech,shifters,cassette and chain the only real thing you would need is a single chain ring rental,e13 etc and a basic chain guide ie e13 superstar mpart. Chainring wise you just need to check your bolt spacing most cranks are 104 and then which size ring 34 tooth seems a good option.
On a naughty note I have a complete 10 speed group set which might be of interest my email is in profile if it is.
Hope this helps a bit.
Bats.

Some mates of mine are now running 30t front rings and loving them. It means you have almost all the low gears are regular 24t granny ring would give and while you lose the top gears, they still don't miss those on anything other than roads and fire roads, which we don#t tend to ride.

I've been considering a 1x10 set-up for a while but rode a Demo SB66 at the weekend with 1x10 and just found it totalled under geared. To be fair it was mostly on fire road type 'trails' but on anything pointing slightly down hill just ran out of gears.

Love the 1x10 but need to sort a decent spread of gears. Or amybe just sell a kidney and buy an XX1 groupset. 🙂

To be fair it was mostly on fire road type 'trails' but on anything pointing slightly down hill just ran out of gears.

If you're going to ride an SB66 on fire roads then the gearing of 1x10 is the last issue in a long list of 'miss match between bike and application' issues.

If you're spinning out on 32x11 on any DH other than tarmac and fire roads then you're clearly a quicker rider than 95% of people on this forum.

Sorry for pointing out the obvious - but what the cassette is has more to do with if you have lower gears than the fact that it's 10speed. You may have a 10 speed with bottom gear of 32.

Or a 9 speed with a bottom of 36. Which brings me to the point, if going the whole hog to 10 speed is too much money then you can just get a new 9 cassette with a lower gear (Shimano do 36 9 speed now, or get a 34) and a chain device and single chainring and jobs done.

I run 1x9 with a 1:1 bottom gear which is slighly over geared for big days in hills but only just.

Probably a stupid question for most, but why do you need a chain device? Surely there's enough tension in the system to stop the chain junping off??

Probably a stupid question for most, but why do you need a chain device? Surely there's enough tension in the system to stop the chain junping off??

It's a question that gets asked on here at least once a week so it's clearly a question that people need answering and therefore not stupid.

There are two groups of rider/people on this. Those that are riding at a pace over any and all terrain where their chain rarely if ever falls off and those that are riding at a pace where the opposite is true.

Speed, the roughness of terrain, your skill in finding the 'smooth' line and bike set up will all play a part in determining the frequency of chain loss.

There are a lot of people, myself included, who could never get away with not having at least a top guide (NOT a front mech) as the way we ride derails the chain every five minutes. There are other people who do not fall into this category.

No one is right or wrong, we are all different and we all ride differently. But there is a simple rule about 'speed'; the faster you're going the more likely you will be to lose your chain.

32X11 too low I have sounds out in 34 but not 36 on technical trail. 30t sounds mad really. Maybe we have straighter trails here.

32X11 too low I have sounds out in 34 but not 36 on technical trail. 30t sounds mad really. Maybe we have straighter trails here.

Maybe, but on a recent trip to Wales and the Peak I clocked a peak speed of 31mph on both days down the big final descents that were pretty straight and only rocky in parts. Peak speed was obviously on the smoother sections but the average on the whole was around 22mph. That was on 32x11.

We're hitting 18-20mph on our local woodsy, rooty, loamy tracks and that is more than fast enough.

I crashed at 18mph 10 days ago and the force of the impact was enough to shatter my upper arm.

I run 32 on all mine with normal 9 speed rings and e13 top guide. I am never under geared. I find it fine for 24 hour races, in the big mountains in highland and lake district. Only upped it to go to the alps. I spun out once on a fire road. if you need more gears your trails are too tame.

10 speed shimano & 9 speed sram have the same amount of cable pull (1:1) so you could just buy a 10 speed shimano shifter, cassette chain and front ring of your choice if you want to save a bit. I used to run an old x9 mech paired up with a 10 speed xt shifter/cassette no problems. If you have an 11-36 cassette you won't need anything smaller than a 32 on the front.

That is true, old sram should mean you don't need a new mechanism.

To be honest, I don't see the point in going single ring other than to run a chain device and keep the chain secure. Otherwise why not enjoy the extra gears, what would be the point of losing gears at the top and bottom of the range? As you can tell by the debate on here, you will be compromising. In my view, the compromise is worth it for the fact that you won't ever lose your chain and get it tangled up.

I shall try 1 x 10 as I don't need the other 2 chain rings and my mech always picks up grit that requires me to prod it out with a stick before it works.
My old 8speed was shot so with my new slx and 1x10 I will save 370g which helps.

traildog - Member

Otherwise why not enjoy the extra gears, what would be the point of losing gears at the top and bottom of the range?

It's a bit like singlespeed, only less so 😉 Adds a bit of challenge/pain to things which otherwise lack it. But not as much.

Otherwise why not enjoy the extra gears, what would be the point of losing gears at the top and bottom of the range

Simpler, quieter and with experience of riding, more effective as you're always in the right front ring and don't have to hunt for the right gear.

Less cluter on your handlebars and it saves about 450g in weight, which is significant enough on a bigger travel trail/AM bike.

I still fail to see why anyone would want to ditch a perfectly good 9 speed set up for 10 speed. 9 speed cassettes are available in 11-34 teeth, 10 speed 11-36. How often is the extra 2 teeth going to make a difference?
Surely the money would be better spent on upgrading wheels, brakes or suspension, or even a weekend riding somewhere really nice?

Weight saving was the big one for me. My Anthem weighed 23lbs. The only way to save a pound without spending about 2 grand was one by ten. Consider it a normal 11-32 nine speed cassette with a bailout and closely spaced gears. The gap between gears on the nine speed 36t cassette is too big for my taste.

Also the ten speed stuff shifts better(an awful lot better, it is quite noticeable), the chains and cassettes last longer and the cassettes are a lot lighter than the nine sped 36t thing.

Mostly Balanced - Member

I still fail to see why anyone would want to ditch a perfectly good 9 speed set up for 10 speed. 9 speed cassettes are available in 11-34 teeth, 10 speed 11-36. How often is the extra 2 teeth going to make a difference?

More than you might think tbh. And if you don't feel you need the low gears, you can go up a size on the front (nobody seems to doubt whether there's a notable difference between a 36 and a 34 tooth front...)

But what made me change was the clutchy mechs, they really lend themselves to 1x setups. I'd not have swapped without that.

Surely the money would be better spent on upgrading wheels, brakes or suspension, or even a weekend riding somewhere really nice?

And if you've already done these upgrades then the drive train is next.

Slight hijack but i am looking to go do this but cannot decide on chain device, what are people using is it best with a simple top or something top and bottom. Will use a clutch rear mech but dropping the chain was always a problem on my 2 x 9 till I fitted a stinger.

More than you might think tbh. And if you don't feel you need the low gears, you can go up a size on the front

I think I'm going to undermine my arguement here. I ride singlespeed almost everywhere, including road so I could just say MTFU. But, if I change the ratio on any of my bikes by just a single tooth then they do feel very different. Hmmmm?
When it comes to gears though I still think [b]eight[/b] speed was the pinnacle of usefulness vs durability.

TBh the number of gears doesn't make much difference to me at all, I'd be happy with maybe 5 or 6 if everything else worked as well and I had the ranges. If they made clutch mechs and 11-36 cassettes for 9-speed I'd still be on that. (and tbh if they made nice kit for 8, I'd probably still be on that!)

My commuter glories in its 7-speed cheapness, I can replace the whole drivetrain for less than it costs for a cassette on the mtb.

Great stuff thanks for the info, now I know what I need but not sure it's worth the bother 🙂

now I know what I need but not sure it's worth the bother

Another triumph for the STW hive mind.

If you've already got 2x9 then I'd go 1x9 first and run that until it wears out, then go 1x10. If you don't like 1x9 you're unlikely to like 1x10.

To be honest, I don't see the point in going single ring other than to run a chain device and keep the chain secure. Otherwise why not enjoy the extra gears, what would be the point of losing gears at the top and bottom of the range?

I personally find it suits my riding, it's not a compromise, I've never walked up anything I could ride with a smaller chain ring. If I did, then I'd go back to a double. YMMV.

I personally do find the wider 10 speed cassettes make it easier, never tried with an 11-34, but I suspect I'd miss the gear at one end or t'other.

Right then this what I now have purchased

Sram x0 rear and shifter - eBay
Xt 11-36 cassette- Ebay
Renthal 36t chain ring -eBay
Sram chain - crv
£125 spent.

I'm using my slx middle ring and front mech. Not managed to lose my chain yet. Ridden all my normal bumpy bits and steps.

Sram x0 rear and shifter - eBay
Xt 11-36 cassette- Ebay
Renthal 36t chain ring -eBay
Sram chain - crv
£125 spent.

Good choices there.

I've run 11-36 with a 36t ring all season. Last year I ran 1x9 with 11-34 and a 34t.