Yeah, there were one or two others (I'd still kinda like a Poprad). I think the CD/Amazon had the closest to current gravel geometry, most things were closer to CX or touring.
As someone ~82Kg and my threshold being ~3.5W/Kg for 20mins, with ~13Kg for my road bike; water; kit; tools in pocket etc., all I know is I make a lot of use of my easiest gear 34/34 on the road once the gradient goes above ~10%.
On Saturday I was grinding at ~60rpm up the nasty ~17% ramp above Peniel for 4mins, as part of the Road To Hell climb.
On a less smooth surface, I'd definitely want at least one sprocket larger than my smallest chainring, if not several!
Lighter and the many more powerful members of the audience could get away with smaller dinner plates. 😉
1x GRX on new sonder camino Ti
it came 40t / 11-42t as standard, i stuck a 11-46T on not found a hill i couldn't pedal up yet, i'm more mtb'er than road, so i like a slightly lower gear,
on flat i'm pretty much in top 2-3 gears, on descents, it can run out of pedal, but i've had it upto 55kmph on a steeper gradient.
depends what you want out of the bike, 1x11 works for me, and offers plenty of range for having fun
I find that 1:1 on second gear is about right for me. I'm running a 38T oval chainring and 11-46 cassette on my knobly wheels, 11-42 on the slick-shod wheels. It works for me, there's not a lot that I can't ride up, and if it's steeper than that I'm probably suffering from lack of grip. I can happily spin up to mid/high 20s mph. I'm quite happy to freewheel past that.
I did, however, pick up a 2x left hand lever in case I ever wanted more gears. Though I'm probably more likely to take the ratchet out and use it as a dropper lever if I'm honest.
Live in Kent, so few short sharp climbs up the North Downs, but mostly "rolling" terrain. Also I do end up riding places that the mountain bike would have been more suitable.
ETA: I also suspect that I'm in a minority in that I quite like the Shimano 11 speed 11-46 cassettes, they feel like a good combination of 10 reasonably close ratios and a bail out this is steep / I'm tired option.
All my MTBs are wide-range 1x but for my mixed use (off-road, bikepacking, commute, road) Sonder Camino gravel bike 2x was the only sensible answer to get a suitable range. I went with GRX 48/31 front, 11-34 rear. IMO 1x is great if your riding is mostly off-road and you don’t care about having a higher gear for the road and descents. Or it’s fine with a bigger chainring if you are happy with higher gears on the flat(ish) and are not worried about low gears for steep climbs or a loaded bike. If you mix your riding/terrain and don't want to compromise then 2x will give you a much wider range. Otherwise you would need to go with a big range 1x (10-50+) cassette such as Eagle or Campag Ekar to get the spread of high and low ratios. Or you could swap the chainring depending on your planned ride - sounds like a pain to me! What I like about 2x is the ability to bulk change gears with the chainrings as you start a climb or crest over the top. IMO this is much better than multiple rear changes and really suits gravel/road style riding on a light and responsive rigid bike. My 2x has been no more difficult to look after than 1x and with the clutch mech the chain is perfectly secure on the roughest of tracks. I’ve not weighed it, but the weight of the front mech and extra chainring will largely be offset by the smaller/lighter cassette. So, for a mixed use gravel bike I’d recommend 2x despite being a complete 1x convert for MTB.
Worth considering that if your loaded riding is an occasional thing, swapping in a lower chainring should be fairly straightforward with 1x.
Personally I’d likely go 1x on a gravel bike that might occasionally don luggage and 2x on a load lugger that might occasionally get made a bit more sporty.
The 2x would have the lowest possible big ring i thought I could get away with and a small small to match though, set up as more of a 1x + granny. Last time I did that it was a 40/28 set of Mtb chainrings mounted on a triple to nudge the chain line in.
When does steep gravel become scree?
Of course you are all missing the best option. A triple. You get a nice compact block at the back, a potentially wider range of gears or no nasty gaps.
What the 1x fans forget is that whilst they bang on about simplicity, they are ditching the simplest, most fool proof moving part on a bike, the front mech and replacing it with a complex clutch mech that has to be so long that it nearly drags the ground. They'll be having a 3rd wheel soon below the cage! Chuck in a huge, heavy and expensive cassatte and in many ways it is a backward step. I agree that some design features prohibit a front mech but I question their need for real humans who are not all cycling gods.
My current fave bike to ride on gravel and easy MTB, eg the Verderers here in the Forest is my Campag kitted triple set up with an 8 speed cassette. Does everything. If only there was a hydro braked triple front changer for drop bars.
+1 for a triple, use mine effectively as 1x by sticking to the 39t middle ring 90% of the time but have a bail out low & high gears when I need them
1X here. Bought and it WAS the only thing I was going to change about the bike. 40t + 11-42 was fine for gravel but lacked a bit on the road. Not enough high end and too big gaps at tope end. However with the following change I have no intention of going 2X now.
In the winter I just run it as a road/winter bike and for that I have swapped to 46t and a 11-36 sunrace cassette which has no gaps in the high end. It is perfect.
Only issue is that for changing from gravel to road, I really need to change my chainring too. As I only do that once a season it doesn't really matter.
I went from 3x to 2x as I wanted the hydro brakes. I can't say I've missed the triple as I've not lost any range. I was a bit lazy at keeping it in the middle ring too.
get a dropper lever and then you wont have the option of 2x 3x, that problem solved. ;0)
agree my 1x is great offroad and for a quick smash around, but if i was doing longer miles i'd go 2x,
Unloaded - I find 44 on 11-40 just fine for both Road and Gravel. It's not too spiny and not too grindy. I can get up Naish Hill in Bristol on it, or climb out of Weston in Bath upto the racecourse on it. Sure, it's hard, but it's doable. Its just on the okay side of things on loose, technical stuff, but if you lose momentum, you can't get going again.
For bike packing/touring i'm also on 54/34 and 11-40.
Hmm. Longest ride of the year for me today at a humble 90km on good gravel and tarmac.
38t Garabaruk oval up front, 11-40 XT cassette out back. Chain liberally held together by Putoline as the whole drivetrain is well past 1% wear and the Putoline seems to be the only thing holding it together!
Was perfect for everything. Maybe I've just got stronger since last year. In fact the only thing wrong was the rattling of my 2x 105 shifter, no amount of insulating tape seems to stop it flapping about!
Possibly regretting investing in that 46/30 Absolute Black/Ultegra chainset for the new bike now... 😖