Hi all!

Not been on here in ages, so apologies if this has been done to death – noticed a lot of CX/ gravel themed threads on the forum; a sign of changing times, presumably!

Anyway, I’m a fashion victim too and have been really getting into CX/ Gravel/ whatever people call it these days. Being a mountain biker at heart, I got a bit carried away and folded my big chainring in half, which gives me the excuse I was looking for to get shut of the thing and crush my front mech in a vise.

So, what sort of ratios are people running on 1x setups for drop bar stuff? I haven’t had a front mech on my mountain bike for years and have always managed fine on Calderdale/ Lake District type steep stuff with an old fashioned 32:36 1×10 setup.

I’ve got Sram Apex 10spd shifter and mech, so I dunno if that limits me to a certain size of cassette or what?

Am I likely to have any chain retention issues? No chain device is fine on the mtb with a narrow wide…

I suppose climbing ability is preferable to top speed.

Any top tips?

Cheers!

I can’t imagine going with a single ring up front on my CX. For me, it would destroy the very thing that makes CX so appealing: that is, as a more road-oriented person anyway, it allows me to ride in a road-like way, but gives me access to off-road trails.

When I want one ring, I’ll use my mountain bike.

I refer the gentleman to my previous answer. SRAM Red, 38T narrow wide (130bcd) and 11/23 for road and 12/32 off road. I run a gevenalle BURD shifter and rear deraileur.

Similar to TiRed I currently run an 38 abs black oval, 10 speed 32 cassette, 105 derailleur in the stiffest spring setting and a shortish chain as my race setup and it’s fine for out and about on rolling stuff. I’d use a 36 cassette if you were throwing in harder climbs on the reg.

38T Raceface NW and an 10spd 11-32 SRAM cassette here with an XT non-clutch medium cage mech and 105 shifters – proper mongrel drivetrain! It all works well though.

I spin out at about 28mph and sometimes grind up steep climbs so I’d probably go for a 34 or 36t on the cassette when I replace it.

As a setup though I really like and have only dropped a chain once when it was properly gunked up – as with MTB 1x* you have to make a compromise on range and ratio closeness but I can’t see myself going back to a double unless I was planning some long distance roadying.

I run 11speed, 11-40 cassette (sunrace) with a 42t NW ring. This gives a great range of gears, and the gaps aren’t too huge (Given I run 1x on the MTB, I’ve already adapted to the bigger jumps between gears anyway).

You just need to watch out for mech compatibility if you try going for a wide range 10speed setup (e.g. 11-40) as sometimes the mechs struggle to cope with the larger sprockets. I’m on SRAM Rival so it was designed to cope with 10-42, so it works fine.

If you don’t go for a wide range cassette, you’ll just have to compromise towards the top or bottom end gearing a bit…

Much prefer it to my previous 34/46 11-32 setup…

gear-calculator.com is your friend in ‘comparison’ mode!

10-42 sram xd cassette

40t upfront

I use the bike everywhere.

for road/commuting/towpath stuff: 42t oval and a 11-32 out back

for rougher/bigger/multi days: 38t oval and 11-34

on the rigid 29er: 32t oval and 10-42

I’m running SRAM Apex 10spd shifters, SRAM mtb clutch mech and a Shimano 11-36 10sp cassette and it works perfectly.

The exact rear mech escapes me – think it could have been a SRAM 9spd X7 but would have to check tonight.

There is a little circlip and pin that lets you remove the LH shift lever to make things a bit cleaner.

I’m running pretty much the same as Mick, except with an X9 mech. AbsoluteBlack N/W ring and hasn’t dropped a chain either doing CX stuff or road. I switch tyres from time to time, and never really felt ‘undergeared’ up or down. I think I spun out at about 40mph riding down Gairnshiel the other weekend, but that’s fine for me!

I would add that I think 38T is the smallest 130bcd ring available, and may not suit all rideres. Absolute Black sent me a 110bcd first, which was annoying, but since installed, I don’t give it a second thought about dropping the chain.

And the SRAM Red Carbon cranks are awesomely light. In fact the whole bike is extremely light and rather a joy to ride. road and off-road.

I can no longer take any of your posts seriously after seeing the position of your levers.

Cheers for the replies. Am I likely to require a new rear mech then if I want a wider ratio cassette? What sort of range do you think I could get out of a Sram Rival mech? I assume shimano/ sram intercompatibilty is out of the question as with mtb stuff?

Bookmarking. 🙂

Dunno – nick the cassette off your MTB and try the Rival mech to see if it shifts onto the 36T? AFAIK the SRAM and Shimano MTB 10 speed cassettes are a direct swap in terms of sprocket spacing.

I’m running 36T NW up front on an MTB chainset – has all been perfect for a season’s hilly cross racing and hilly winter road. Will check exactly which mech when I get home.

Correction – it is a GX 10sp mtb clutch mech. I think 9 and 10 sram mtb are both 1:1 actuation ratio so you just pair the appropriate shifter and cassette.

I run sram rival 2×11 shifters

And an “apex one” rear mech on the 10-42. Its designed to operate that range.

TiRed – what does that weigh in at? I have the disc version – plug 5 – probably different geo.

I run lots of 1x combos, but I’m currently on a 40t cassette and blackspire 36t ring with xt clutch mech and ultegra shifters made possible with wolftooth tanpan (I run it inline). Perfect for long days in big hills.

I’d go for a TiRed setup; SRAM Red chainset. But if you want to do plenty of road stuff aswell, I’d go for a bigger front ring and a cassette with more range, as I think you’d spin out quite quickly with just a 38T on the road (if you get a tail wind etc.)

38×11 is a bit spinny, but it is predominately a cross bike for race duties. Weight is about 7.5 kg. When you pick it up you notice just how light it is! And the levers are set as per all my road bikes. I spend at least 30% of my time on the drops, more off road. Position is set for that.

38t (104 BCD) with 11-32 9 speed cassette. Cheap as chips and sufficient rang to for most stuff.