1x systems – what are the benefits?

@edenvalleyboy A good proportion of those doing long ITTs use 1x drivetrains, there are some who do them on singlespeed but they’re weird! Tends to be the rider that’s the deciding factor.

Depending on how fit I feel (or how bumpy the route is) I’ll use either a 30T or 32T NW chainring with an 11- 40T cassette, currently I’ve a 32T oval chainring on. If I have to walk anything then I’d be walking with a 3x drivetrain as well, so I’ve not lost anything there. At the top end by the time I spin out I’m going quickly enough that I’d be free-wheeling anyway.

On a good day I’m average at best and I manage with 1x just fine.

edenvalleyboy – Member

If i’m not mistaken 2x is still the choice for Enduro winners like Rachel Atherton for precisly this reason.

Rachel Atherton isn’t an enduro winner. Not because she couldn’t, I think, if she was happy to distract from winning all the dh. Her brother’s an enduro winner, and uses 1x usually.

Tracy Moseley likes 2x, and Greg Callaghan, and I think Nico Lau and a few others but this year’s EWS winners Ravanel and Rude (who also won 2015) both use 1x. You can never tell to what extent it’s a personal choice of course, some of the bikes won’t do 2x and drivetrain sponsors have different strengths and weaknesses too. (I could be wrong but it seemed like most 2x riders were on Shimano- Shimano’s 1x options are still second rate whereas SRAM have a big marketing push for 1x so that could account for a lot. But the clear majority of bikes I saw at the EWS were 1x.

Not that it’s really all that relevant to us knobbers mind. But for me 1x has all the gear range I want, it’s lighter and more reliable, deals better with orrible mud… THe drawbacks for me are way, way smaller than the benefits but that’s just me. A lot of the perceived drawbacks of either system seem to be based on misconceptions though which is a shame.

Also, a lot of rhe drawback is cost but that mostly comes when switching parts- if you have a 2x bike then switching to 1x feels expensive, but if you buy a 1x bike or you don’t already have the drivetrain for something you build, it’s not. You get NX on £600 On Ones.

when SRAM brings the 10-50 rear casette to the masses there will be no reason to run front mechs . At the moment there is a bit of a compromise compared to running a double or triple front in terms of gear ratios . Personally I think 1x is way better , also I like to run an oval front ring , try doing that with a 2x or 3x transmission and you will discover how bad front shifting can be .

Presumably the likes of Chris Froome have Di2 to sort the shifting out on their oval chainrings? (Purely speculation, I’ve never tried oval rings on a road bike).

@nikk…you write Sorry folks, I don’t agree at all. I’m an, at best, average rider, .

Maybe you’d be a better rider if you didn’t ride 1x. 😀

Sorry, but that doesn’t put you anywhere near “average”. Don’t make the mistake of thinking a small elite of “better” riders puts you anywhere near the middle of the bell curve! 😆

Is the correct answer!

Get a gear calculator. Work out your current range. Work out a few 1x options. Go ride a few favourite local trails, staying in the range that a 1x system will give you. Then decide.

I find 1x OK for wazzing round the local forest trails but much prefer 2x for bikepacking as I’ll be carrying a load and will often have long, faster transitions between off-road or more technical sections.

Oh- and if you are so mechanically challenged that you can’t set up a front derailleur then you already have your answer.

I went 1x a while ago. Suits me, still riding up stuff I rode up with 3×9. Only very occasionally do I miss the harder gears, not often enough to worry though.

My only issue is im dropping the chain loads when descending. I’ve got a standard shimano xt setup. Can’t shorten the chain anymore, clutch on mech is on and working. Before I splash out on a chain device should I get a narrow/wide front ring? I’ll assume you don’t need to change the chain as well (as long as it’s not to worn)
Oh and anyone trying/running an oval N/W ring… any recommendations to fit to a shimano crank!

Ta all

Absolute black are pretty cheap and work well . Just make sure you get the one that fits your crank .

MartynS – Member

My only issue is im dropping the chain loads when descending. I’ve got a standard shimano xt setup. Can’t shorten the chain anymore, clutch on mech is on and working. Before I splash out on a chain device should I get a narrow/wide front ring?

Oh god yes, it’s the thing that makes 1x drivetrains work. Chain devices can still be useful but they’re less good than the chainring. It’s like sorcery tbh.

Running AB 34T oval on my 26″ HT. Planning a 32T oval on my 27.5 FS. The 26″ did have an 11-42T but now has a 10-42T sram to go on both. Always have the option of an 11-46T cassette or round 30T ring (104 bcd cranks) if needed for a particular trip. Stuck with XTR cranks but might switch to some direct mount RF for the FS if I find 32 oval still a bit big.

I do like the oval rings though. At worst you can use the same size as your round one but get a bit of extra top end while having an easier time in the same gear at low end as the off power is not so sapping.

I like it. I’ve run it since 2010 and have used it for 24 hour races with great success when I was fitter, multi day tours of the Highlands, big mountains, normal riding in the Peak District, at trail centres. I’m rarely wanting for a harder or easier gear.

I can see a number of situations where 1x wouldn’t work, particularly on mountain bikes used for touring, for less fit people, people who live in big mountains, where it’s particularly flat or there’s a lot of road to link trails.

For me the benefits are, mainly, a big reduction in weight and expense.

@MartynS

I’m running an Absolute Black 32T oval chainring on the Solaris and an AB 28T oval direct mount chainring on the fat bike. Both are NW. A NW chainring does more for chain retention than a clutch mech IME, not had a dropped chain in over two years even clattering clumsily around Gisburn. No need to change the chain.

whitestone – Member

A NW chainring does more for chain retention than a clutch mech IME,

No doubt at all, tbh clutch does practically nothing for retention in a 1x setup (source: Had a first gen XT clutch mech, it broke in the alps so I took teh clutch out and threw it in the bin).

It more or less goes:

Full DH double guide
Narrow wide and topguide
Narrow wide

And there’s no point listing the other options because they’re all essentially pointless

Today I went to glentress. I used my bottom gear of 22/34 a couple of times as I tired ( I like to spin a low gear) and I used my top gear of 36/11 a couple of times. (2×9 setup) You don’t get that range with any 1x system unless you have a 50 tooth then you get huge gaps between gears

It can work for some folks. It wouldn’t work for me. Weight saving? really how heavy is that dinnerplate cassette over a 34/11? How much is that compared to the weight of a front mech small chainring and cable and lever? It will only be a few grammes weight saving I would bet.

Worse chain line in climbing gears when you are really using the torque as well which must lead to quicker wear.

I have gone 1x and its fine. To be fair I’m no quicker or slower than the double it replaced. A mate still used 3x and he’s very fast. It’s also a lot lot cheaper 2 or 3x! The one big advantage to me is the position of the dropper remote.

As above. I can’t see the point as you end up with great gaps in the ratios and silly expensive rear mechs and they are the ones that break. Front mechs are about the most straight forward bit on a bike. Also despite the fact that modern thin chains are better at coping with crappy chain lines ( because they are fragile)a single chain ring spread across 11 sprockets is poor engineering.
Probably fine if you don’t pedal much, maybe a trail park fan, but for going far….Nah.
CX? yes as thrashing round park won’t use too many gears but rough stuff? Nope.

mattsccm – Member

As above. I can’t see the point as you end up with great gaps in the ratios and silly expensive rear mechs

An 11 speed XT rear mech is £55. (10 speed is £45, but I think just because they’re more heavily discounted).

Are the cassettes not very expensive and heavy?

It’s a myth that you end up with great gaps in the ratios with 11 speed casettes.

Shimano 11-36 10 speed casette is 11 13 15 17 19 21 24 28 32 36
Sunrace 11-46 11 speed casette is 11 13 15 18 21 24 28 32 36 40 46

except for the 11 speed getting from 15 to 21 in 2 jumps whereas the 10 speed does it in 3 jumps they are identical except for the 11 speed having a 40 and 46 ratio .

Front mechs are about the most straight forward bit on a bike.

but are very much in the wrong place, especially on FS 29ers.

tj, nah the cassettes have come down in price quite a bit, they are a bit heavier than say; a 9 speed, but not by so much you’d notice. There’s a bit more wear on the chainring probably, offset by not having to replace the front mech cable haha! chainline is ok if you space it out carefully.

but y’know, we’re lucky right now. We can pretty much all have the gear set up we want with little of no compromise.

Left shifter/left thumb, I’m blaming beer for my typing (it was sunday night here) or my inability to tell left from right.

Sunrace MX8 is 400g for an 11 speed 11-42 and costs £67, XG is 395g for a full 10-42 and is £75. So not drastically heavier or more expensive than an XT 11-34. Or you can stick an expander on a standard cassette.

Or, you can spend about £300 on a top end sram if you’re so inclined 😆

Or treat yourself to a e*thirteen 9-46 cassette, pretty much covers a 2×11-34

Cheers, Steve

I’ve just gone 1×11 (Shimano SLX mostly)

Decided to switch for a couple of reasons..

The chain used to occasionally drop off the granny ring & manage to get stuck between the crank & my ISCG tabs
It also had a habit of getting wedged between the middle ring & bash guard
My 10 speed drivetrain had worn out, so I needed a new cassette, chain & chainrings anyway

No matter what I did adjusting the front mech I could never eliminate these issues

1×11 has been running pretty well for me – shifting is excellent, but I have dropped the chain twice in four rides so I’ll be fitting a top chain guide (I do have a NW chainring)

tjagain – Member
Today I went to glentress. I used my bottom gear of 22/34 a couple of times as I tired ( I like to spin a low gear) and I used my top gear of 36/11 a couple of times. (2×9 setup) You don’t get that range with any 1x system unless you have a 50 tooth then you get huge gaps between gears

From before you do get very close – you have a smaller ratio than the 2×10 example below which drops 2 gears (one top and one bottom on a 32t), as I also said when you were in that 36-11 how much was the pedalling adding to your speed? It’s hard to answer but in general on a MTB on anything other than a road brakes make more of a difference to top speed than gears (I’m faster on 1x down than on doubles with a technically lower top gear)
Gaps also as above not massive due to more cogs and in reality I much prefer a change that does something, the road bike is annoying when I’m out on my own for needing a few shifts to get a different gearing, but I can see when in a group it’s useful to make micro changes

Gaps are a personal thing. Personally I hate a narrow cassette, I just end up double shifting most of the time (almost all of the time, when I had a bloody stupid 12-25 on the road bike). So I have an 11-speed 10-42 and a 10-speed 11-42 on my 2 mtbs now and neither is close to being too wide gapped for me. I could probably be happy on a 9-speed 10-42…

But I’m dimly aware that sometimes other people have preferences that they might consider valid too.

How much is that compared to the weight of a front mech small chainring and cable and lever?

I’m not sure if you remember that Giant Anthem race bike I had but with 3×9 it was 23lbs with no carbon parts except the bars. Going 1×10 dropped it to 22lbs, which made a noticeable difference and no other modification I could have made would have dropped that much weight without spending many hundreds of pounds.

The front mech had been a problem on that bike in particularly muddy races, bunging up and denying me easier gears at the tail end of a 24 hour race when I needed them the most. The increased range of 1×10 meant I had the lower gears regardless of the conditions.

But for you, doing the riding you do the way you do it, 1x wouldn’t bring a real advantage. So I’d not worry about it.

Mike smith
Not close at all IMO. remember I run 22 / 36 chain rings with 11/34 cassette Your bottom gear would be 6% ie 2 gears higher and thats with a 28 ring. which would also mean losing a lot off my top gear.

I was pedalling pretty hard in that top gear actually – fast down a blue descent working hard to get and maintain speed.

Really – I do use the entire range on my 2×9 setup and would be lost without them

Its simply different strokes for different folks but nothing will convince me this is anything but marketing / fashion led with no real advantages and plenty of disadvantages. I do know how to set of gears tho so they shift sweetly and don’t drop chains. I also never shift front rings under power or in a hurry – I tend to use it like a landrover high and low ratio box ie into the granny at the bottom of a climb and use 8 gears on the granny ring then big ring for flat and downhill

Its simply different strokes for different folks but nothing will convince me this is anything but marketing / fashion led with no real advantages and plenty of disadvantages.

Even trying it?

I run 1×11 or 10 on the 3 bikes I have that get used off road.

My main race bike is a carbon 29er XC fs and that’s got a 32 front and 11-42 (11spd) out back, for 24hr racing I run a 30t up front for that extra bail out / I’m fcukd gear.

My fattie has a 28t front and 11-40 (10spd) rear, due to the weight of the damn thing and the fact I use it for carting mini me No.2 around in a seat on the back.

My CX bike is 38t front and 11-32 (10spd) rear.

If I run out of traction it’ll be quicker other as quick to push anyway, so the range isn’t limiting in that respect. At the top end I spin out at 50kph on fast fire roads descents when on the race bike, so 32/11 is more than enough for me

So the advantages are, simpler set up, less to go wrong, more mud clearance and to some extent weight loss. But that isn’t the main driver.

Are there any who have actually tried 1x drivetrains and gone back to 2x and 3x?

Because I don’t know of any.

I have ridden pals bikes with it. Shifting was poorer than my bike and as I say I would miss the gear range.

Jambo – someone on this very thread.

Worse chain line in climbing gears when you are really using the torque as well which must lead to quicker wear.

Yeah, I thought this would happen. But so far it seems fine. I measured my chain the other day and after almost a year of a fair amount of (admittedly dry) use it was still fine.

Never get chai suck with a single chainring .

I was never that bothered about 1x and didn’t really see the point. Then got a great deal on a 1x only bike so went for it. It’s ok, nothing earth shattering, nothing especially missing for what I use that bike for.

Just bought a virtually unused 3x hard tail. I will leave that with a front mech as no point changing the perfectly good set up.

I never get chainsuck with my double

Yeah but plenty of people do .

Hi Ric, I tried 2x on the Pipedream and hated it. Have since moved that back to 3x for local riding as I spend all my time in big ring. On the Nukeproof I have 2x which works quite well for it. I would like to try 1x 12 speed on the Np, it seems to cover the range that I would like, but it costs a fortune just to try.

Are there any who have actually tried 1x drivetrains and gone back to 2x and 3x?

Me