1 x 10.

i’ve got the scrawniest legs in the world, and it turns out i cope fine with a 30t, and 11-36.

Peak District + 29er

Went through the same here when my 9 speed wore out. Went for 1x and don’t regret it. Small loss in range but made up for by the other benefits. Biggest benefit for me is the simplicity. A front shifter isn’t exactly complicated but changing to a single shifter is much less to think about. Hard to explain but out on the bike it feels right.

Obviously lots of threads on this but here’s my take.

You have a slightly reduced range of ratios on a 1x system compared to a 2x or 3x, with a 1×10 setup with extender it’s about 3 ratios, depending on the cassette an 11spd system might only be 2 ratios. You adjust where this range lies within the old range by choosing the appropriate size of chainring, wheel size makes a difference here as to what to consider.

I made a similar choice last week and went with 2×10 even though I have 1×11 on another bike.
I worked out the ranges I used and 1×11 would cover them if I went SRAM 10-42, Shimano 11-42 didn’t quite cover it but I could’ve lived with the difference.
However I had three concerns that stopped me going 1×11 –
– I’m not convinced that chainline isn’t a compromise on 1×11
– Although 1×11 is maybe 50-100g lighter overall than 2×10 it is 150g heavier right at the rear wheel axle. Sounds nit-picking but I like to keep as much weight centralised as I can, and the rear as light as possible (for a given strength). A lot of my local riding is messing about doing jumps and drops and I hate a heavy feeling rear wheel.
– I’ve never had problem setting up a front mech, and haven’t noticed any ‘simplicity’ benefits from 1x on my other bike – it just doesn’t bother me having 2 shifters…
And reason no.4 – 42 rear cassettes and tiny front chainrings just look gash 🙂
I applaud SRAM for giving people what they’ve asked for but it’s Emperors new clothes IMO.

11-42 on the back and 30t will get you up just about everything. Bit of a compromise on top end speed, but less faffing with front dérailleurs dropping chains when shfting to easier gears.

shimano 1×11 – never needed a 10t at the back so the 11-42t range is spot on.

Oooo, bandwagon thread to jump on!

Looking at something myself. Currently running 32T + 11\36 cassette on a Banshee Spitfire, without going into long winded health stuff I’ve not ridden much this year and I’m finding I’m struggling with the lowest gear.

My old Hardtail is 2×9 with 26T granny and 36T on the cassette and that’s been easier to ride.

I’d considered going 2×10 on the Banshee but it’s just so much faf and starts to get expensive as it’s practically a complete drive train replacement as its nearly all 1×10 Zee.

Figured I could drop to a 30T NW, get a 42T sprocket for the back. did some of the dull calculations on gear ratios and that should get me to something closer to matching the lowest gears on both bikes.

I’d guess I’d probably have to swap out the Zee Mech for a medium cage, it’s the FR Zee but not sure if it would cope with a 42T sprocket. Cheaper than a complete new drive train and I do prefer the simplicity of 1x something.

I could just use the HT but I miss riding the Banshee and it’s likely to be a long recovery.

SRAM X0 cranks and their crazy proprietary BCDs meant a lot of things weren’t an option unless I got a replacement spider and there were none in stock for months. I ended up getting an X0 DH crank with a standard single 104 BCD (and then eventually got the same spider for the old cranks and put that on the hard tail to get the same set up).

And I wanted to try 1x anyway. As I said, 2x was pissing me off in many ways. I don’t think it was all down to the size of the jump between the rings. I’ve always hated front shifters anyway.

If you have to change everything I would say 1x is a no brainer. Less bits to buy, less to maintain, more modern. etc

Im a bit behind the times and have just gone from XT 3×9 to 2×10 using 29/40 11-36. I really like it, good spread of gears and I haven’t had to use the lowest ones yet.

whereabouts in Wales are you going to riding?

Came with the bike, and was a bit clueless at the time about 2×10. Besides the options for the crankset buying independently were limited at the time from most retailer even though SRAM do a wider range of ratios. Though still all of SRAM’s options were the same jump between the rings whatever the ratio.

XTR Di2 2×11. Full range, one shifter.

Other than that, it depends. For many, 1×11 is fine, but if you like riding up particularly long particularly steep hills, 2×10 is going to allow a lower bottom end.

I’m running 1×10, there’s only a few hills that 32-26 is a problem on.

1×11 would be nicer but the cost jump isn’t worth it for me when an SLX mech is £25 and a GX mech £105, and the same again for a cassette, and £60 shifters vs £15.

2 x 11