32T to 30T on a 1 x ,will it make much difference?

Hi ,

How much easier will it be to climb going from a 32T to a 30T up front with 12-36 out back , 9 speed ?

Is it worth the new chainring or would I not notice much of a difference ,

Anyone done this ?

Im on a full susser 26 inch wheels that I converted to 1 x from a triple but have moved to a region with a hilly trail centre and am struggling a bit .

Id try a 28 too but I don’t know if that is possible with the triple crank I have the 1 x running on ,

Thanks for any insights

It’s not a massive difference, if you’re strong enough for the 32, but it is a massive difference if you’re not quite. Basically it’s a question of is it just the difference in ratios or does it push into the difference in capability.

But put it another way I went down to 30t on mine and never regretted losing the little bit of top

If you have a triple crank you could run a 28 on the inner position. If it’s a two-piece crank the chainline will probably be too far off for the top gears, but if it’s a three piece you could fit a longer BB axle.

2/32 = 6.25%

To put that in context, if 1st and 2nd gear on your cassette are 36 and 32, then 1st is 4/32 = 12.5% easier than 2nd.  So it’s like having exactly half an extra gear at the bottom of your cassette.

It does make a difference – on my old bike I had 32/42 as my lowest gear and in my current one I have 30/42.

Both bikes have the same wheel size but the old one was at least a couple of lbs lighter. I’m climbing better on the new one on most stuff (especially the steep stuff) despite it also being significantly slacker and longer travel.

Just gives you a slightly spinnier gear when you need it basically.

While the clever people are here…

I have 34 front 36 back.

If I go 32 on the front what virtual size will the 36 be?

It’ll help. As above, you could even go for a 28t. I put a Works Components 28t oval on the granny tabs of my Codeine (1×10) for going to hilly places, and it was excellent.

Don’t forget that if you’re keen to go to something smaller than a 30, but you want to maintain decent chainline across the gear range, you could always fit a small ring in the granny position, keep your 32*, and install some sort of device to swap between them on the fly 😉

* ok, not if it’s a narrow-wide

About 38 Zippy

How much easier will it be to climb going from a 32T to a 30T up front with 12-36 out back , 9 speed ?

I have the same setup with a 9sp 11-36 and a 30T makes a noticeable difference. It feels like 1/2 a gear lower at the back if that makes sense. Climbs involve more spinning and less grinding. The only downside is the overall range is quite narrow, and there’s a lot of gear changing even on mildly undulating terrain

I ran a 28T on the granny position of an SLX triple crankset on my old Smuggler without any problems. I put a Hope bash ring (with shorter crank bolts) where the middle ring would go, mainly for cosmetic reasons. I find that I rarely miss the bigger gear but there is always something steeper that I think I might get up if I just had a slightly lower gear. I’m currently running a GX eagle (10-50) setup with a 32T chainring on a 29er and am already thinking about swapping that for a 30T.

I think Northwind hit the million dollar question in the 1st post.

It’s not <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>much</span> difference but if it’s <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>the</span> critical difference it will be …err… critical?

I ended up doing the opposite on my HT XC bike…. I originally had 2x.. then 12-40 with a 32…. then 11-36 with the 30 and I’m now on 11-32 on the 32T…. (It’s x10 but that’s a bit irrelevant except explaining the journey)

Not all of these were totally “planned”… it was a case of using something on a different bike so that bit became free and the XC bike gets ridden less.  The loss of the 40T expander was more to do with the hubs and the expander … but I’d got used to pedalling up and not using it (it’s a very light bike)… then I wanted to 30T on a different bike so I replaced that …

The 30T is now on my 10sp steel aggressive HT with 26” wheels…. which must weigh over twice the weight… (I’d be scared to weigh it) … with a 11-36 on the back… and here it seemed to just hit the spot.  It seems to be just enough to get me up the hill I kept pushing up… (which to be fair is known as the F-ing Big Hill) whereas the “loss” on the XC bike doesn’t really get noticed

Makes a difference. I feel like its about an extra gear, give or take. I’m running a 28t oval on an 11-42 cassette down from the stock 30t round whilst my fitness recovers. Haven’t lost any top end off road. Will probably go up to 30t oval in a couple months so I don’t get too lazy on the climbs.

It’s makes a difference to me on tech climbs, rock crawling and when you’ve got dead man’s legs at the end of a long day.

Hi, no, I tried this & it won’t change your life. I have 1×10 with 11-42 out back, & it’s a bit easier than 11-36 (which’s what I had before I upgraded to 10sp) but again the difference isn’t night & day. What **really** changed things for me was going 28t up front. Suddenly all hills were doable. Not easy, & as I ride an old-skool 26er hard tail it’s always tricky controlling the front wheel, but doable.

No problem mounting the ring. The 28t ring simply replaces the inner ring spider (check the BCD, I think different manfacturers might use different BCDs for the inner ring; Superstars/Absolute Black/One Up etc. will have the size you need anyway). That leaves the arms that would hold the middle & big rings naked, which’s ugly & probably dangerous. I solved that problem by putting on a bash, which looks neat & protects my calves from the spider arms. Sorted!

One other idea, my single front ring is an oval from Absolute Black & while again it’s not night & day, it **does** make pedalling a bit easier & smoother, which helps going uphill. I find I don’t “pedal square” quite as soon.