Decisions decisions….

I’ve just upgraded to 10 speed mainly to get a clutch mech, so I’ve now got on the way an absolute black range extender, and one of their lock rings to loose the 11t cog and an XT rear cassette…
At the moment I’m effectively running 1×9 ( the granny gear has been used twice… That was 18 months ago….) with 32t upfront and an 11-34 rear cassette, which gets me up most things but I keep on wearing out the 11t.

My original idea was to now go 38t up front, loose the 11 at the back and have a range of 13t-40t which is close enough to what I’m currently running but with a couple more teeth at the back to help keep wear down…. But now I’m also thinking, if I spend so much time in top gear then why not ditch the 17t and get a higher gear for more road based sections?
I’ve done all the maths/ratio calcs but just can’t work out which is the best route forward….

It always confuses me when people add a range extended and remove the 11t rather than the 17t- why not just use a smaller chainring at a far lesser cost!

Edit – just re-read the original post re wearing out 11t cogs, but I would still remove the 17t (and replace with the 15t with a 16t) as then you will have the 13t or the 11t to use when going fast so hopefully have less wear on a single cog should you be running a larger front chainring

I’ve recently been shown that rose bike sell replacement 16t cogs…. At the moment loosening the 17t and replacing the 15t is looking like a possible winner so I do actually get more range…

I’d endorse loosing the 11t, on the basis that rarely do you want to be in the lowest gear, due to slack in the drive chain as a result.

I have the Hope T rex 40t on both of my mtb bikes and on each tried loosing the 17t cog first, only to find that this upset the ratios and cadance when riding, loosing the 11t feels like you’ve lost nothing at all, as I hardly ever went into the 11t when off road.

loosing the 11t feels like you’ve lost nothing at all, as I hardly ever went into the 11t when off road.

In that case just put a smaller ring on the front. 😆

I have the Hope T rex 40t on both of my mtb bikes and on each tried loosing the 17t cog first, only to find that this upset the ratios and cadance when riding, loosing the 11t feels like you’ve lost nothing at all, as I hardly ever went into the 11t when off road.

Bangs head against wall then goes into a dark cupboard to cry…! 🙁

The suggestion of losing the 11t perplexed me.
I am peed off that the new xtr 11speed cassettes smallest sprocket is 11 not 10 , not that I would buy one but that this probably means when this becomes xt grade technology it won’t have the 10t.

I’m starting to definatly think as I’m shelling out this money I might as well extend the overall range, specially now I’ve seen these 16t sprockets from oneup components. Linky….
Anybody know if anyone sells them in the UK rather than having to wait for them to arrive from America?

Single ring setups have caught on because with a Narrow-Wide ring and clutch mech you have solved the problem of dropping chains on long travel trail bikes on aggressive terrain. If you are putting a lot of power down on a 11t cog then I would question whether you are doing the sort of riding the single ring setup was designed for.
Do remember (what the chap above has not)that gears involve ratios (one number divided by another)so 13/11 is a bigger step than 36/40…so getting a 40t and getting rid of a 11t (plus the extra cost, weight and potential changing issues)makes no sense whatsoever…get a smaller chainring!

I ordered three to make the postage worthwhile on the same day I ordered my hope expander from wiggle.

They arrived first in a few days, and are much better than the one up jobbies.
Shimano xt 16t sprocket

Look at SRAM/Shimano spares for the replacement cog.
Yes losing 11t you would be better off using a smaller chain ring.
XTR doing 11-40 – my guess would be they couldn’t get perfect enough shifting for XTR without copying the SRAM mech or something like that. 10t makes the SRAM range.

@Stripe – You might want to take a look at the end of this thread before ordering the one up 16t:

http://forums.mtbr.com/drivetrain-shifters-derailleurs-cranks/11-42t-conversion-oneup-vs-wolf-tooth-897313-40.html

Seems as though the shimano one from Rose may be the best bet.

There’s a link to rose bikes at the bottom of my last post.

It is the 10t which makes the SRAM great, as it’s the 10t that makes the large ring redundant as the 42 makes the granny ring. No real compromise in order to gain the 1 x simplicity.

I don’t know what shimano are thinking especially offering an 11 speed xtr 11-40 triple,only a crazy man would buy such a contraption over a SRAM 1×11 set up.