Pondering this on my pootle this morning. Would the weight savings be worth it on flatter stages?
Just curious like?

I think TTers do sometimes.

The thing with road riding is that gradients and surfaces are a lot more steady in general, so you are spinning at a regular cadence. This means that big gaps in your gears are really annoying. So no-one’s going to want to go 1×11 in normal riding. TTers do it because TT courses are often quite flat and they can use a narrower range of gears.

They already use heavy aero frames,power meters etc to get bikes to the 8.1kg minimum weight.They are’nt really struggling to make bikes lighter at the moment.
If the UCI drop the minimum weight limit then you’d see a lot more different set ups.

This is about the only instance I’ve seen of it;

2015 Specialized Venge LR

(LR stands for “Lunch ride”)

They already use heavy aero frames,power meters etc to get bikes to the 8.1kg minimum weight.They are’nt really struggling to make bikes lighter at the moment.

Of course. I’d forgotten about that.

I think the benefits are more down to not dropping, clogging or sucking the chain, so not really issues for road riding.

I am running a 1×9 with e MTB casstte on the commuter.

*6.8kg

Also, it seems for the UK one of the major benefits is lack of places for mud to cling to – which isn’t really an issue on road.

They already use heavy aero frames,power meters etc to get bikes to the 8.1kg minimum weight.

UCI minimum weight is 6.8kg, but your point is still valid.

edit: beaten to it!

Pondering this on my pootle this morning. Would the weight savings be worth it on flatter stages?
Just curious like?

Obviously if the stage is flat, then the weight doesnt matter.

Also, for best mechanical efficiency, it is best to have a straightish chainline, so extremes of the cassette are a no go. I definitely notice it in 53/11; it becomes very hard to pedal.

— deleted —

just realised I was replying to a DT post 😀

Also, for best mechanical efficiency, it is best to have a straightish chainline, so extremes of the cassette are a no go. I definitely notice it in 53/11; it becomes very hard to pedal.

That’s not because the chainlines out :-p

I’ve gone 1 x 1 for crits on occasion.
I’m SO nichecore. 😉

Also, it’s a brilliant way to wind up traditionalist roadies by sitting in the bunch on a singlespeed road bike worth less than most rider’s wheels.

Road bikes tend to be less welcoming of weird modifications in that the groupset is all designed to work together as a unit so once you start playing with chainlines it all gets messy.

I’ve got 1×10 on my road bike, but I don’t race. Do I still win £5?

Hill climb bikes go 1x (or fixed), as there’s no weight limit. There was an article about one (national champs winner?) in this weeks Cycling Weekly.

I’m tempted to stick 1×11 with a 40 front tooth using CX1 on a bike which will be largely used for road duties. Does that make me niche, slow, stupid or a little mix of all three. Surely pedalling 40 x 11 is quick enough unless you is well fast?

gotama, it’s not quite enough, I reckon. you’d spend a lot of time in 40-11. can you get a 44?

I use 48/11-32. Occasionally swap for 38 for off road rides (I know!) the 38T gets frustrating quickly if I keep it on for the commute.

And I is not well fast

You can. Can even do a 46 but that would defeat my legs in the hills I fear. Having just moved over to road after riding mtb for years I seem to be rubbish at climbing steep hills.

Tony Martin does when TTing I believe. Better chainline = all the watts.

I’ve met a few audaxers who have been 1×8/9/10/11 too, don’t know why they do it.

Surely pedalling 40 x 11 is quick enough unless you is well fast?

Not on a good descent it’s not, imo. I’d spin out 50×12 regularly.

Given that a front mech and inner chainring add up to about 200g in weight, and the road racers love of close ratios, it’s easy to see why they don’t bother.

Makes far more sense to us MTBers coming over to road riding though, without the requirement for single tooth gaps almost all the way up the cassette, it does make for slightly less maintenance, and less chance of dropping the chain on the front due to a missed shift. Of course these things are far more important offroad though, on an MTB or CX bike.

A word about ratios though… If your regular rides mean you spin out even a 50/12 ratio, you’re either need to learn to spin, or to tuck into an aero position. I can spin a 50/12 up to around 45mph, but by that time I’m better off getting into an aero tuck as far as speed goes! I thought I’d miss the 11T cog when I went from 11-28 to 12-30, but not at all… It just prompted me to get into a tuck earlier, and subsequently I’ve gone faster down a number of big hills locally since making the change, presumably as I stopped pedalling fruitlessly earlier on!

Also, the racer’s favourite setup of a 12-25 with 39/53 chainrings gives a 283% range, whereas an 11-32 cassette on its own gives a 291% range. An 11-32 cassette with a single 42T chainring gives a top gear equivalent to 50/13 and a bottom gear equivalent to 34/26. Certainly makes sense on a commuter bike to my mind, or even half decent paced club runs. Anything short of Crit racing or massively hilly Sportives or the like I’d say… In fact, I’m keen to give it a go… SRAM Force CX1 here we come! :-p

I run 42-11/36 on a Tripster. Probably my incompetence or bad luck but have always found front mechs a pain and making such big jumps brutal. Understand the ratios might be bigger but I shift less often with one chain ring.

I have a 39/1& and although it is sometime a bit of a short ratio, on the massive downhill from work, I can outride very fast people on a 52/12 by never braking (who then overtake me again on the flat bit). So far to be honest I never use the smallest gear, so for me a 11/32 with a 39 front makes a lot of sense**

** I am not a roadie, therefore barely ride more tha 80-90 kms in one go.

Your brake levers won’t match.

Never used the inner ring in a crit or circuit race (39 or 34). Indeed the 11T sits unloved on my 10 speed race wheels unless matched with the 50 (which was really why I bought an 11-23). I found that compact and 11-23 was fine for races but I do need a 25 when it goes uphill.

The saving would be less than half a water bottle. Empty half out before you start if you are finishing with extra water on board.

David Millar tried a single chain ring on his TT bike in the Tour de France a few years ago – chain came off on the finishing straight when his time up to then would have had him win the stage. Strangely i dont think this resulted in the famous bike throwing incident 😀

NW didn’t exist then.

Tony Martin does when TTing I believe. Better chainline = all the watts.

If anything it’s a worse chainline, with 39/52 you would only use either gear with the bottom/top of the cassete respectively. With 1x you’re almost as bad as 39-11 or 52-25 at the extremes. I suspect it’s more to do with shedding the unececary bits for minor weight savings and small aero advantages.

NW didn’t exist then.

NW isn’t the be all and end all, I’ve got 1×10 on my MTB, normal SS chainring and a normal XT mech. No dropping issues. Although TBH I’ve not got much idea why it’s not dropping, it should, it just isn’t.

Tradition 😉

It’s because you’re not maxing the gnarr TINAS.

Tony Martin does when TTing I believe. Better chainline = all the watts.

I’ve never seen him run a single chainring. I have seen him run a wide ratio cassette though so he can stay in the middle of the cassette to get that more efficient chainline.

NW isn’t the be all and end all, I’ve got 1×10 on my MTB, normal SS chainring and a normal XT mech. No dropping issues. Although TBH I’ve not got much idea why it’s not dropping, it should, it just isn’t.

Tried something similar as an experiment, HT, normal X9 mech and a normal Renthal ring. Chain dropped on pretty much every root I hit!

Doubt many would change.
I run 1×10 on my cx, switching to my road bike shows how nice close ratio cassette is, pulling away from lights or just slight increase/decrease in gradient, nice slick changes whereas the cx on road is all big jumps – nowhere near as noticeable xc. Not essential but it is nice, not a bad idea for a commuter tho.