I’ve had my FreeRanger for a few years now, and it had a replacement drivetrain about 15 months ago and due another one, but this time looking for options for an increase in range (high & low).

Currently SRAM Force 1 11-speed hydro shifters/brakes & mech with 42t chainring and 11-42 cassette.

According to On One it’ll also take a 44t or 46t chainring and I can get an XDR freehub if I want/need a 10 ring on the rear.

I will be changing chainring, cassette, chain and jockey wheels anyway, so what is the most cost effective way to increase range?

Pick up a 2x shifter or find someone who wants a swap? Assuming it’ll take a front mech?

Otherwise the only way you can increase range is is with a 10-42, if you dropped to a 40t chainring it would be about half a gear top and bottom.

The other option would be to get one of the ratio upgrade kits for the shifter which would give you 12 speeds, which means you could run a GX mech and cassette on a standard XD freehub. In range terms with a 44 or 46t chainring that would feel like ~2.5 extra gears split 1.5 and 1 either top or bottom (obviously it’s only actually 1 gear, but in range terms it would feel a gear and a a bit higher and lower).

How about upgrading the wheels and getting a Classified Powershift rear hub, all the benefits of a single chainring but with the range of a double chainset and with no big steps between gears

https://www.windwave.co.uk/product/classified-powershift-cf-g30-gravel-wheelset-with-hub-gear-cls.wh.g30/

10-42 buys you a little more range and the xg1150 cassette is bombproof. That’s what I’ve been using on my cross bike for a few years. An 11-46 would be a similar option and not need a new freehub although I can’t recall if the sram mechs will take that.

I’d suggest your upper benchmark is the fact that a complete Grx 610 groupset is £650 from Merlin. If your new drivetrain + mods to get more range is getting close that then it would seem more cost effective time to get a complete refresh and have the option of up to a 10-51.

Where are you using the bike most often?  If it’s on road, 2x is a better shout, if it’s on gravel it depends how steep your climbs are and how good your legs are.

for 1x on road I use 46 + 44:10.  For 1x on gravel, I can get by on 42 + 40:11.  For the tiny fraction of climbs where a bigger cassette would make a difference, I think I’d be traction limited anyway and for the rest of the time, I’d just be carrying no a whipping and expensive cassette

https://airbike.uk/collections/11-speed-cassette/products/11-speed-9-42t-xd-cassette-fits-sram-xd-gx-eagle-mountain-bike-mtb-freewheel

If youre considering XD to go to 10-42, you could also try 9-42.

My Cutthroat with Apex 1×11 has a hanger extender and runs an 11-46 without issue if you fancy going the other way.

Thanks all.

No way am I going back to 2x – recently got a s/h road bike with 2x and seriously don’t want to be changing down at the front then immediately going up a couple at the rear to get back to a near cadence.

Classified at +£1000 and then still need to replace all my worn out drivetrain – nope.

Those GRX groupsets gain only a ratio and far lower quality than my current Force groupset.

I live in Scotland, so lots of hills and the bike is used a lot off-road (example, Friday ‘lunch’ ride was 30 miles & 2000ft with about a 50/50 on/off road ratio).

TBH I was hoping for recommendations that were a bit more cost-effective and/or innovative…

Anyone tried something like this:

SunRace Rear Derailleur Extender Link | Merlin Cycles

TBH I was hoping for recommendations that were a bit more cost-effective and/or innovative…

Well don’t blame everyone else for you not looking at the gearing on the bike you bought and  realing it wouldn’t work 😂

Look on the bikepacking website to see a good run down on mullet gearing options, might not be fully up to date now with axs options but they are probably more than you want to spend anyway

The most cost effective solution is an 11-46 XT/SLX cassette and 44t front ring.  You’ll gain a little more range at both ends, but the jumps between gears will be a little higher.

This relies on you having a long cage SRAM Force 1 rear derailleur and enough of a drop on the current hanger that when the b-screw is tightened a little more, it’ll allow shifting into the largest sprocket.

The most cost effective solution is an 11-46 XT/SLX cassette and 44t front ring.  

Does an MTB cassette work with drop bar shifters – I thought they had different cable ‘pulls’, or am I wrong?

I run 11/46 on my gravel bike with Sram Rival long cage 1x mech. I’d imagine 10/46 would work equally well?

To be fair, my point was more ‘there’s no reason to try a retrofit/bodge if it ends up costing as much as a new groupset that does what you want’. Given how much GRX 800 (ultegra-ish) series is in the 600 (105-ish) groupset I don’t think I’d call it a downgrade though.

You had several suggestions for a slightly wider cassette- most other things get expensive fast!

I do have an 11-46 SLX on my bikepacking HT, I’ll take it off and try it on the Free Ranger.

Thanks.

Tried the 11-46 SLX, worked perfectly.

Will match it to a 44T front so have increased range plus more at both the bottom & top.

Job done, ta.

Or how about a 11-46/50T cassette and hanger externder from AliExpress or similar.

Bang the cassette/hanger extender on to check it all works, then replace worn out parts as required…

Update

Got an SLX 11-46 cassette and Hope 44t chainring, went out yesterday and did 40 miles & 3500ft.

Achieved what I was after, wider spread with (slight) increases in both high/low gearing and at a reasonable price (Hope chainring £40, Shimano cassette £50, 120 link SRAM chain £20 and BBB jockey wheels £15)

Shout out for the Hope Retainer ring, half the price of a SRAM Force 1 ring, just need to drive out the 5th thread which hides behind the crank – why use 4 bolts when 5 can complicate it…

Anyone tried something like this:

SunRace Rear Derailleur Extender Link | Merlin Cycles

I just went from a 34/46 CX double to a GRX single ring crank with 40-tooth ring and upped the cassette from 11-34 to 11-42 – 10-speed, cos I’m old fashioned like that – using a 10-speed mountain bike Goatlink on a 10-speed GRX rear mech. It works fine – I also went to shorter cranks, 165mm, which I really like.

However, the gaps between gears are on the verge of being unacceptably wide now and I’m tempted to fit GRX 30/40-something double and go to 11-34 or 11-36 out back. I get that people’s idea of acceptable gaps between ratios is a personal thing, but pretty obviously, with a ring up front, there’s a limit to how large a cassette you can fit before gaps between gears get irksome.

Personally I’d go with whatever the largest cassette you can run with standard mech as a starter, see how the ratios feel and only then go up using some sort of mech extender thing if you reckon you can tolerate it.

By limiting yourself to 10 speed you’ll have large gaps than an 11 speed with the same chainring & 11-42 cassette.