Dunno if it’s possible with cable set-ups (and I assume not, as I’ve not seen it), but a SRAM 10-50 Eagle cassette (using Force 1 AXS shifter and XX1 AXS mech) works great on my 1x gravel bike. Plenty of range, and I can’t say I find the gaps annoying – mebbe it’s just what I’m used to…

Unless I ride an actual road bike again, I can’t see me ever using a front mech in my future – even on a 7 week tour of France I’m planning next year.

My cross bike is 1x with a 38T NW. For road I run 1x(11-23) and for off road I run 1x(12-32). you will need two sets of wheels but who wants to change tyres? On rolling medium-paced club rides road I often run 1×1. Fixed. But otherwise a double.

I have a Bombtrack Hook EXT Carbon running 650b (knobbly 50mm winter, faster 47mm summer). It was set up 48\32 11-34 originally, the Praxis Works Zayante Carbon cranks decided to fall apart on me so I then went 1×40 11-46. I wasn’t sure initially but like the MTB I preferred the simplicity and didn’t overly miss the extra gearing shortly after. It’s done a few thousand miles on the setup and I’m totally happy with it. It’s done plenty of big offroad rides too, did a mostly offroad 100mile Chilts gravel ride end of last summer which intentionally was supposed to be a hard day of steep climbs and it was fine gearing wise (luckily legs were okay too!). With my setup there’s enough gearing for steepest climbs i can find and about 27-30mph limit before I may as well stop pedalling and just get aero if on a proper descent or tail wind on a super mild downward false flat.

Agree with comments above, providing the road side of riding isn’t a smashfest in a group then it’s perfectly doable. If you want the extremes on gearing on and offroad then a double would be better. Third middle option otherwise is run a chainring suitable for the roadrides and easier\faster offroad and you can always swap to a smaller chainring for big days out or slower winter riding.

Do you like complexity? If so go 1x. You have swapped the more reliable, easy to set up moving part on a bike, the front mech, for something that is over complex, over price and vulnerable, a long rear mech.
More reliable as only you can decide is can you live with the gaps in gears?

Dunno if it’s possible with cable set-ups (and I assume not, as I’ve not seen it)

The Path Less Peddaled guy on YouTube has done a series of videos on various (what he calls) budget mullet setups i.e. road (cable) shifters with MTB cassettes. Some work better than others but I think the simplest one just involved replacing one part on an Eagle mech to make it work with road shifters.

Thanks for the mech advice.

I saw that. Got me thinking, as SRAM and Shimano seem interchangable at 12 speed, could you run a shimano 10-45 cassette and XT mech with a converted SRAM shifter.

Not sure if the below article might help…

https://blog.3t.bike/2020/01/12405/gravel-bike-tech-gears-for-tough-climbs-part-1/

I’ve 1x GRX on my cross bike (40t chainring with 11-42t cassette) and like it but could see it being not the best for fast road rides or steep hilly off road, so just like all 1x gear systems really. I prefer the simplicity myself but can see that others would prefer more gears.

On my GT grade I have the bog-standard 40 11-42 I find this is fine for hilly road rides and undulating gravel but when you get to long technical climbs i could do with more gears.

My other gravel bike runs mtb gears 38t/28t at the front and 11-42 at the back. It was built specifically for climbing huge gravel climbs in the Pyrenees where normally gravel gearing wouldn’t cut it for me but also wanted to shove some road wheels in and ride up the cols as well.

I got chatting to a guy whilst waiting for a herd of cattle to pass he was running a 48 tooth singe ring at the front and 10-50 MTB cassette at the back on a tt bike it was SRAM and it wasn’t AXS so it can be done.

Do you like complexity? If so go 1x. You have swapped the more reliable, easy to set up moving part on a bike, the front mech, for something that is over complex, over price and vulnerable, a long rear mech.
More reliable as only you can decide is can you live with the gaps in gears?

OK if you say so…

I’m using an old (as in over a decade) MTB mech and have yet to find this technology anymore over-complex, overpriced or vulnerable than it was flapping about on an MTB…

As for the bigger steps? Yeah That’s absolutely the case, but it’s a chosen compromise, some bigger cadence jumps is the trade-off for wider range (on 1x), it still suits some of us…

I guess it comes down to whether you see “gravel bikes” as more “off-road capable road bikes” or more like a “more efficient MTB alternative”…

Nobody’s saying there’s anything wrong with fitting 2x to a Gravel bike, I don’t know why some people feel the need to attack the choice to use 1x on a drop-bared bike. Is there some sort of religious derailleur orthodoxy?

I’ve been running 2×9 I cobbled together on a monstercross just before Covid hit; 40-28 XT chainset & mechs, Alivio 11-36 cassette, Sora levers. After 4500km of mixed local rides, bikepacking and 100km day rides, I like it enough to throw money at it – and have assembled the parts for a 1×11 refurb. With a 40t chainring and an 11-51 Deore cassette I’d get exactly the same gear range, but I’m putting on a 38t because I anticipate doing more loaded touring on the new build.

Curious to see how the relative merits work out.

@montgomery what rear mech and shifters are you planning to use ?

With a 40t chainring and an 11-51 Deore cassette I’d get exactly the same gear range, but I’m putting on a 38t because I anticipate doing more loaded touring on the new build.

I’ve had a 26-38 double on a gravel bike for while, std 10s rear block, and one thing I found suprising is that 38-11 is not too low for most of the road miles I do on this bike – I just tuck or freewheel earlier on faster hills or spin a bit faster at times. Nothing that bothers me anyway. Certainly had me agreeing that 1x can give the gear range needed for vast majority of riding. The lowest gears I have (26 x 32 or 36) rarely get used unless the bike is loaded up.

The newer front mechs aren’t harder to set up once you realise that the screws don’t work the same way as the older ones and you read the instructions, however they do need particularly free running cables for the trim to work nicely which can be an issue. I have to widen the frame hole in my Cube to remove a link from the cable run.

however they do need particularly free running cables for the trim to work nicely which can be an issue

This is the conclusion I was trying to avoid arriving at! Oh well, that’s what wet Easter weekends are for I guess, replacing internally routed gear cables on 2 bikes…

@duckman this is what I’ve got:

I think the bit that I lost was a e-clip that goes on the pin in the middle of the picture, in which case I do have replacement clip that fits well enough.

Please don’t ask me how it goes back together 🙂

It’s SRAM Force 22, but pretty sure it’s interchangeable with at least the other 11 speed stuff.

I’ve also got a spider with 50/34 chainrings.

I ride with a group and use my Tempest as a road bike. Still got the 1X Sram and like the simplicity. For me, just better more road friendly tyres, was a more pressing upgrade, maybe 2X later but not urgent.

@Stainypants

what rear mech and shifters are you planning to use ?

Initially considered these but ended up going for Microshift bar end shifters instead, leaving me more options for standalone brake levers. I might use the left hand shifter if I decide to go back to a 2x setup. Just going with a 12 speed Deore mech until I see how it works out.