Moving from 2x10 > 1x11?

Mattcee

Hi all

I have a Giant Anthem (2105) and I want to replace the stock 2x10 gearing to a 1x11 and lose the front derailleur.

I'm not great with bike mechanics but if I purchased either of these below as a groupset: SRAM X1 1x11 or Shimano Deore XT M8000, would I have everything to make things work?
Is it also a job that I could do (after Googling/Youtube) or is best I get someone who knows what they're doing

Do you guys recommend one groupset over the other?

Cheers.

Antm81

You'd need the rear mech, shifter, cassette and chain as a minimum with a narrow wide chain ring and shorter chain ring bolts if you want to keep your current crankset. If you want to change the crankset too, you'll need to purchase that and if going for the XT option you'll need to purchase a chainring as it doesn't come with one.

It is a relatively simple job, but will require a few tools to remove the cassette etc. setting up the shifter and mech does require a little patience too.

I'd personally recommend the XT group set, it's cheaper and I prefer shimano but that's personal preference and it's what I've ordered.

Hope this helps.

njee20

If you go for SRAM you'll need a new freehub body. It is more expensive, but the range is significantly better.

You can use shimano mech/shifter with SRAM cassette (I am). Just to add some additional complications!

Very DIYable though!

jimothy78

njee20 wrote:

If you go for SRAM you'll need a new freehub body. It is more expensive, but the range is significantly better.

This^ - you'd need to check that your rear hub can be converted to an "XD Driver" freehub to use the SRAM 11 Speed cassettes, otherwise you're limited to Shimano ones (which fit on a standard 8,9,10 speed freehub).

Either way, it's a lot of money compared with an expander ring for a 10-speed setup (which can give you the same gear spread as XT, with just a slightly less smooth transition through it).

Mattcee

Thanks chaps. The blurb says my hub is: Giant P-XC [R] 135mm QR. Do you know if this is compatable withthe SRAM 11 speed cassette?

Chunkers1980

Nothing to do with the cassette. Will the XD Freehub fit that hub is the question. I have no idea, but I'd start by asking the maker/seller of the XD freehub I was going to buy.

Antm81

Mattcee wrote:

Thanks chaps. The blurb says my hub is: Giant P-XC [R] 135mm QR. Do you know if this is compatable withthe SRAM 11 speed cassette?

I've heard rumours that the p-XC hubs are dt Swiss but can't say for certain. Best bet is as chunkers said, speak to a giant dealer and see if they can supply a free hub for the sram cassette. For what it's worth I'm happy to go with shimano's 11-42 cassette over SRAMs 10-42, which is what I am doing. If I'm going fast enough to top out with the 11t I've usually stop pedalling as Gravity has taken over instead.

Mattcee

Real dumb question but is the hub what all the spokes of the wheel attach to?

Antm81

Yeah, the free hub is attached to the rear hub too, it's the bit that the cassette is on

The Rookie

If you have to ask that question, it suggests doing this yourself may not be for you!

The rear hub is the assembly the spokes all attach to and it has an axle through the middle that attaches it to the rear of the frame, the freehub is part of the assembly and it the part that the rear cassette fits onto, depending on the hub you have depends on how it is removed, but basically you have to strip the rear hub down to some extent to change the freehub.

Mattcee

Yeah, I'll get someone who knows what they're doing to fit it all I think!

Just want to be sure to buy all the correct parts needed.

The Rookie

Most cost effective would be sticking with 10 speed (1x10) and fitting an expander sprocket.

Mattcee

Would that be suitable for steep climbs whilst still giving me a decent top speed of 30mph?

njee20

That depends on how strong you are and how steep those climbs are. If you genuinely want to be able to pedal comfortably at 30mph (why?) then I'd suggest a single ring transmission isn't for you.

In fact, I'd suggest a mountain bike isn't for you... Assuming 27.5" whels 42/11 at 100rpm still isn't quite 30mph, so I'm not sure you actually do want that.

The Rookie

Gearing is rather academic on an MTB for 30mph as I certainly don't have the power (others like Nick may have!) to sustain it for more than a few seconds (on the level) regardless of gearing, but I have logged 34mph (for about 0.15 mile) on my 26" wheeled bike with 32:11 (I'm still on just an 11:34 cassette) gearing on a sustained but not steep downhill, with an expander ring with a 42T you should be able to run a 34 or even a 36 at the front (unlss you climb a lot of very steep hills anyway) so 30mph pedalling while quite a high cadence is far from difficult.

Mattcee

Points taken so let me re-phrase...

I can get upto 30mph on some short-ish downhills if I pedal hard but 30 secs later I may be going up a pretty steep hill.
My question probably should have been, what is the ideal gearing/amount of teeth for a single 1x11 / 1x10 without compromising climbing / riding fast too much.

The Rookie

Of course it will compromise gearing, it's whether you can work with that compromise how often you need a higher or lower gear than you have available and for how long), simple point is to make a note of the gears you use now and see how far off you would be with an 11-42 rear and a single ring up front (34,36 or 38T), allow for the fact that when you want to you can spin quite a bit faster going down without much issue, but you can't easily magic up more torque going up hill without getting out the saddle and monstering it up.

I can comfortably do all the riding I do on a 32+11-34, I dare say I would struggle on some uphills with that but I haven't yet found one I wanted to ride that I couldn't (I may go with a 40T expander giving me 11-40 and allow me to use a 34T or 36T up front at some point), most the trails I use I don't want to go much over 30 downhill as it's on the limit of what I feel I can ride over that surface at (100mm travel FS), the only time I spin out is on road where frankly, for me, its only a means of getting to the next trail, so I don't really mind.

Chunkers1980

Still depends.

Mine would be 11t - 60t probably - but I like the spread/range and to grind up tough accents - and clearly that's just stupid and sort of impossible, certainly impractical.

Mattcee

Cheers for all the advice which has made me do a whole lot more research into things - I never even knew about expander rings so...
I did my usual 20+ mile route today but made a point of not using using the granny ring to see if I could get up the climbs with the 38T ring only (with11-36 cassette).
All went ok so my plan is to lose the front rings and replace with a Raceface narrow/wide 38T ring to keep my top speed while de-cluttering the bars, simplify and lose a bit of weight - and keeping the cost down. Then if I need to at any point, get the expander ring and an XT cassette.

The Rookie

That sounds like a good compromise, if you are going up hills on a 38T front they are either relatively gentle or you are generating some awesome power! going on normal gear spread an expander gives you about an extra 1.5 gears.