1x10 vs just staying in middle cog

larkim

Son has declared that he never shifts the front cog to either granny or big rings, just staying permanently in the 30T front and using the range of the 11-36 10sp cassette behind him.

I know you can buy expensive 1x10 setups, bashguards, chain retainers etc etc. But if, say, he just removed the front mech, removed the front shifter and manually plonked the chain on the 30T front ring (leaving both of the others in place), would he discover any additional issues? Presumably as the chain doesn't currently leap off the middle ring, it wouldn't magically start doing that, would it?

(Side reason for asking is that he has nearly knacked his front shifter after an involuntary dismount so it might be beneficial to just take it off and chuck it in the bin rather than bother replacing)

Chunkers1980

Keep the mech there and remove shifter. Change the limit screws to hold it in the middle.

kinioo

No problem with that.

You can remove big chain ring and granny I think, leave the front mech as a chain guide and remove the shifter + cable.

This is what I plan to do, as I noticed that 98% Im on the middle ring.

C.

larkim

Cheers - does the mech really act as a chain guide? I've never noticed it performing that function when riding, but then my riding is very different to my lads so it might work more like that for him. I'm not convinced the limit screw would push it all the way over to the middle ring, but worth a shot I suppose.

I take the point about 30T not being a great option, but 30/36 is the 4th smallest gear on his bike anyway (only 22/28 - 22/36 are smaller) and 30/11 is the third biggest gear (40/13 and 40/11 are bigger) so the range is not too far off what he currently has available if he were to use all three rings fully. He certainly wouldn't miss the top end speed of 40/11, and as he's a fit youngster I doubt climbing is too much of a penalty for him anyway.

cooldad

It guides it between chainrings and keeps it one the one you choose, so yes.

lostboysaint

Does his existing rear mech have a clutch on it? If so then ditch all the front end stuff and stop worrying about chain retention. I've run my 1x10 on the Solaris for a long time now with nothing other than the chainring at the front end and letting the SLX clutch mech take up the slack and there's been no retention issues at all.

cooldad

Doesn't always work that well with a ramped ring. Better with a normal singlespeed, and no problem with a NW.

buddy_club

Just swap to a narrow wide - i've got a 1x8 setup on an ancient rear mech without clutch on one of my bikes and haven't dropped the chain once over some decent gnarly stuff.

codfather

Superstar components I/O narrow/wide rings are currently £19.49 in their sale. I run 1x9 on a Superstar ring with no clutch and it's fine

rockmonkeysc

I thought I could get away with just taking off the front mech and inner chain ring on my road bike. I thought it's never going to jump off on the road. It was always coming off, it's surprising how even little bumps can bounce it off.

larkim

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19694704#p19694704]cooldad[/url] wrote:

It guides it between chainrings and keeps it one the one you choose, so yes.

Yes, but a well aligned mech doesn't rub or guide the chain at all (it doesn't on mine anyway!), perhaps I've just never noticed it keeping the chain on on the rougher stuff when there are plenty of other noises around the bike to take in!

Thewaylander

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19694856#p19694856]larkim[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19694704#p19694704]cooldad[/url] wrote:

It guides it between chainrings and keeps it one the one you choose, so yes.

Yes, but a well aligned mech doesn't rub or guide the chain at all (it doesn't on mine anyway!), perhaps I've just never noticed it keeping the chain on on the rougher stuff when there are plenty of other noises around the bike to take in!

when the chain bounces off or around on the rough stuff it normally hits the mech and goes back on. so definitely acts like a guide.

The Rookie

I run my commuter 1x and even with a single specific front ring the chain would come off during shifts, you could look down and see it snaking during shifts.