1 x 11

doomanic

I have a itch I need to scratch and the wife's credit card at hand and need some advice...

I want to dump the 3 x 9 on my Camber for a sexy new 1 x 11 groupset. Will the 11 speed cassette fit my existing freehub?

whyamihere

Yep. As long as you don't get an XD cassette.

The Rookie

Yup, as stated unless you buy an XD or road cassette (stranger things happen) then it will fit just fine.

CRC currently have decent prices on the SLX and XT cassettes (especially good on the 11-40 XT) so I'd suggest that with either Zee or Saint shifting and a good quality NW ring up front.

doomanic

Thanks both. XT stuff is what I'm looking at.

doomanic

Will I need a new rear mech too?

The Rookie

Yes, cable pull ratio changes from 9-11 speed.

You can run 10 speed on your current mech if you use a ROAD flat bar shifter, road shifting stayed on the 'traditional' pull ratio at 10 speed while MTB went to dynasis.

My bike is running a 9 speed mech on ten speed cassette using a road shifter as the cost of replacing my XTR was rather high!

doomanic

Thanks again.

Two more questions;

1. Is XT worth the extra over SLX?

2. What size chainring would you recommend? I've been playing around with the gear ratios on excel so I can see where they fall compared to my 3 x 9 set up. I never use the granny ring, so depending on chainring size I'll have either 1 or 2 ratios lower than the lowest I currently use but I'll be losing a bit from the highest ratios. It looks like I get 32, 34 or 36 tooth chainrings and the mathematician in me is telling me to get the 36...

cooldad

36 is quite big, and there are proper gear ratio calculators online that take wheel size etc into account.
Depends whether you ride up hills.

doomanic

cooldad wrote:

there are proper gear ratio calculators online that take wheel size etc into account.

Oh, got a link?

cooldad wrote:

Depends whether you ride up hills.

I try to, but as I said, I don't use the granny ring. The middle ring is 32T and I have 26" wheels.

cooldad

doomanic wrote:

Oh, got a link?

Got Google?

doomanic

No. I'm not even using the internet to post this...

I found one that allows side by side comparisons, http://gears.mtbcrosscountry.com which is useful but still doesn't help me chose a chainring any more than my excel spreadsheet did.

bigmitch41

I run a 32f chain ring and a 11-42 rear cassette in 1x11 xt flavour, gets me up most of our climbs. 1 by is often a compromise in extreme cases, but one i find well worth taking for the ease of use/simplistic less stuff to go wrong side of things.

cooldad

doomanic wrote:

No. I'm not even using the internet to post this...

I found one that allows side by side comparisons, http://gears.mtbcrosscountry.com which is useful but still doesn't help me chose a chainring any more than my excel spreadsheet did.

You can work out the lowest gear you currently use, and compare that with low ratios with various size rings.

glynrs2

doomanic wrote:

cooldad wrote:

there are proper gear ratio calculators online that take wheel size etc into account.

Oh, got a link?

This is a really good one to compare your current set-up:

http://www.gear-calculator.com/

doomanic

Well, I've spent the last few days using just my middle ring (32T) and I've decided that a 34 will give me the ratios I want.

doomanic

Could still do with opinions on XT v SLX...

The Rookie

Pay your money and takes your choice, if you have a relatively lightweight bike then the XT will be more in keeping I guess.

Also if you are getting an 11-40 the smaller price difference makes the XT Cassette the obvious choice.

doomanic

Not too fussed about weight, more longevity.

The Rookie

Longevity is the same, you pay for the weight reduction!

crazymac680

I recommend going 1X 10. Using
http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/component ... oCg0Hw_wcB
Or
http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/component ... oC8NTw_wcB
The second is cheaper as it's slightly heavier.
10 speed components are cheaper

supersonic

The budget NX and SLX 11 speed weigh a lot - the 11-42 cassettes are something like 500-550g each. The mechs aren't too light either - though the xt shaves some off. One reason why I've kept my older xt/xtr stuff. And as above I'd consider this route too - have seen 10 speed xtr shifters for 60. Add in that Sunrace cassette and a 10 speed xt rear mech and you'd have a reasonably light, great performing set up.

The Rookie

For me its Sunrace MX3 (11-40) 382g, M970 (9 speed) XTR rear mech (short cage and MT Zoom jockeys) 182g and a Tiagra 10 speed flat bar shifter 136g (alloy clamp bolt). I went for the 11-40 as my XTR is the (very) short cage so didn't want to push my luck on capacity.

Without the jockey wheels that lot cost me less than £100 for a fairly light 1x10 setup (already was running an NW ring - add circa £20), I could have added another £20 (circa £43 all in) and gone for an Ultegra SL-R780 and shaved a few more grams and possibly a nicer shift although the Tiagra's shifting is a delight right now, easily the equivalent of an XT.

doomanic

I'll just leave this here, for those that missed it first time around.

doomanic wrote:

Not too fussed about weight, more longevity.

This is also relevant, but seemingly unimportant to some;

doomanic wrote:

a sexy new 1 x 11 groupset.

The Rookie

As pointed out early, once you are above the Deore level longevity doesnt really improve with price, just weight reduces. In fact the lower XTR jockey wheels last less time than the XT as they have a smaller (lighter) cartridge bearing