2x9 JIS ST to 1x9?

joncomelately

First time post to the forums, so apologies for any inadvertent etiquette breaches.

I am currently running a 2014 Boardman CX comp as a commuter, anywhere between 7 - 14 miles daily on roads and bike paths with no significant climbs. The drivetrain is stock, built on a 2 x 9 on FSA Vero 50/34 crankset with Sora shifters, but I've replaced the rear derailleur with a 105 medium cage after an altercation with a Jaguar that also bent the front big ring slightly.

I'm getting extremely weary of the clunky front shifting, and have effectively stopped using it - particularly with the chain rub from the bent portion of the big ring. Having read around a bit, I was very interested in changing to a 1x11 groupset but the price of a full thing is currently prohibitive, and a piecemeal replacement would also be too expensive given the shifters appear to be £200+ each.

So, I was wondering about keeping the majority of my current set up and switching to a 1 x 9 (of the current 11-32t cassette, I only ever use the 12-24 range so I think with maybe a 38/40t single front ring (?) I could grit my teeth a bit and be OK with a new cassette which will be a necessity in the spring anyway), but am not sure of the technicalities of this. I've seen the 'converting to a 1x9 or 2x9 set up' article on this site, but am still not entirely clear on a few things.

The FULL list of options as I see are therefore:

1) carry on with what I've got, and consider replacing the big ring to remove the rub

2) get rid of one front ring and replace it with a single new one (not "1x specific" if that's a thing), keeping the cranks and BB

3) get rid of one front ring and replace it with a single new one ("1x specific"), keeping the cranks and BB

4) replace the crankset and BB with a "1x specific" one which would appear to mainly be SRAM

5) replace the groupset with a dedicated pre-made 1x specific one, which would I think have to be a 1x11 currently

6) buy a new bike.

I'm not keen on (1), and can't afford (5) or (6) (seeing as the 2 tiny jolly dictators who rule my house have learnt to walk and therefore will need to learn to ride soon) which leaves:

2) cheap and presumably I wouldn't need to worry about chainline or a new BB, but would chain drop be an issue and presumably the new ring would go on the big ring place?

3) similar to above although a little more costly but hopefully without chain drop?

4) would seem a bit more reliable, but is more expensive and I think it'd leave me with outboard BB bearings which I've never had and wonder about the reliability, Also, I currently have a JIS square taper in a slightly odd length of 103mm, but a 68mm shell so presumably the new BB would fit the frame but the chainline would be odd? Would it even be an issue?

Hope that makes sense. I'm kind of leaning toward (4), but it's all a bit unknown. Anything I've made a mistake on, or something I've missed? Is 40t a realistic front ring as a quick search doesn't seem to throw up much? Are single ring bolt options necessary? Thoughts are always welcome but any real world experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Iain

The Rookie

I've run 1x9 on my last two commuters.

Remove and ditch front mech and cable and both chainrings, get a 'narrow wide' front chainring of the right size and fit it, adjust chain length as required - go ride! Alternatively ditch the inner chainring and adjust the mech on the low stop to sit over the outer ring to act as a chain guide but personally I prefer the 'clean lines' without.

A chainring can be had form circa £16 (J&L off ebay work well and are cheap, but they do take 2-3 weeks to arrive), with some rings you may need shorter single ring width bolts.

ugo.santalucia

As above... you probably do need shorter chainring bolts... I bought some for 2.50 on Ebay

Monty Dog

Yup, as above simply get yourself a suitable chainring (110mm PCD 5 arm e.g. RaceFace or Absolute Black) and try it - you'll need to shorten the chain because of the smaller chainring plus you'll need shorter, single chainring bolts

The Rookie

You may or MAY NOT need shorter bolts, I've had a few single chainrings that are thick enough to use double bolts.

joncomelately

Brilliant, thanks all for the replies - nice to have a consensus! A shiny new ring it will be then (and chain and cassette once the salt monsters have stopped venturing forth).