1x for road

Juraj1711

thoughts about 1x on road?
Any expiriences?

minnnt

Love it. Works perfect for me whether I’m doing a 9 mile commute or a 100 mile ride on a Sunday. I posted similar on a fb group and someone got a little upset and called me an anomaly. Haha.

Matthewfalle

Seems to work fine for blue acqua or whatever that team is called.....

Juraj1711

Yeah,I don’t get it when people get upset beacuse of 1x story,especialy on road bikes.
Anyway,my mtb is sram 1x and i like it very much.
Also,i convert my old scott cr1 in comutter with 1x xt/xtr 11 speed with 11-40/42-on the front.
For that purpose is awesome but!-cadence disrupt is anoying on road,realy is.

chippyk

I think it’s a fad. Discs I get, 1x, no thanks. Personal opinion, there’ll be loads that agree, loads that don’t and I accept that. Each to their own.

davep1

ChippyK wrote:

I think it’s a fad. Discs I get, 1x, no thanks. Personal opinion, there’ll be loads that agree, loads that don’t and I accept that. Each to their own.

I'm with Chippy, I don't like it. I have Ultegra 6800 on my road bike, it's a fantastic system. I currently have a 52-36 at the front and an 11-32 at the back which is perfect for my riding. If I lived in the Alps I could go full compact at the front, if I was less bothered about climbing I could go standard chainset and a lovely close ratio cassette.
To me, 1x is a gimmick with no real benefit, and big jumps somewhere in the gearing. You may be able to get a similar range, but then you're stuck with big gaps. I don't think the weight saving is significant, or the simplicity makes any difference. My front derailleur works flawlessly, and I can manage to change gear with either hand. I like having the front for big changes and the back for fine tuning.
My issue with it is I don't want the spread of 1x making it hard to get a proper full transmission.

minnnt

I don’t find the ‘big gaps’ an issue and my cadence doesn’t seem to take a massive hit. I’m running 1x11 with a 44t up front and a 10-42 on the back. Easy peasy.

kirkee

I think 1x makes alot more sense for road than it does for mtb. Range wise gears can be easily covered for road use with a 1x11 even more so a 1x12. Imo 1x systems lack for mtb use due to the low end required which then compromises the top end available. As extreme lower years are not needed for normal road riding, gear range compromise is a non issue. The jumps between gears cant be as small and thats probably the main and only trade off?

curto80

Not sure I’ve ever seen someone say “yeah I’ve got it but I don’t like it”. It’s always the people riding doubles that slag it off.

FWIW I run 46 front 11-36 back on my bowman. Use it for everything from steep hill reps to circuit racing. Love it

redvee

I'm running 1x10 on the commuter with a 40t up front and 12-28 on the rear wheel. I've got matching shifters but have locked the left hand one so there is slight lever movement. A 1x10/11 set-up might not work for all but it does for some, my other bike has a conventional 2x10 set up.

Juraj1711

Maybe in the future something like 9-36/12 speed cassette will be acceptably for rode use.

lincolndave

Curto80 wrote:

FWIW I run 46 front 11-36 back on my bowman. Use it for everything from steep hill reps to circuit racing. Love it

Hi Curto, what crankset are you using on the bowman, by the way is the bowman a palace r?
Thanks

cgfw201

Got a CX with 1x and it's great on and off road, would certainly consider 1x road for next purchase if there's more (cheaper) options than there are now.

Think on a 2x11 with 50/34 11-28 there's only around 13-14 different gears with 7/8 which are basically the same but with different big ring/small ring combinations.

So it's effectively the same range of gears, but 11 of them rather than 14. The only difference is a couple of RPM cadence, so riding at 85 rather than 88 or something, which is basically nothing.

Looks better, less maintenance and particularly when there's more 1x12 systems, almost certainly the future of gearing.

DeVlaeminck

I suppose it depends on your riding. For UK racing you rarely get out of the big ring so something like 50*11-25 would be fine. For training stick a 12-29 on and even in the hilly areas of the uk that should be fine for all but your Hardknotts and those rare extreme climbs. Obviously adjust up or down for individual fitness.

bendertherobot

Would I take it to the Alps. No.

Would I use it every day for every ride I do in the UK, unquestionably yes. My 1x has become my go to bike.

sloppyschleckonds

I wonder if those dismissing 1x have actually ridden it.

ryan_w-2

bendertherobot wrote:

Would I take it to the Alps. No.

Would I use it every day for every ride I do in the UK, unquestionably yes. My 1x has become my go to bike.

This.

davep1

cgfw201 wrote:

Looks better, less maintenance and particularly when there's more 1x12 systems, almost certainly the future of gearing.

Looks better?! Are you sure? A dinner plate sized cassette?! Less maintenance is also a dubious claim; I rarely need to do anything to my front derailleur.

Juraj1711

DaveP1 wrote:

cgfw201 wrote:

Looks better, less maintenance and particularly when there's more 1x12 systems, almost certainly the future of gearing.

Looks better?! Are you sure? A dinner plate sized cassette?! Less maintenance is also a dubious claim; I rarely need to do anything to my front derailleur.

Look better imo to me also.
Cleaner look.
36 cassette is not a plate(maybe small plate)
Less maintance for shure-what does not exist can not be broken

bendertherobot

DaveP1 wrote:

cgfw201 wrote:

Looks better, less maintenance and particularly when there's more 1x12 systems, almost certainly the future of gearing.

Looks better?! Are you sure? A dinner plate sized cassette?! Less maintenance is also a dubious claim; I rarely need to do anything to my front derailleur.

Are you on one of those silly diets?

fenix

I'm waiting to see how Aqua Blue get on with their set up.
Having two chainrings isn't any hassle to me - as has been said it's the simplest part of the bike.
I do like to do stupid hills when I'm fit so I need a bike with a wide range of gears.

Do you need a chain catcher with the 1x or does it stay on OK ?

bendertherobot

Fenix wrote:

I'm waiting to see how Aqua Blue get on with their set up.
Having two chainrings isn't any hassle to me - as has been said it's the simplest part of the bike.
I do like to do stupid hills when I'm fit so I need a bike with a wide range of gears.

Do you need a chain catcher with the 1x or does it stay on OK ?

Stays fine cos the chainring is narrow wide and keeps it on. Rear mech is clutched so the whole thing has more tension.

My setup is 40t with 11-32. Which, so far, has been spot on for South Wales.

The climbing gear is effectively a 34 with a 27 1/2t sprocket. So it's fine for that.

Top end is somewhere between 50 and 13/14t on the back, so there aren't any real issues there either. That's almost 29mph at 100rpm

Are there gaps? Yeah, some, but I'm just never uncomfortable.

Someone with a spreadsheet could probably knock out a comparison of compacts with 11-25/28 and how they compare to a 11-32 equipped 40t front etc and show many gears could be 'crossed through.'

I'll be doing all my training on this bike from now on prior to the Marmotte.

bendertherobot

https://opencycle.com/updates/convertin ... drivetrain

No spreadsheet but a good discussion. Particularly identifying those top gears that you don't really need.

simon_masterson

57x11-21 for TTs. No front mech, obviously.

iron-clover

Simon Masterson wrote:

57x11-21 for TTs. No front mech, obviously.

Jeepers creepers- that is tall gearing, even for TTs!
You must have legs like tree trunks!

cycleclinic

I use 1x on my race bike. Currently there's an 11-32T cassette with a 52T oval chainring. I sometimes use a 12-27T and a 11-21T cassette for 12hr/24hr TT's.

Another road bike is going to get a 46T outer an 12-27T cassette when I get round to fitting it.
As chainrings wear out all my bikes will become 1x11 well nearly all some only have 1 gear.

Andymaxy

As a small rider at 53 kg, I do find big jumps between gears annoying. I don't think it makes sense for racers with a very specific preferred cadence. Another reason I don't quite like it is that I spend more tim crosschaining, the chain is slightly more noisy and I'm sure there's more friction, though I can't feel it.

JesseD

I have a 1x12 MTB, a 1x10 cross/training bike and a 2x11 race bike.

1x makes sense off road and as you are not really racing in a bunch and keep pace with others for the best part it makes sense.

1x on the road is fine for training which is what i use it for, I sometimes run out of gears on fast training rides (did the past 2 Sundays when we were chain ganging at 30mph and people started to attack) but as I run 44t x 12-32 its generally fine for most stuff.

Wouldn't want a 1* on my racebike though, I dont like the big jumps in gears or having to race at a cadence limited by the gears instead of what feels comfortable to me. I'll be sticking with 2x for racing and 1x for training and mtb

pnev

Ryan_W wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

Would I take it to the Alps. No.

Would I use it every day for every ride I do in the UK, unquestionably yes. My 1x has become my go to bike.

This.

Why not?

Surely one of the advantages of the 1x is it's adaptable. Going to the alps, reduce your front chainring size/increase the cassette etc..

bendertherobot

Pnev wrote:

Ryan_W wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

Would I take it to the Alps. No.

Would I use it every day for every ride I do in the UK, unquestionably yes. My 1x has become my go to bike.

This.

Why not?

Surely one of the advantages of the 1x is it's adaptable. Going to the alps, reduce your front chainring size/increase the cassette etc..

Yes, which assumes that the bike on which you'd ride the Alps is the right bike. So, for something like the Marmotte, where I'd like to keep up on descents and the flats, a compact is better and it's better that the bike, overall, is lighter, but, if I were just riding around the Alps, then 1x would still be a good choice, with the right cassette.

diplodicus

Pnev wrote:

Ryan_W wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

Would I take it to the Alps. No.

Would I use it every day for every ride I do in the UK, unquestionably yes. My 1x has become my go to bike.

This.

Why not?

Surely one of the advantages of the 1x is it's adaptable. Going to the alps, reduce your front chainring size/increase the cassette etc..

If only there was some way of reducing your front chainring size by pressing a handily placed lever