New bike with real derailleur only?

Artem.Satanov88
Artem.Satanov88 Posts: 1
in Road buying advice
I am wanting to get a new bike (a Trek something-or-other road/hybrid) and am thinking of getting one that only has the rear derailleur. Anyone got any experiences/opinions to offer? I'm intrigued because of (a) the simplicity and (b) almost all my chain/gear problems and noises have historically been on the front. I am a little concerned about the lateral stress from shifting across the the sprockets over time.
FWIW, I do all my riding on decent roads and my routes climb a *lot* of long, steep hills (+700' over a 1.5 miles)

Comments

  • pep.fermi
    pep.fermi Posts: 388
    My old Trek MTB-turned-road-commuter has rear mech only. It originally had front one too, but I removed it. BTW I live in flatland, so too large a gear range here is really useless.
  • singleton
    singleton Posts: 2,523
    edited April 2023
    I had a road bike that had a rear mech only (aka a 1x or "1 by") setup.
    There is a compromise on gearing, in that you either need to have a big range from top to bottom, or you need to have small gaps between the gears - you can't have both.
    But for me, with a 42 front and an 11 speed 11-33 rear, I was fine.
  • dabber
    dabber Posts: 1,982
    edited March 2023
    My MTB has a 32 chainring and 10-51 cassette. (12 sprockets) Works perfectly.
    “You may think that; I couldn’t possibly comment!”

    Wilier Cento Uno SR/Wilier Mortirolo/Specialized Roubaix Comp/Kona Hei Hei/Calibre Bossnut
  • vincesummerskRoxcBTr
    vincesummerskRoxcBTr Posts: 1,189
    Recently cycled the length of both islands of NZ on a 1x 10speed MTB. The range of gears was OK, but definitely notice the big gaps between gears when cycling on the road.
  • Defblade
    Defblade Posts: 142
    I love the 1x set up on my Kinesis R1. It suits the roads around here (rural SW Wales) as there's precious little flat around here; I'm always climbing or descending and so on one end or the other of the cassette, not so much in the middle. It's got an 11-42 on the back, and I've dropped the front ring from 44 to 40. It does rev out a bit at 30mph or so, but I've decided it's worth it for being able to spin up the climbs.

    I tried using it on Zwift this year. Hated it. The gearing jumps made it horrible on Zwift's more "normal" roads and I put my old 21 speed tourer back on the trainer.

    So whether it's a good idea may well depend on exactly where you intend to ride.

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