Considering 1x for road bike

[BLD 25]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It looks like there are a wide range of opinions. I like 1x on the gravel bike, and if it was for a road bike that I wasn't trying to maintain at a higher speed, 1x might work better. For something I am going to use in TTs, I might be better off with 2x for now.

[benb]

I know I couldn't handle it for the long hours road riding requires. Just the constant "not able to get the exact right gear I want" building up over the hours.

I know this just from riding my 1x MTB. I never miss the front derailleur if I am properly "trail riding" with steep ups and downs and steady power output is something that is never found.

But put me on a long flat stretch like a fire road or an old rail bed that is in a narrow grade range and can immediately feel myself not happy with the cadence I'm riding and feeling like I want a gear in between what I actually have.

Yes if your riding is really really well defined you could put a tighter cassette in the back to deal with this issue but then you're back to not having the wide range for both climbing & descending & flat.

I can ride a wide range of cadences just fine.. but that still doesn't mean I actually want to ride a cadence I find uncomfortable for a long period of time when I am trying to just chill out.

I have a 12-50 or 11-50 or something on my MTB, so yes that's really wide range, hard for me to believe a 11-44 or something would be that much better when the baseline for road is/was a 11-23, 11-25, 12-27, 12-29, etc..

Before I had 1X on my MTB I had an 11-32 or something on the old MTB, definitely better on those long monotonous stretches.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

I 'kinda' get it for MTB, but for road stuff, I really don't.

IMHO, YMMV and all that.

It's 100% dependent on terrain, IMO. And also gets into marginal gains (cross-chain efficiency) for the nerds among us.

FWIW, I tried 1x on my road bike a few years ago. I like having a 1:1 low gear, so with a 10-44 cassette and 44t ring, that gave me enough range, but I missed having the 12 and 14t cogs. So I went back to 2x with a 10-33 cassette.

And basically the same for gravel - I use a 30-43 and 10-36 combo - I do enough road getting to the gravel that I wanted to tighter cassette. But, I could probably make a 40x10-44 work well enough.

[morrisond]

I use EKAR with 44 9-36 on one of my Road(ish) bikes - it works great and gives me 6 gears between 20-35KM/h, and is like a 53/11 on top.

40 9-36 gives you 7 gears and is close to 50-11 on top - still pretty good

[Josh_W]

I did my first couple triathlons on a road bike with a 50x11-36 1x 10-speed setup. I'm in fairly flat central Ohio, but still use that 36t more than I expected. I now have a dedicated triathlon bike, and left it as a 2x. It just wasn't worth shaving a few hundred grams to give up that range and cadence optimization.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Dave

I resorted to using a 10-44 so I could remain seated when climbing a 13% grade. It got so my 30/36 lowest gear ratio just wasn't enough. The 30/38 or 30/44 did the trick.

What's actually different between a 10-36 and 10-44 is no 12T, so you have to wind up the 13 before using the 11. At the opposite end, the only difference is two 6 tooth jumps instead of 4T. I haven't found that to be any problem. The 32-38-44 jumps work just fine. Don't knock it unless you've tried it.

Or a 50-34 with a 11-34. Great it 'works' for you but for some, the big jumps don't.

->ymmv<-

the 30/36 = 0.83/1 that I found inadequate.

Bing, bing, bing...Again, for 'some', 1by on the road makes sense, BUT, with today's mostly great front ders and shifters, with a closer spaced cassette, it makes more sense to have a double.

[Dave]

There's a big difference between a 1/1 ratio like 34/34 and the 30/36 = 0.83/1 that I found inadequate. My 30/38= 0.79/1 and 30/44=0.68 are both lower. The 30/44 allows climbing at 4.3 mph at 80 rpm. The 30/44 is about the same as a 36/52 on a mountain bike.

My other solution is my Cervelo Rouvida with up to 250 watts of continuous power. Just a 100 watt maximum setting easily gets me up that steep climb with a 46/38 or 46/44. I did my regular 52 mile ride with 3600 feet of climbing at 18.3 mph, which about 3 mph faster than normal. I used less than 1% of the battery capacity per mile. It wasn't easier to complete the ride, just a lot faster. It's simple to set how much power the rider applies before the desired additional power limit is reached. I set mine at 170 rider watts with a 100 watt maximum assist.

https://fazua.com/en/products/ride-60/

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

More the general peanut gallery...'most' front ders work very, very well. I would think a double crank coupled with a cogset WITHOUT those big gaps(like a 10-44) would be a much better, smoother setup than any I by, for the road.

The push to 1x has largely been driven by SRAM which, deserved or not, has a less-than-stellar reputation for front derailleur performance. It's difficult to believe that the former was not influenced (at least somewhat) by the latter.

[MikeD]

A friend has a gravel bike ridden on the road. He has a double crank but says he's constantly shifting and trimming the front derailleur and thinks he'd be better served by a 1x drivetrain. Maybe he should change his crank or small chainring to a bigger one as there seemed to be a large tooth difference between the small and big rings.

[ridethecliche]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

The push to 1x has largely been driven by SRAM which, deserved or not, has a less-than-stellar reputation for front derailleur performance. It's difficult to believe that the former was not influenced (at least somewhat) by the latter.

I think this is a pretty hilarious take on it.

"Ugh we can't figure out this blasted FD thing"
-Well, why don't we just get rid of the FD?
"Brilliant! But how!?"
-Just get rid of it and throw a few more gears in the back. Call it lighter and tell people they can control a dropper with the left 'shifter' instead. Say it's progress.
"OMG YASSS!"

[Dave]

I've logged well over 20,000 miles on several SRAM AXS equipped 2X bikes and had no chain drop problem. With SRAM 1X, both shifters still get used - one for up shifts and the other for down shifts. Still can't be beat when wearing winter gloves.

A 1X bike with a 46/44 wouldn't come close to having enough low gear for my terrain. I have a 30/44 gear ratio available on my 2X bikes. With an ebike, the 46/44 is plenty of low gear. I just go up a steep grade at 6-7mph instead of 4-5mph.

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

I think this is a pretty hilarious take on it.

"Ugh we can't figure out this blasted FD thing"
-Well, why don't we just get rid of the FD?
"Brilliant! But how!?"
-Just get rid of it and throw a few more gears in the back. Call it lighter and tell people they can control a dropper with the left 'shifter' instead. Say it's progress.
"OMG YASSS!"

"At least somewhat influenced" does not mean it was the main driving force.

[ridethecliche]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

"At least somewhat influenced" does not mean it was the main driving force.

*woosh*

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

*woosh*

Got it. Yes, I was whooshed.

[tellyho]

Personally, I find fewer gears / wider spacing fine for <30 miles. After that, I get annoyed. If where you live is flat enough, it may be that 46x 11-32 could do the whole trick. Where I am, in relatively flat coastal MA, that range is pretty much all of my riding on a ultra-wide double 46/26. I never use the 26 here, just in the hills out west. Commuters are 40x11-32 and 39x11-42 and those work fine for the 9.5 miles. I'll happily ride my 3 speed path racer for a nice flat 30 miles but will get cranky around 40, especially if there's wind.