1x11 Road?

[SlackMan]

Motivated by Cameron's recent thread with a 1x11 All City Mr. Pink in the Production Bikes Image Gallery, and the post I pasted below that I found by searching, I am wondering if anyone else has experimented with 1x11 on a road bike. I am drawn to the simplicity of not having a front derailleur, and given the lack of big hills where I ride, I'm sure I could easily get plenty of gear range out of a 1x11 setup.

Are there any downsides I'm not seeing? And if I did want to convert, do I just need to get one of those Race Face Narrow Wide chainrings, and be good to go?


So I've got an entirely different motivation to go to 11 speed; simplicity.

This fall I've been messing around with a 1x11 geared road bike with surprisingly good results. Turns out that an 11/32 cassette with a 38t chainring provides an old guy like me with plenty of gearing for just about everything I encounter here in the hills of central NY. The bottom gear is lower than my customary 34/25, and the top gear is plenty big for tailwind pacelines. The best part is I no longer need to worry about a front derailleur or making those double shifts as the hill gets steeper.

When you think about it, a 1x11 provides way more gear options that many of us grew up with (yes, I started racing when we still used 5 speed straight blocks), and nearly as many as most modern double chainring systems. By the time you eliminate the unusable cross-chained gears and all the duplicate gears, even a 2x10 speed system only gives 14 usable gears. The numbers are obviously even lower for 9.8. and 7 speed systems.

The jury is still out whether I'll ride the 1x11 extensively next year, but right now it's looking pretty inviting.

[Brewstocker]

Keeping the right cadence is a lot more important on a road bike than on a bike that sees a lot of terrain variance. When on a MTB/CX bike, the terrain is bouncy and uneven, and it nearly impossible to keep a steady cadence, therefore large jumps in gearing are fine.

On a road bike, you want to keep your cadence in the optimal zone. To get a decent gearing range you'll need to have large jumps in between cogs, this means you will have a hard time keeping an efficient cadence a lot of the time.

If you don't care about riding fast/efficiently, and just want to get out there and ride, then it should be fine. However, if you're trying to keep up with the club, you'll probably be better off sticking with your double.

FWIW, I ride a 1x10 MTB, 1x10 CX and 2x10 roadie.

[vqdriver]

Second that. I think you'd find yourself in between gears more often.

Another thing that makes a single up front desirable for MTb is that you eliminate (much of) the risk of tossing your chain. No impacts or trail jostling on a road bike. I get the simplicity angle of it but I probably wouldn't dismantle a 2x setup to do it. Not really seeing a big benefit.

[tigoat]

Motivated by Cameron's recent thread with a 1x11 All City Mr. Pink in the Production Bikes Image Gallery, and the post I pasted below that I found by searching, I am wondering if anyone else has experimented with 1x11 on a road bike. I am drawn to the simplicity of not having a front derailleur, and given the lack of big hills where I ride, I'm sure I could easily get plenty of gear range out of a 1x11 setup.

Are there any downsides I'm not seeing? And if I did want to convert, do I just need to get one of those Race Face Narrow Wide chainrings, and be good to go?

If you do not have big hills to climb in your area, then why would you even need 11 cassettes. Why not go single and be done with it? I routinely ride my single speed CX bike (47x18) with our local race boys on their training rides and have had no problem keeping up with a 19mph average.

[robin3mj]

Living in Chicago, I could easily get away with a 1x10 setup for my local rides, but the fact is, you kinda have to work at, and possibly spend more money on, a single ring setup, which also may leave you SOL as soon as you drive say two hours away.

My cx bike is a single ring and suffices in winter, and if I was ever so inclined to build up a weekend hammer bike from say a CAAD frame and mismatched parts, a 1xwhatver might make sense, but in the interim, it's more an answer to a question that wasn't really asked.

[bdawe]

1697884368
Works fine. If you don't need a little ring, you don't need a little ring.

[Admiral Ackbar]

my winter/···· weather road bike has a single ring (1x7 tho) and honestly, its fine. it will go anywhere my 2x10 road bike will, although serious climbs are a bitch and it will only go so fast in 46/12 (or 13? i forget) i don't think its a bad idea, especially for a second bike. I'm sure 4 more gears would be much better than my setup with big jumps between cogs

narrow wide ring isn't needed atmo. ran my winter beater with a regular chainring and a diy chain keeper and its been fine. i don't think they even make narrow wide rings in sizes big enough for road riding?

[Louis]

1697884368
Works fine. If you don't need a little ring, you don't need a little ring.

Is that your bike? With a single ring in front and a corn-cob cassette? Either you're a monster masher or you live someplace super-flat.

Ft Collins - hmm, you must live on the far east side of town, right? ;)

[Charles M]

I have 32 section Conti road tires on this right now...


https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/10431241_10203177474931739_7246989800719477166_o.j pg


1x works pretty damn well right now.

Given you can grab a reasonable front gear and the rear Der has a BIG range, the CX1 set up from sram pretty much kicks ass.

I run 11-32 rear and a 46 front... You're really going to have to push to try and find that range not suitable for the vast majority of riding...

[chengher87]

1697884368
Works fine. If you don't need a little ring, you don't need a little ring.

I'm the opposite. 12-28 cassette on the back and a 42T biopace on the front. I live in such a hilly place, I've never ever used the big ring, even on a downhill. Hell, my legs are so damn tired from some of the climbing that even on the flats I can only push a 42-16 and I usually just coast on the downhill for recovery.

[oldpotatoe]

Motivated by Cameron's recent thread with a 1x11 All City Mr. Pink in the Production Bikes Image Gallery, and the post I pasted below that I found by searching, I am wondering if anyone else has experimented with 1x11 on a road bike. I am drawn to the simplicity of not having a front derailleur, and given the lack of big hills where I ride, I'm sure I could easily get plenty of gear range out of a 1x11 setup.

Are there any downsides I'm not seeing? And if I did want to convert, do I just need to get one of those Race Face Narrow Wide chainrings, and be good to go?

Or just use a fder as chain watcher. Sure it'll work..just be aware that any 11/12-X cogset, even with 11 of them, may give unacceptable gaps between cogs. Even when riding around Colorado, I shift the front der a fraction of the times of the rear..so kinda don't get it. I think a well thought out double, with a closer spaced rear cogset is a better idea, IMHO, YMMV, yada, yada.

I use a 50/36, 12-25/11s..straight thru the 19t..then 2 tooth gaps.

..unless the Fder is sram, of course, then I understand wanting to get rid of it.

[witcombusa]

Motivated by Cameron's recent thread with a 1x11 All City Mr. Pink in the Production Bikes Image Gallery, and the post I pasted below that I found by searching, I am wondering if anyone else has experimented with 1x11 on a road bike. I am drawn to the simplicity of not having a front derailleur, and given the lack of big hills where I ride, I'm sure I could easily get plenty of gear range out of a 1x11 setup.

Are there any downsides I'm not seeing? And if I did want to convert, do I just need to get one of those Race Face Narrow Wide chainrings, and be good to go?

Personally never found making front shifts to be a problem of any kind.

With any gearing question, start with what range do you want (then temper that with what you actually need). After you have determined the high and low required, what progression is optimal within that span?

Now you have to make a system that covers it. If bigger gaps are OK then perhaps a single front ring may work. It's really just understanding what you need and finding a shifting pattern that work within that.

[SlackMan]

Thanks for all the replies. Lots of comments about gaps between gears. I currently spend most of the time on a 53 chain ring and only have a 7-speed in the back, so I am thinking that going to 11 speed cassette would likely provide smaller gaps that I currently have. But, it is probably a good idea to just calculate out all the gear inches I currently have and compare to the potential ones from a 1x11.

[David Tollefson]

With my road bikes now, I run an 11-28 EIGHT-speed cassette with either a 50/34 compact front or a 46/34 compact front. About the only time I use the small ring is coming out of my driveway, or on really long climbs. I could get by with a 12-32 10-speed and a 46 single ring pretty easily for 90% of my riding.

[oddsaabs]

Just got back from 4 days riding the hills of the finger lakes region of New York. ( http://www.quadzilla.us/ ) I rode a single ring (Wolf Tooth 38t) and 11/32 in the rear. Worked great for me. Provided enough bottom gear to make it over the 18% grades, and enough top gear to keep up on the flats and down. I'll admit though that I spun out of gear at much over 45kph. Most of those moments however we were flying downhill, and I was likely to be tucked and resting anyway.

[shovelhd]

Thanks for all the replies. Lots of comments about gaps between gears. I currently spend most of the time on a 53 chain ring and only have a 7-speed in the back, so I am thinking that going to 11 speed cassette would likely provide smaller gaps that I currently have. But, it is probably a good idea to just calculate out all the gear inches I currently have and compare to the potential ones from a 1x11.

What is your typical cadence?

Any chainline issues?

[SlackMan]

What is your typical cadence?

Any chainline issues?

Cadence in 90-ish range. The chainline issues are part of what I was wondering about --- would it be a problem or not? I currently have a 7-speed cassette on an 11-speed hub (which was always meant to just be temporary) with a spacer. Putting on a proper 11 speed cassette would put cogs where the spacer is now. If I were to shift to a big chainring / big cog combination, even on the 7-speed cassette, it would surely be noisy. That angle would be more severe on the 11-speed cassette because the big cog on the 7-speed is standing out from the hub some by the spacer. I guess this is the core of my question: how do the 1x11 work without a bunch of noise from the resulting chainring / cog combinations?

[jamesutiopia]

I used to have a Rohloff hub on my winter bike, and hated the 13.5% gaps. It was like having two useful gears most of the time, plus so many bail-out and go-fast options that there are some I never used.

The lack of 16t cog in that cassette would be a deal breaker for me. Lots of nice gaps on that cassette, but they aren't necessarily in the ideal range. Or maybe they are, for your fitness and terrain...

[Charles M]

Cadence in 90-ish range. The chainline issues are part of what I was wondering about --- would it be a problem or not? I currently have a 7-speed cassette on an 11-speed hub (which was always meant to just be temporary) with a spacer. Putting on a proper 11 speed cassette would put cogs where the spacer is now. If I were to shift to a big chainring / big cog combination, even on the 7-speed cassette, it would surely be noisy. That angle would be more severe on the 11-speed cassette because the big cog on the 7-speed is standing out from the hub some by the spacer. I guess this is the core of my question: how do the 1x11 work without a bunch of noise from the resulting chainring / cog combinations?


I get no noise from the rear of 1x11 at all.

But then this (SRAM CX1) set up is designed with a chain line where the front 46 chainring sits dead center...

[jlwdm]

Tony Martin says you guys are a bunch of whimps.

He rode the time trial with an 11x32 with just a 58 front ring.

Jeff

[alessandro]

Tony Martin says you guys are a bunch of whimps.

He rode the time trial with an 11x32 with just a 58 front ring.

Jeff

And an air scoop:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Btja_AuCAAA8O1Y.jpg:large

[spacemen3]

Great photo! I have a few bikes without a front derailleur and a 9-speed rear. The simplicity is nice, and if you don't care about cadence, why not. Using a track crankset, I've encountered no issues.

[thirdgenbird]

Some of my favorite ridding has been fixed/single speed.

[shovelhd]

Cadence in 90-ish range. The chainline issues are part of what I was wondering about --- would it be a problem or not? I currently have a 7-speed cassette on an 11-speed hub (which was always meant to just be temporary) with a spacer. Putting on a proper 11 speed cassette would put cogs where the spacer is now. If I were to shift to a big chainring / big cog combination, even on the 7-speed cassette, it would surely be noisy. That angle would be more severe on the 11-speed cassette because the big cog on the 7-speed is standing out from the hub some by the spacer. I guess this is the core of my question: how do the 1x11 work without a bunch of noise from the resulting chainring / cog combinations?

The reason I asked is that if you like to keep your cadence in a certain narrow range, more gears is better.

7 speed on an 11 speed hub? Are you using a gas pipe for a spacer?

[SlackMan]

The reason I asked is that if you like to keep your cadence in a certain narrow range, more gears is better.

7 speed on an 11 speed hub? Are you using a gas pipe for a spacer?

I like to use things up before discarding them! :)

Info on 7-speed cassette on 11-speed hub is here at post #8:

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=131169

[SteveFrench]

Just don't shift your gears up front. That's a cheap way to do it. And don't worry about gearing, gear range, cadence and what ever the hell other cyclist think of it.

[dieonthishill]

And an air scoop:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Btja_AuCAAA8O1Y.jpg:large

Basking Shark :)

[Cameron]

I love 1x on my All City... I built that bike knowing where I'd be riding that particular bike 90% of the time and selected chainring/cassette spread based on that too. I've run several bikes in various 1x configurations so over time I've nailed down what combo works for me based on riding terrain, my fitness, etc.

Currently I'm pretty set with 44t chainring and 11-28 cassette. 44/28 is doable for almost any climbing I do and anywhere I'd plan on riding that required easier gearing than that means I'd be on a different bike anyway (Cielo). I do spin-out on 44/11 on longer descents, but spinning out at 30-ish mph is plenty fast where I don't feel like I'm losing out on anything.

I personally don't give 2 ····s about stats and things like wattage/cadence/intervals/etc. I am not training for anything and over-analyzing does nothing but complicate what is to me, a simple pleasure. I just like riding and like building bikes that suit me and my purposes well. My purposes being maximizing fun and enjoying being on a bike.

I say, go for it if you think it will be fun. Have fun on your bike above all.

[RobJ]

From the pictures it looks like you are running the SRAM CX1 chainrings? Also using the 1170 cassette?

I get no noise from the rear of 1x11 at all.

But then this (SRAM CX1) set up is designed with a chain line where the front 46 chainring sits dead center...

[Charles M]

From the pictures it looks like you are running the SRAM CX1 chainrings? Also using the 1170 cassette?



Yep. 11-32 and a 46T front...

I've done group rides on this and the 46-32 hasn't seen a hill it doesn't like yet. You have to be going pretty quick to get spun out at 46-11 but that happened a few times.

[bigboom]

http://www.bikerumor.com/2014/07/17/photo-gallery-2015-specialized-road-mountain-bikes-overview/

Specialized is doing it too...makes complete sense for a crit bike.

[Vinci]

If your area is flat, why not? I have used my small ring on one ride and that was when I went way out of town to specifically ride hills. Otherwise, 50 x 11-23 works fine.

I looked into moving to a pure 1x10 setup and the fact that it would actually cost me money to remove the front shifting from my setup persuaded me to just leave it 2x10 and not shift the front.

If you're looking to simplify, then it's the rear shifting that has to go and singlespeed is your answer.