SRAM AXS XPLR with 1x chainring on road bike.
 

Hi. I build my new bike and want to install a Sram system with 1 chainring at the front and a 10-44 cassette. I really like the ease of 1x shifting on my gravel bike. A road bike will be used for general long-distance riding and climbing. Which chainring would you go with? Now I have a 38t installed in the front and an 11-46 in the rear(11-speed cassette). A little lacking on the descent, but I feel great on the climbs. I'm leaning towards a 40 or 42 chainring up front on the new setup. What do you think?

I'd recommend using this site to compare gearing ratios against each other:

https://gear-calculator.com/?GR=DERS...0,46&UF2=2150#

An easy way to think of it is like this (compared to traditional gear ratios):

• 46t on the front with 10-44 at the rear has the same range as a 50-34 and 11-32
• 48t on the front with 10-44 at the rear has the same range as a 52-36 and 11-32

I used my gravel bike with road wheels for a couple weeks 2 years ago. 40 x 10-42 (standard gravel gear for me) and with the road wheels worked reasonably well. I'd think for all road riding I'd use a 42 for the front, not too many places where you need to go below 1:1 on road. Did get spun out above 27 or so, but interestingly had my fastest loop time (19+) on this configuration. We have about 60-70' climbing per mile around here so for example. Shout out to DT Swiss for the ease of changing drivers around btw.

I set my Legend Ti up with a 1x AXS build with a 42t up front and 10-33 rear. I like it a lot. My Allroad bike is set up with a 44t up front and 10-50 rear to make it more suitable to off-road use. The good thing about AXS is you can mix and match set ups!

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My Ibis Hakka is set up the same way: 42t front and 10-33 rear. It works great on the road.

42x10 spins out for me around 32-ish MPH so if I had high speed in mind like a crit race, I would switch to a 46t front.

With 40t and 10-44, I spin out at 30 mph. I ride a lot of hills so I like the combo to keep cadence high while ascending.

I recently set up my Boone for 1x disc road riding in the mountains.

46x10-44

“In general” going down 1 tooth in the rear (11 to 10) is worth 4 teeth up front.
So 46x10 roughly equals 50x11.

Put me in the 46 chainring camp.

I'm running 42t up front and 10-44 in the back. Works great for Road and Gravel.

44 or 46, unless I was hitting the mountains regularly.

40 is def too low for spirited road rides.

44x10 gives you ~32mph at 90rpm

46t here too w/ 10-44 cassette. Pretty happy in the hills here!

46x10-33 no problems (now 10-36 actually) on one bike
48x10-33 on my race bike from last year, super fun, worry free. Have since went 2x after move. (50/37-10/28)

https://i.imgur.com/76Dy9W3.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Q12993i.jpg

My Melee is set up with a Sram Force AXS 1x. 48t aero chainring in the front, 10-44 in the back. Like it so much that I have all the parts on order to do my Ritchey Logic the same way, but with rim brake.

Is it perfect? No. I sometimes miss the 12T cog. But it's way more perfect than 2x if you live in hilly/mountainous areas. If you live somewhere flat, there's no need: You're never leaving that large chainring anyway. (I sometimes reside in a flat place and sometimes in a mountainous place, hence the insight.)

Same for me. Love it.

I run a 50T front with 11-42 ( classified hub/cassette) best of both worlds and the best FD I've ever used.