Going from 1x to 2x (for gravel and in general)

[RacerJRP]

I really tried to like the wide-range 1x drivetrain on my gravel bike, but it sucked. Just always in the wrong gear.

Love my 2x gravel and all-road setups. 1x for CX and MTB make perfect sense and have been setting up that way for 15+ years. I can even get behind 1x for the vast majority of TT race bikes. Road, all-road, and gravel are still best served by 2x IMO.

[GregL]

MTB 1X = good. CX 1X = good. Gravel (the very hilly variety in my area) 1X = not so good. For a flat-rolling gravel course, I could see 1X working well. But the combination of double-digit grade uphills, long and/or fast down downhills, and flat-rolling sections in CNY make 2X preferable. Especially for racing.

Greg

[robt57]

I've run 28/40, 28/42, and 30/46. I like the low gears when needed. But especially for the road part of all road I find I am running cross chained a lot, anyone else?


The upside is the road part of allroad a 40-42 is enough for me as a 67 year old. I don't try to go faster down hill anymore. But rarely ride with anyone anymore either...

[thwart]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I'm glad it works for you, but it's crazy to me that one can have three chainrings and still such a low min/max range. This is basically the same range as a 42 chainring with an 11-42 cassette--which is standard on stock builds, but something I find a little lacking.

I hear you, but I can climb the > 10% grade steep, short stuff I encounter with a 26:27 low… still better than 42:42… and having tried it, I just hate bigger gear gaps. And front shifting with 10 tooth chainring differences is very smooth.

For the majority of my off-road riding with this bike, that middle 36 chainring is close to perfect.

[benadrian]

Originally Posted by robt57

I've run 28/40, 28/42, and 30/46. I like the low gears when needed. But especially for the road part of all road I find I am running cross chained a lot, anyone else?

I have a 46/30 with an 11-34 11s cassette on my commuter bike. I've often found that my easy cruising gear is either in the big ring maybe 6-7-8 cogs up, or in the little right about 3-4 cogs up. So yeah, I kind of end up a little cross chained quite often.

[benb]

I have a 30x11-50 on my Trek Farley.

Top gear with the 27.5"x4.5" tire hits about 20.5mph at 90rpm.

I spin that thing out pretty regularly the time and I spend a ton of time riding in the teeny weeny cogs. I'm definitely concerned about the wear on them. It's comical going down almost any descent on pavement or a fire road type thing.

But... I use the 30x50 a lot in the woods on really steep climbs and that bike is geared exactly correctly for snow, mud, beach sand, dunes, etc..

I think I saw Apex Eagle has a 40x11-50 option where it uses MTB cassette and/or derailleur (electronic or mechanical) and is intended for gravel. Maybe it's OK, 40x50 still seems very low for anything that is vaguely intended to be called a "road", and those bikes weigh 50% of what my MTB does.

Also on my MTB I feel like I have to religiously clean out anything that gets into the cogs.. leaves can rapidly build up and the tiny cogs are so small it seems like it doesn't take much for them to make things start acting weird.

[meyatt]

Both are good, but I think some caveats for me personally.

I was on a GRX Di2 11 speed build that was 50/34 to 11-40 XTR (also had 48/31 before that) and in general the 2x was nice as there was pavement to the gravel, some longer flat sections where the top end was nice — however, there would be times when you're kinda between the big ring and the small ring you need to just plan ahead a bit more or know the terrain decently well.

I'm actually switching over to 44t to 10-44 (might even go slightly larger on the chainring but will start there), because I found myself just sort of stuck in the middle enough times to want to experience a different end of it.

If you've got a lot of pavement, flat stretches, groomed gravel, or it doubles as a road bike, I think 2x is a good move.

With Di2 I had a lot of confidence I could make those fairly aggressive front derailleur changes and never drop the chain… with SRAM, ehhhhh I'd definitely think twice based on my experience riding SRAM 2x on road to ever try that on gravel.

I'd make the choice based on where I live and what combination keeps me in the middle of the cassette most often.

[benadrian]

Alright, the train is boarding.

I found a kooky good deal on some first generation Rival AXS stuff at Bike Closet.
https://bikecloset.com/?s=sram+rival...et_search=true
Do I want Force, yes. But I couldn't say no at these prices. Maybe these can end up on the road bike if I like the 2x on my all-road/grav bike.

Of course, I now need a crank... which will necessitate a new bottom bracket. Since SRAM DUB AXS cranks can be configured between 1x and 2x at the spider, I will probably splurge here. If I switch back to 1x, I might as well keep a more modern crank rather than put the GXP BB back in and the Force 22 w/ wolftooth1x back on.

A cassette is needed as well, but I'll see what pops up. My crazy brain is thinking of setting it up first with the xplr in the rear and 2x up front. SRAM say this is a big no-no, but I've read reports that it works okay so long as you watch the chain length. It does kind of hurt my soul, though.

[martinez]

^ that’s why I’ve stuck with mechanical 2x GRX - more flexibility in experimenting with lower/wider gearing. Electronic seems so limiting and also so much more expensive. Here in SoCal I’m riding on a mix of road, fire roads and singletrack so I’ve banged up my RD derailleur and levers quite a bit ! It would hurt so much more if it was di2/AXS prices 😮*💨

But to the original question… I built up my first two bikes with 1x but have pretty much decided to stay on 2x mechanical moving forward, although some builds/frames would be soooooo much more easy if I was working with brake hoses instead of brake hose+derailleur housing!

[benadrian]

Originally Posted by martinez

^ that’s why I’ve stuck with mechanical 2x GRX - more flexibility in experimenting with lower/wider gearing. Electronic seems so limiting and also so much more expensive. Here in SoCal I’m riding on a mix of road, fire roads and singletrack so I’ve banged up my RD derailleur and levers quite a bit ! It would hurt so much more if it was di2/AXS prices 😮*💨

But to the original question… I built up my first two bikes with 1x but have pretty much decided to stay on 2x mechanical moving forward, although some builds/frames would be soooooo much more easy if I was working with brake hoses instead of brake hose+derailleur housing!

Where do you ride in SoCal? We probably do the same rides, but I'm always looking for new adventures. Can I stalk your Strava?

I used to be all about mechanical, and I've never been the person to chase the tip of the tech world. Still, I began to go electronic when the nice stuff from about 3-6 years ago start to get sold secondhand for the later generations. I'll sweep in and get the deals and use nice stuff from 5 years ago.

[Likes2ridefar]

I prefer 1x after a few years now on axs mullet. Took me awhile to get used to the cadence changes and almost went back to 2x the first year. I use 50T in the rear on my all road bike and 40 or 42t up front.

I’ve tried ekar and can equate it to xplr for range, and know they don’t offer the range I need to ride the terrain I encounter. Rarely use the 50t anywhere but trails or very steep, long road and dirt climbs but it enables seated pedaling for me up to where it makes more sense to start hiking.