1x for Road anyone doing it?

[cuda]

I bet this has been discussed but my search "1x for road" or "3T Strada" isnt getting me anywhere.

anyhow, After getting over my mental block about needing more than 1x on my gravel rig I'm now feeling like this could work fine for me on the road.

Anyone gone 1x for the road and care to share your experience?


thx

[Rekalcitrant]

I’ve been experimenting a bit the past few years with how far I could push a single bike for use in CX, gravel, and then training on the road in the summer when I was traveling and limited to one bike. I ended up pairing ultegra di2 shifters with an XT dear derailleur. My favorite setup for the road is a SRAM 10-42 cassette and either 44 or 46 chainring, depending on the terrain. Di2 shifting is great, I disengage the clutch on the derailleur on the road, and with the 46t ring the gear range is pretty close to the 52/36 x 11-28 on my road bike. I think what people sometimes don’t realize is that the jump from 11t to 10t is huge as far as increasing gear range, although, yes, it increases drivetrain friction. I also found that I blew out chains relatively quickly, which could be the 10t cog or the cross-chaining inherent in 1x or maybe narrow/wide chainrings make a difference. But for me this was a cost worth paying for being able to ride pretty much everything with one bike and two sets of wheels (one road, one gravel). The jump between gears doesn’t bother me much, but I can see why someone would find that annoying.

[kppolich]

Originally Posted by cuda

I bet this has been discussed but my search "1x for road" or "3T Strada" isnt getting me anywhere.

anyhow, After getting over my mental block about needing more than 1x on my gravel rig I'm now feeling like this could work fine for me on the road.

Anyone gone 1x for the road and care to share your experience?


thx

riding or racing?

Riding fine.
Racing anything with any elevation isn't worth it.
Flat crits, sure.

[ultraman6970]

I have not but....

I squeezze myself in a century ride last week, actually half of it. Partner with a super nice lady riding a colnago I think with 1x12 electronic shimano group.

The group worked flawlessly but my only observation and probably why the 3T machine did not work was that the range of the cogs was stupidly wide... and each cog was way too appart from each other in the teeth count wise.

I love straight blocks and when I saw the cogs I was able to tell every cog was 2 or 3 teeth bigger than its predecesor, the last and bigger one was like a 34 probably even bigger, who knows...... so when the lady was going uphill I noticed that she was going from spinning ok to froome spinning and loosing terrain big time with everybody everytime she was shifting. I was able to tell she needed sometimes just the next cog teeth to be ok.

I would have to test the thing myself but I do not see the purpose of it at all.

[fa63]

I rode 1x on the road for a couple months. Just could not get used to the big jumps in the cassette (I live in Atlanta, where it is quite hilly). Went back to 2x.

[p nut]

I don’t race. I’ve been on 1x for about a year. 42-46T for gravel rides and 50T for road. Cassette 11-42.

I like it. Especially for gravel and bumpy sections where I get no chain slap.

[cuda]

Originally Posted by kppolich

riding or racing?

Riding fine.
Racing anything with any elevation isn't worth it.
Flat crits, sure.

i'm not into racing. 99% of my rides are solo. My current gearing is compact 50/34 up front and 11-28 in the rear. I'm generally in the 50 80% of the time so I've been thinking 1x is maybe worth a try. I'm riding in Rhode Island so elevation isnt really a thing here.

I'm thinking I'll run a 11-36 with a 48 for starters.

[kiwisimon]

i had 1X11 on my "gravel bike " but I was riding road 90% of the time. Very wide rear cluster meant I was not as efficient as I could have been with a narrower spread and two gears. I now ride my road bike 50,34 chainrings on the road and the gravel bike is a single speed.

[GeorgiaOcean]

Originally Posted by Rekalcitrant

...I disengage the clutch on the derailleur on the road...

Interesting... Why? I always wondered why any derailleur wouldn't use a clutch, even if less necessary on the road.

Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk

[fa63]

Some believe a clutch RD adds drivetrain friction, though this article/study suggests it not to be the case for a well-designed unit:

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/01/do-c...rain-friction/

Originally Posted by GeorgiaOcean

Interesting... Why? I always wondered why any derailleur wouldn't use a clutch, even if less necessary on the road.

[bikenow]

Only for commuting, I think you're asking about racing though, I don't but I don't think I'd enjoy a 1x for any sort of climbing

[Whit51]

I've got a couple of 46/30 X 34 9sp rigs. Don't need the 30t often but would not want to give it up.

[9tubes]

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want 1x. Modern 2x systems shift so well.

[cuda]

Originally Posted by 9tubes

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want 1x. Modern 2x systems shift so well.

the quick honest answer is I simply like finding new ways to do the same thing. I'm curious and easily sucked into new trendy things.

I didnt think I would like 1x off the road but I do. It feels very efficient. Sure there are gaps to get used to or a need to have a hand full direct mount rings or different cassettes to tailor your bike to where your going to ride but that's really nothing new.

If I can get done in 11 or 12 gears what a 2x systems needs 14 or 15 (unique) gears to do I'm fine with that.


You are right that the modern 2x systems shift well but you'd be hard pressed to convince me that having to shift up to shift down going from big to small chainrings is smooth or particularly efficient.

[9tubes]

Sorry, I should have been clear that I was talking about performance road riding.

With electronic shifting the chainring transition is smooth and efficient in my experience (2 years on eTap). I just don't think about it any longer. Click and it's done.