In praise of Ratio Technologies 1x12 upgrade kit

[KJMUNC]

Just finished upgrading my SRAM 11 1x setup to 1x12 wide range using Ratio Technologies and I would highly recommend it to anyone considering options to get 12 speed super wide gearing on their existing gravel drivetrain.

The kit allows you to hack a SRAM 11 speed mechanical road shifter (mine is mech + hydro brake) and upgrade to a 12 speed "mullet" gearing setup, which allows using up to 52t wide range cassettes, which are typically the realm of MTBs only. However, rather than having to swap my entire drivetrain out (including SRAM rival alloy cranks, which only allow for 40t smallest chainring), I was able to use the kit and a wide range cassette to achieve a massive range for the really steep stuff and for bikepacking. Ratio Tech offers a bunch of other gear upgrade kits/parts for various setups here: https://ratiotechnology.com/product-.../upgrade-kits/

Ratio's kit shipped from the UK incredibly quickly, contained every part I needed (with some spare bolts), excellent instructions and links to helpful videos, and a nice little mint to eat while you work.

Swapping the 11 speed ratchet out of the shifter for the new 12 speed was a little tedious, but much easier than I thought. Same went for swapping the rear derailleur cage from the stock SRAM cage to the Ratio cage & jockey wheels. I took my time and it was right around 90min for the full swap.

There aren't a ton of affordable 12 speed wide range cassette options (XX1 and XTR are ~$400....really?!) but I scored a killer deal on a barely used e*thirteen Helix R Gen 2 9x50t cassette. Only issue was I didn't realize my hub needed to upgrade to HDR, so that was a little added expense but also super easy.

Now I have a monster 556% gearing range and it's all completely reversible should I ever decide to do so. I'm just a customer and not affiliated with Ratio Technologies in any way, just wanted to share the experience for anyone else thinking about a crazy little project.

[many_styles]

Yup! I spec’d my custom gravel bike around Ratio’s offering!




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[martinez]

I considered that hack at one point, but then I just slapped an NX cage in my force 1 rd and runs a big cassette just fine without needing to swap out my freehub. I assume you meant XD ? gxp is a bb standard. But anywho, I stuck with 11-46 because I didn’t want to deal with swapping freehubs/spending more money … and after messing with installing/removing a few e13 cassettes myself I am totally ok not having they type of range !

[Hilltopperny]

My Cutthroat came with Rival plus ratio technologies conversion to GX and it works great! Nice to have the range available when exploring out in the middle of nowhere.

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[Alistair]

I'm tempted by the Ratio Ekar conversion. Doesn't have quite the range of the mullet, but the extra cog makes a compelling option for a mixed-use bike with sightly tighter gear spacing.

[KJMUNC]

Originally Posted by martinez

I considered that hack at one point, but then I just slapped an NX cage in my force 1 rd and runs a big cassette just fine without needing to swap out my freehub. I assume you meant XD ? gxp is a bb standard. But anywho, I stuck with 11-46 because I didn’t want to deal with swapping freehubs/spending more money … and after messing with installing/removing a few e13 cassettes myself I am totally ok not having they type of range !

Ha, yep meant XDR....had GXP on the brain for some reason.

Sticking with 11spd and an XD could've been an option, but I picked up the E13 cassette first, which then dragged me into the 12spd conversion + XDR decision. Not the cheapest option of the two, but was a fun project!

[cdimattio]

The 2 x 12 kit looks interesting...

"This upgrade kit allows you to pair SRAM 11 speed mechanical shifters and 2x-specific SRAM Exact Actuation* derailleur with a 12 speed SRAM eTap AXS* cassette and 12 speed SRAM Flattop* chain. You’ll gain all the advantages of greater gear range and closer gear ratios without the expense or weight of electronic shifting."