Modern trend for extremely low gearing

[fossyant]

This thread is talking about 1x MTB gearing, not your touring bikes, not road bikes, and not shoppers. It's also not talking about pub bikes.

It's for proper MTB's. If you are doing XC, then 2 x is probably more suitable due to closer spaced sprockets - Shimano still do XT and XTR in their 12 speed groupsets. Trail, enduro etc then 1x can make things much easier - less to think about when the terrain suddenly changes and you need to drop 3 or 4 gears quickly. You don't need big gears either as you are usually freewheeling and using body weight to balance the bike properly on descents. You'll really only use the small sprockets on road, which is where the bike isn't at it's best.

The downside is the cassettes are now rather expensive, but so are ruddy chain rings anyway. My larger chain ring is about the same price as a decent 10 speed cassette - guess which wears out fastest.

I chose 2 x 10 rather than the 1 x 11 model as my main riding is XC / cross country mixed in with some hard climbs and descents. at least with 1 x and direct mount, it's far easier to find chain rings and the fitting is standardised. It takes some internet research getting chain rings for my 2 x 10 now without having to pay £100 to import one from Taiwan !

 

[chriswoody]

This thread is talking about 1x MTB gearing, not your touring bikes, not road bikes, and not shoppers. It's also not talking about pub bikes.

It's for proper MTB's. If you are doing XC, then 2 x is probably more suitable due to closer spaced sprockets - Shimano still do XT and XTR in their 12 speed groupsets. Trail, enduro etc then 1x can make things much easier - less to think about when the terrain suddenly changes and you need to drop 3 or 4 gears quickly. You don't need big gears either as you are usually freewheeling and using body weight to balance the bike properly on descents. You'll really only use the small sprockets on road, which is where the bike isn't at it's best.

The downside is the cassettes are now rather expensive, but so are ruddy chain rings anyway. My larger chain ring is about the same price as a decent 10 speed cassette - guess which wears out fastest.

I chose 2 x 10 rather than the 1 x 11 model as my main riding is XC / cross country mixed in with some hard climbs and descents. at least with 1 x and direct mount, it's far easier to find chain rings and the fitting is standardised. It takes some internet research getting chain rings for my 2 x 10 now without having to pay £100 to import one from Taiwan !

Don't forget Gravel/Adventure bikes too. My kona comes with a SRAM 1x11 system and the 10 tooth sprocket is really useful on road. Generally the spread of gears is fine for where I live (10 - 42 Cassette, 36 tooth chainring), however, for loaded off-road touring it's too high. I'm going to put a 32 tooth chainring on the next time I tour.

As you say, it's all a tad expensive to replace, that said, I'm really impressed how long it all lasts. Riding a lot of off-road in an area that has really sandy gritty soil I've got well over 4000km out of my cassette so far and I'm on my second chain.

 

[Broadside]

That's true (RHB) - on the way back on Day 3 of Mille Pennines for me. Suspect Bushcombe Lane climbing out of Bishop's Cleeve is the very hardest (UK), because of its narrowness and road surface - I have been down but never up (except many times by car to visit relative).

Bushcombe Lane is a nasty climb, I can’t say I enjoyed it last year but I managed to keep going to the top. Hardknott Pass is something else, I got to 100m from the top before I conked out. As far as difficulty goes I would rate Bushcombe 9/10, Wrynose 10/10 (I only just manged to keep going) and Hardknott 11/10 because it beat me. I wouldn’t attempt Bushcombe again, it’s not a great road and doesn’t tempt me back. Hardknott was intriguing though and I think I will return for another go but with at least another 4 teeth on my cassette! The descents off Hardknott and Wrynose are horrendous at the moment, the cars have chopped up the tarmac so bad that doing anything over 15mph was dangerous so it’s a bit of a hand acher getting down and that was with hydraulic discs brakes on my road bike.

 

[Stevec047]

I switched my 2x8 to a 1x8 with a 32 oval chain ring up front. Two reasons I did this, the first was to loose the front derailleur and lesson the risk of a malfunction out on the trials, as I had a number of occasions where it would get jammed with rocks and mud.

The second reason was to allow for a wider range of gears at the back to help on the long slots up the trails before getting to the fun parts.

At no point was this a costly exercise, the oval chain ring cost about £30, a new wider ratio 11/38 cassette was around £40 but the difference it has made is night and day, no more skipping chain on the front derailleur and a much smoother ride.

 

[T4tomo]

As an aside I was pleased to climb out of Lynmouth without putting a foot down. Is the hardest (albeit short) climb I've ever ridden (harder than Hardknott or Rosedale Chimney).

Robin Hoods bay is a decent climb out

Rosedale Chimney is harder than either way out of RHB, I'm from those parts, but both are a proper challenge.

 

[Yakboy]

With a 1X set up you can also run an oval chainring which really smooths out power delivery on the climbs.

 

[Blue Hills]

With a 1X set up you can also run an oval chainring which really smooths out power delivery on the climbs.

power delivery?
I'm just happy to get up.

 

[Pale Rider]

With a 1X set up you can also run an oval chainring which really smooths out power delivery on the climbs.

Were both rings oval on the roadie oval gears of a few years ago?

 

[Yakboy]

Were both rings oval on the roadie oval gears of a few years ago?

Shimano also did Biopace rings for MTB's back in the 90's but they put the oval in the wrong place. I know you can get 2X TT Oval set ups but I think you have to be very careful shifting rings. I love my Absolute black oval rings, run a 32T on my enduro bike and 30T on my fat bike as I like steep techy uphill stuff I really notice the difference as you pedal more "round" and are less likely to spin out on muddy sections. Been using them for about 5 years now.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Bushcombe Lane is a nasty climb, I can’t say I enjoyed it last year but I managed to keep going to the top. Hardknott Pass is something else, I got to 100m from the top before I conked out. As far as difficulty goes I would rate Bushcombe 9/10, Wrynose 10/10 (I only just manged to keep going) and Hardknott 11/10 because it beat me. I wouldn’t attempt Bushcombe again, it’s not a great road and doesn’t tempt me back. Hardknott was intriguing though and I think I will return for another go but with at least another 4 teeth on my cassette! The descents off Hardknott and Wrynose are horrendous at the moment, the cars have chopped up the tarmac so bad that doing anything over 15mph was dangerous so it’s a bit of a hand acher getting down and that was with hydraulic discs brakes on my road bike.

Wrynose is relatively tame compared to Hardknott. I remember Wrynose after Hardknott on the Fred Whitton and not thinking the former was much to talk about.