Do y'all really prefer 1x for gravel?

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jemima
Posts: 270
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2011 12:36 am
Location: Perth

by jemima

I'm only using 10speed, but I do like the 1x ratios I chose carefully. 11-36 with a 38t chainring.

Chose that combo as there's lots of hills in my riding. On the flat stretches I don't ride that fast; finding the third smallest cog pretty much a perfect cadence for me (slightly easier than the ratio on my road bike).

If it gets super fast on the downhills, then I just coast.

Using Juintech also (R1), with Jagwire cables: Red shifters and crank, with a short-cage XO.
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silvalis
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Location: Aus

by silvalis

I went from a Compact/11-36 to a force1 42/11-40 on my previous gravel bike and it always didn't feel quite right at the bottom of the cassette grinding up hills.

Not sure which way I would go next time. Depends on the road surface, as on a few rides I felt the clutch was definitely worth it.
Chasse patate

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Slammed
Posts: 171
Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:32 am

by Slammed

I'm running a 1x11 setup on my gravel/adventure bike and love it. It's currently setup with a 42t chainring and a 11-42 cassette. For general gravel riding and touring it's awesome but I do lack a little bit of the top end if I really want to drill it. Although the 42x11 is actually 3 inches larger than a 52x14 which is what I used to race when I was a junior and I did fine in pro cat 1 races.

tonytourist
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Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:13 am
Location: 90039

by tonytourist

My CX bike is currently filling in for my road bike, I run a 10/42 cassette with a 46t chain ring. The range is nice but the jumps on the cassette aren't the best for fast group road rides (at least in my opinion) but it works fine for me. For group road rides I'll stick with a double for now.

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FIJIGabe
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Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:07 pm
Location: The Lone Star State

by FIJIGabe

Personally, I like 1x for my mountain bike, but everything else is 2x, including my CX/Gravel bike. I like having the wide range (I'm running an Ultegra 6800 46/34 combination, and it shifts well) that the 2x affords, with minimal gaps. Depending on the ride, I'll use either an 11/28, 11-32 or even the new 11-34T cassettes, so I can maximize my cadence. Obviously, the bigger the cassette, the bigger the gaps, but when I'm riding relatively flat courses, the minimal gaps in the 11-28, coupled with the 46/34 combo have me covered.

jeanjacques
Posts: 349
Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2016 11:01 am
Location: France

by jeanjacques

How about the lack of clutch on your 2x11 configuration ? Do you use a mtb derailleur ?

Marin
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Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:48 am
Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

Clutch is overrated, I rode MTB 1x without clutch and just a narrow/wide ring for a while and didn't drop a chain.

Plus, on 2x the front mech acts as a chainguide.

I'm running a clutch mech on my allroad bike currently, but only because it's the only option for shifting 10-42. I even got a non-clutch X0 derailleur without clutch - which is 70g lighter - but it wouldn't shift up to the 42t :(

morganb
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Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2017 5:30 pm

by morganb

44/34 2x is also nice for riding to the woods to jump into some single track. 44 for the road out and just leave it in the small ring the entire time in the woods.

jeanjacques
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Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2016 11:01 am
Location: France

by jeanjacques

Marin wrote:Clutch is overrated, I rode MTB 1x without clutch and just a narrow/wide ring for a while and didn't drop a chain.


Not a problem with chain drop but about chain bouncing on the chainstays.

Marin
Posts: 4035
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:48 am
Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

jeanjacques wrote:Not a problem with chain drop but about chain bouncing on the chainstays.


I'm getting that that on my clutch bikes too.

Putting something on the chainstay is more effective & efficient than a clutch.

HaroldC
Posts: 242
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:21 am

by HaroldC

I currently have a 50/34 and 11-32 setup on the gravel bike and have been thinking about switching to a 1x11 drivetrain. My main concern is the larger gaps between ratios, especially when pushing it on the road. I like the simplicity of the 1x11 drivetrain, but I didn't considered the increase in friction from the chain line to the larger cogs out back.

There's nothing wrong with my double chainring setup, I think I'll probably stick with it for now.

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ProfessorChaos
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Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 3:10 am

by ProfessorChaos

Yeah my cranks will be here Friday. I already changed out the cassette to 11-25, and installed the new brakes, shifters, and derailleurs. I'm really looking forward to having close ratios on it. Now I'm just trying to decide on tires. I'm not a big fan of the Sawtooth tires. I'm thinking 38 Trigger Pro setup tubeless will be what I'm going to switch to.

HaroldC
Posts: 242
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:21 am

by HaroldC

I’m currently running Compass Barlow Pass tires with Challenge CX latex tubes. Feels amazing, similar to tubeless. I’m not entirely sold on tubeless for gravel yet. Was running Orange Seal and it couldn’t seal up a 1/4” slice in the tread. Leaked everywhere and made a huge mess when I had to run a tube. Might eventually give Orange Seal Endurance or Stan’s Race a try.

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ProfessorChaos
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Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 3:10 am

by ProfessorChaos

Wow, I really couldn't be happier than I am with my new setup on the Sequoia. I got a Sram 950 50/34 crankset paired with an 11-25 cassette, Force 22 shifters, Red 22 FD, Force 22 RD, Juin Tech F1 brakes, and 38mm Trigger Pro setup tubeless, on otherwise an otherwise stock Sequoia Expert. I've been running Orange Seal in my gravel bike, and all my MTBs with no real problems. The higher pressures have me reluctant to trust tubeless on my normal road bikes.

All of my thoughts were proven correct with the 2X. I always had the right gear I wanted, and I had to battle some awful wind today. I hit some of the bigger hills around me, and I had plenty of gear for them. I also tapped it out on the top end with once I turned around and it became a tailwind. I'll never go back to a 1x on the road, and the brakes worked amazing too, and I had the proper comfortable mechanical hoods I love.

Lieblingsleguan
Posts: 182
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:47 pm

by Lieblingsleguan

ProfessorChaos wrote:I replaced the cassette with a 11-25, and the RD with a short cage Force, and it feels noticably less drag in the drivetrain as well. Which makes since with bigger cogs having more teeth would be more contact points on the chain, and more contact would be more friction.

More drag is probably coming from a bad setup and/or the clutch derailleur. Your reasoning is not correct, actually the opposite is true, bigger cogs are more efficient. As long as there is no relative movement at a contact point, there is also no friction loss. However, the smaller the cog is, the more movement is necessary between the chainlinks. This effect is well proven and documented and is also the reason why on your 2x11 setup, running the big chainring with a big cog is more efficient than combining the small chainring with a small cog.

However, you said it yourself, you could feel the effect on the workstand. In a basically unloaded situation, small differences in efficiency can be noticed. When the drivetrain is loaded, it is not necessarily true that the differences are still the same and even if so, the differences are very small. A similarly insignificant test for example is people spinning unloaded wheels and measuring the time till the wheel stops, disregarding the differences between loaded and unloaded efficiency of a bearing.

Coming back to your original question, I recently converted my CX bike to 1x and I am quite happy with it. Not having to do front derailleur shifting with the risk to drop a chain makes sense on singeletrails and CX race situations. I don't see any real advantage for road and gravel riding though. Happy for you that you got your optimal setup.

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