I haven't done it, but there really is no reason I can see why it wouldn't work. If 1x is successful in cx where the terrain is infinitely rougher and more variable with lots of quick shifting, its use on road should be pretty seamless. That said, I would think where you live would be the biggest factor. Here in Western PA a 1x system makes a lot less sense. In flatter/rolling parts of the country where you are constantly in the big ring, its a fantastic idea.

FWIW, I run a 56 wide/narrow up front and a standard 10 spd, 12-25 cassette.

Soon to be 11 spd.

Tested in a couple of TTs thus far - including a nice little 15km one with 150m of vert. No chain drop, gear ratios fine. Potential aero benefit - yet to be clarified. Maybe a tad more drive friction. Speeds as good as ever on same (and less power output), so I am tending to thinking that the gains are worthwhile. Alphamantis session soon should solidify the data.

What gives you that feeling? Do you think the friction is coming from the chainring?

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Out of interest where did you get the 56t narrow-wide and who makes it?

For the OP:
I've ran 1 buy (54/ 12-30 11sp for training, 54/11-25 10sp racing) most of the year. My training gear range isn't too dissimilar to your current set up with a double.

Its been fine for everything training and racing wise. Racing I'm mostly using the 3 bottom gears anyway so poor chain line isn't an issue. For training the 30t gets used a lot as I'm either climbing or doing intervals and using it for the recovery between. It's a bit noisy at that end of the cassette but nothing major.

Up until now it's been on a TT bike and one less set of cables helps out quite a bit for traveling with the bike. I've recently switched to a road setup on the same bike for upcoming races and currently I'm using 10s Shimano shifters with a 10s mech and an 11s cassette. Only temporary but I can use all 11 gears without much issue. I've not been super careful with the setup but the easy half of the cassette works as normal. The higher harder gears are a tad off. I suspect you could swap which half of the cassette works best round but not have them all working perfectly. But considering it shouldn't work at all it's more than acceptable day to day. So perhaps if you can borrow a wide range cassette you could chuck it on your regular bike and give it a test run.

Iain

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I had to think this through recently for a cross/gravel/road training bike and i rode several options. In my opinion if you are a strong rider then for the road a 1x works well with something such as a 11-32 x 50. If you were looking for a road racing setup then a 52x 11-32/28 would be just fine for most people unless you had sustained climbs, in which case you could have a spare 11-36 cassette. For gravel/cross i think a 2x just keeps the options open and works better. I tried to get a good combo but for a true multipurpose bike a 2x is always the best option.

Been doing it all year. Started with 48-11/28. Just switched to 50-11/32. For you, 50-11/36 or 48-11/32 should be plenty. I love it. Can't imagine going back. It's just more enjoyable, not having to think about shifting the front. Simplicity = happiness. For me anyway.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Jordan, where did you get our 48 tooth?

Our whole team is running SRAM 1X this year and absolutely love it, no complaints yet whatsoever. Working on switching over my cross/road bike to it as well. Let me know if you have specific questions. I really hope it takes off because I sure as hell don't want to ever switch back to 2X ! I'm only upset that it didn't come out 20 years ago when I started tri

A lot of combos would work for you, so play around on Sheldon Brown's gear calculator website and see what you think suits you best for your given terrain. Or better yet pick two cassettes and two chain rings so that you can swap them around to your likeness

For a tt/tri or gravel setup I'm all for it, but the big gear jumps on the road bike make me wacky, especially in interval/race situations. It becomes a bunch harder to find "just right", but ymmv. Give it a shot!

Thanks all, this is very useful stuff. I was making inquiries about a custom wheel set and the place had 1x11 set up on a CX frame with 32mm rubber and discs...he swore it was the best, comfiest, and (for NZ road surfaces) quickest setup he'd tried. It's got my pal Tim up Ventoux in the last week as well. Starting to see something like an S-Works Roubaix disc module / frame with 1x11 as an interesting option.

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Yes. The nature of the narrow/wide *feels* like it doesn't spin as well, but I think the aero benefit will outweigh this significantly. Testing will soon yield data.

Custom made by a CNC company here in Australia - Featha Custom. Slick bit o kit.

Falco does a single chainring, and claims something like a 1.2-2.5 watt savings. I was surpised it wasn't greater.

From the SRAM Prototype bin...

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Sram makes the following:

110 BCD: 38T,40T, 42T, 44T, 46T, 48T and 50T 130 BCD: 52T and 54T

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/kj

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I like to climb and like to ride places where there is a lot of it, to that effect I recently moved to Colorado. I also tend to be a higher cadence rider rather than a gear masher. For all those reasons 1x11 has always seemed like a bad idea for me on a road or tri setup where there would be a lot of course variability and climbing, the courses I almost exclusively race.

But it strikes me that here I am pining for a 1x11 mtb setup when there is infinite more variability in mountain than road. Trying to think through that apparent contradiction some of course I am reminded that mtb cranks on 1x11 setups are closer to 28t than 50t and I can only assume 1x11 cross big rings are also smaller than their road counterparts? This all makes sense of course since you most of your top end off road is based on gravity not pedaling so the big gears aren't all that necessary.

I want to believe in 1x11 for road but I feel like it's just one of those things I'm going to have to just try for myself to see what kind of terrain it really works with.

I just stripped down a road bike I have been riding with downtube shifters for the last couple years and set it up 42x11-28. I have been commuting on a 1x10 for a while now and am excited to see if I really enjoy 1x for "real rides".

I have done a lot of fiddling with gearing calculators and FOR ME I think that the ideal would really be 44 or 46 in front and 11-32 in back. I already had the 42 from a cx bike and we will see how the balance goes between being under-geared on climbs vs spinning out on descents.

For reference I live in the SF bay area, so lots of hills and a few real climbs.

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/kj

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My daily rider is set up with Force 1. It's my commuter-slash-gravel rig, so I'm running 42 up front and 10-42 in back. Virtually no chain slap and zero dropped chains (in 1000 miles of use). Shifts as well as my other SRAM-equipped bikes.

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Mark Chandler, Editor In Chief
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Ha, but you can throw a $20 chain catcher on a triple and have zero dropped chains as well.

Chain drops are not really a concern of mine, but eliminating one more point of failure / adjustment / maintenance is always a nice touch.

Just came back from the Alps with a mate who was using a SRAM CX1 gruppo with a 38t and 11-32 in the back. He gave up after a day and a half.

Single ring is fine for TT's, but there's no real aero advantage unless you get rid of the mech hanger as it creates almost as much drag as the mech itself.

10-42 in back?

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Yup. Part of my commute (to/from Boulder) includes some relatively steep dirt roads/trails.

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Mark Chandler, Editor In Chief
GRAVELBIKE.com | ride everything

I guess that's your bike that is shown when you click on the Gravel bike website. That's really something I've never
seen a 42 tooth cassette.

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Find out what it is in life that you don't do well, then don't
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