Bogusdogs wrote:
Speculative minimal gains, if any it seems. Not to mention these gains were at 30mph...do you remember that triathlon you did where you averaged 30 mph? I am sure there is a reason for that but it seems most testing has been done at 40 kph (~25 mph), why the change?
I personally struggle with the constant jumps in gears you will experience on the road. I understand it more on a mt bike, but on the road you get a subtle headwind, a pitch from 1% to 1.5%...going from a 15 tooth cog to a 16 allows you to maintain a similar cadence/power by shifting a gear. Seems like your best time trialists maintain a steady power and cadence...less stress on the body. I get why they run a 1x in the world championships or Olympics when it's a flat course. So maybe courses like IM Florida, AZ, Texas, would all be good places to run a 1x. But not so much Whistler, Cda, Lake Placid, Lanzarote, etc.
So, I guess if you have to switch cassettes to run a 1x, then maybe a 1x isn't ideal...for me anyway But if the course you are racing on, and terrain you train on, allow a 11x25, then maybe a 1x is a good fit.
Well your concerns are kinda different from what the OP was asking, but they do make for decent discussion points. My bike is set up as a pure TT bike for sub-60 minute efforts on a typical TT course, which I consider to be from flat to rolling with grades of not much more than 3-4% absolute max. A 52 front with an 11-27 is all I would ever need on this bike. 2X is just extra baggage/chainwatcher.
If you ride your TT/Tri bike everywhere then 2X is kinda hard to beat with current technology.