I have a 1x Salsa Cutthroat that I’ve never really been happy with because of the jumps in gearing. I’ve only ridden it a couple of months all told because of knee problems and am now recovering from knee replacement. I’m wondering if I should give it more time to adjust or replace the drivetrain with a 2x. I really enjoy riding my road bike much more because of the tighter gearing with the 2x set up.
All of the so called advantages of 1x are mostly bogus for gravel.
I switched back in 2020 and am way happier with having a full gear range.
I use GRX di2 and the front shifting is flawless and I never drop chains.
This ^^^^. Small jumps like the TT bike and zero chain drops.
I’m also a fan of 2x because of the gearing jumps despite being a 1x convert for CX and MTB.
The need to fine-tune gearing seems more important on gravel vs road because surface changes play into the equation as well.
Additionally, you still need the wide range in gearing from steep climbs to descents. Personally, I like pedaling lightly on descents if only to relieve some seat pressure.
The only real benefit I can figure for 1x is the FD definitely can reduce tire/mud clearance on many frames and if you are racing in the mud like Unbound you might be really sad if you have one. Otherwise, I just run Dura Ace on my gravel bikes and it’s great.
1x makes sense for folks who don’t live somewhere with actual hills or climbing, or can put out a ton of power to get over climbs. Also, if you ride by yourself and don’t need a real high-speed gear.
Otherwise, I don’t see the benefit.
The only real benefit I can figure for 1x is the FD definitely can reduce tire/mud clearance on many frames and if you are racing in the mud like Unbound you might be really sad if you have one. Otherwise, I just run Dura Ace on my gravel bikes and it’s great.
People keep telling me my 3T Exploro Racemax can’t handle mud too because of the clearance. It’s nonsense.
If the mud is bad, it doesn’t matter what you’re running, everyone is going be in trouble.
I’ve wished for 2x when riding a1x.
I’ve never wished for a 1x riding 2x.
Take from that what you will.
(I like 1x for mtb but even then I can’t say it’s bette in every case, just a preference)
The only real benefit I can figure for 1x is the FD definitely can reduce tire/mud clearance on many frames and if you are racing in the mud like Unbound you might be really sad if you have one. Otherwise, I just run Dura Ace on my gravel bikes and it’s great.
People keep telling me my 3T Exploro Racemax can’t handle mud too because of the clearance. It’s nonsense.
If the mud is bad, it doesn’t matter what you’re running, everyone is going be in trouble.
I tried to do Unbound on this bike and I can’t disagree more, it’s about as bad a bike can be for handling mud, you basically have to do 650b.
Everyone in 1x was walking too.
Everyone in 1x was walking too.
In the complete mud pits, sure, everyone was walking. I was off the back and stopping to clear mud the second we hit anything mud at all, which other bikes handled fine. The clearance w/ 38s pathfinders, which are already smaller than most people run already, was just much too small. The only reason I was able to continue at all was because my spare wheels were 650b and I had them at the first aid station.
Well, you can buy a bike for the .05% of stuff you might face, or have a bike that’s fucking awesome for 99.95%.
You can get 1x so you have a little extra mud clearance, or get 2x and have awesome gear ratios every day.
It’s like dudes around here who refuse to buy sedans because of that 1 day a year they might need their F-150 to go over some heavy snow on the commute to their office job.
It’s of course dependent on a number of factors, such as the tire width and the particular derailleur you’re using, but one consideration that may be a deal breaker for 2x is the lack of tire clearance. I have a Crux that worked perfectly as a 2x with a 40mm tire, but a 47mm tire was within a mm of rubbing the battery on my AXS FD.