I took a quick look at the gearing, and it looks like you could run a 46 tooth chainring and an 11-32 cassette, and you’d have a pretty good gear range for nearly all circumstances except downhill with a tailwind: about the equivalent of 34-24 for the low end and a 53-13 for the top. Maybe not big enough for the real hammers, but more than enough for us mere mortals.
So, what do folks think? Would you go with a single chainring setup like that, and shed all the extra weight and hassle of a front derailleur and double rings? Of course, your SRM’s and Quarq’s would have to go, too. I might do it.
I guess I understand the narrower gaps, although when I started racing I only had 12 gears with a double chainring. And this way you wouldn’t have any overlaps. You might be right about the low-end, though I think there are probably a fair number of folks who don’t need anything easier than a 34-24. That’s a pretty low gear.
Also, I would suspect it is because a front derailleur isn’t really much of a “hassle”, once you’ve actually set up your bike It’s a solved problem. And on a tri bike, the extra weight of the front derailleur/chainring is negligible – unless you are on a course where you need that easier gear…
No, chain is staying on without a problem. You have to make sure your chain line is good, and that your chain length and derailleur cage size are optimal and match. Its a 20+ year-old Shimano Exage derailleur off my 1992 F. Moser steel vintage…… reuse and recycle. Happy riding.
Quite a few people did back in the late 80’s/ early 90’s. Apart from the chain drop issue, a double is just the standard. The small ring can be really save your running legs if an unexpected headwind shows up. The weight and aero penalties are pretty small.
I would be into it. After playing around with the Sheldon Brown gear chart, I did a 1X10 conversion for my CX/Commuter.
Picked up a Wolf Tooth 42T chainring and run an 11-28 cassette. That works great for just about everything around town and some hills. I could see gripes of big gaps while climbing and running out of gears going downhill. Would work great for my road bike (no road races for me), but I don’t know I would want to race on it if I wanted to keep a cadence/wattage range.
I have another Wolf Tooth ring coming for my mtn bike and my next project is to change the roadie to probably 44/11-32.
But I’m keeping 53/39 with my 12-27 to race triathlons until I get my 1X12!
I’m using a 44t wolftooth and 11-32 cassette on my rain bike (road bike) and I haven’t wanted more gears on either end - I dont think I’d want to race it though.
I’m also using a wolftooth 40t ring and 11-32 on my CX race bike and it has been awesome. I paired it with a SRAM XO clutch RD - very nice setup.
Yeah I had an 11-25 cassette on my CX race wheels and I felt a little over-geared. I think your setup is better. I’m using a regular non-clutch RD and haven’t had any drops. The chain does bounce around though.
But riding 1X is a blast. Almost like a single speed, with the exception that you can actually find the right gear.
The clutch RD really helps with chainslap and drastically lowers the chance of chainsuck in really muddy conditions. I had some chainsuck problems in a muddy race using my force Wifli RD before I switched, and it didnt happen again in similar conditions with the clutch.
I find the bigger spacing on 11-32 cassettes actually better for CX as the courses normally require that (steep up and downs) - at least in my area. Road cassettes have me shifting way too much.
I don’t see that much of an upside to it. Riding in a 30 mph wind either into it
or with it there’s plenty of downside to not having the right gear for the job.
Also, I would race on a 1x front but maybe not want to train on one. Well come to think of it I never use little ring and have 11-25 in the back so maybe I’d go for it. I always muscle up the 100-200m inclines in my area instead of shifting.
