1x Road Bike Gearing

Londonirish72 · 09-05-2023 8:14am #1

Does anyone ride a road bike with a 1x gear set-up (as in a single chainring up front).

I am in the market for a new road bike but all the main brands have similar offerings and I am a sucker for something slighty unusual. I have come across a small UK bike manufacturer that has designed its carbon road bike frames around a 1x set up.

There seems to be a reasonably broad gearing range on offer from these bikes and I could go with the SRAM XPLR set up with something like 44T up front and 10-44 at the back. Or 42T up front and a slightly more standard 10-36 at the back.

I wonder though would I be choosing style over substance and if I would later regret not opting for a wider range of gears. That said, there are gear combinations on a standard road bike set up that most of us rarely use and I suspect many of us rely on a small number of gears for most of our riding.

Any thoughts here?

CramCycle · 09-05-2023 8:38am

Get the bike frame you want and you can easily change it to 1X by swapping out the crankset, do not buy a bike solely because it comes with 1X. I regularly ride my CX bike on my commute and on club runs without issue, 42t at the front and 11-46. I also have a 48t chainring for the faster times of the year. You'll probably need a new cassette and rear derailleur as well.

JoeFloyd · 09-05-2023 9:10am

have ridden my winter bike with a 1x setup on the road. 38 front ring, 11-28 on the rear. standard ultegra grouppo, but I got one of the RX rear mechs with the clutch, just because it was an option at the time (any of the 000 series mechs work great though - ie. r7000 r8000). the gearing with a 38 front would be a bit spinny for faster club rides, but I found it fine for winter miles, and also light gravel.

I've also gone 1x on my TT bike. 54 front, 11-28 rear - seems fine for that sort of usage - but that would be a bit heavy for general riding.

a club mate has been riding 1x for road racing. 54 ring on a dura ace crank, and I think he's running 11-30 on the rear. hasn't had any issues with chain drop, and would only use that bike for flatter courses. I've a race bike project in the works and may go that direction too.

I would suggest its about finding the right ratio for your intended usage, and maybe have a couple of options for the cassette size - go for a long cage rear mech to accommodate a wider range. you can run 1x with a standard groupset, and just not use the left lever as a shifter. always go for a narrow wide chainring up front though, to help avoid chain drop.

obviously, dedicated 1x groupsets exist - but to give you the best versatility, and to allow and an easy switch back to 2x, converting a 2x would be easiest I think.

as someone in the cycling press said, 1x on the road is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist - but it certainly looks cool :-)

CantGetNoSleep · 09-05-2023 7:31pm

I have a gravel bike that I've taken on a few road rides when my other one was in the shop etc. It is 40t front, 11-42 rear (11 speed).

I find that gearing perfect for almost all gravel riding but wouldn't use it on the road by choice.

There are two main issues - 40-11 is not fast enough as a hardest gear if you are going to do any group rides / descents / fast sections. Then the gaps between gears are too big with 11 speed 11-42. I use a 34t rear cassette on my road bike (with a double chainset) so I'm not the pickiest on gaps or finding the perfect cadence, but there were too many times when I either couldn't find the perfect cadence, or changed gear and found the difference too much.

I think your setup would mostly fix my first issue (44-10 should be fine compared to 40-11), but I'm not sure how much better the gaps between gears would be with the extra gear.

I do like the idea of 1x and I've never been a fan of front derailleurs (at least they have gotten rid of triples) but I'm not sure if I'd go for it on my main road bike. Might be worth a try if you could somehow do that, or make sure you have the option to retrofit a front derailleur if you changed your mind

Londonirish72 · 09-05-2023 9:01pm

Helpful advice all. I a little less sold on 1x now but still like the look of them!

Squidgy Black · 09-05-2023 9:18pm

There’s always the option of the new Classified Powershift hubs too if you do go for a 1x setup and end up wanting more range, pricey and pretty new to the market but they’ve been getting pretty good reviews so far

https://youtu.be/DMG0nQIhmoQ

harringtonp · 13-05-2023 8:46pm

I ride this. It's a 1x gravel bike but with the road wheels on it, it's does a fine job as a road bike.

Have used it in all the club road race leagues this year

Max gear is 40x10 which has been enough. I could buy and put a 46 chainring on if needed.\

Londonirish72 · 15-05-2023 7:25pm

Thanks for all the comments.

The 1x bike I am looking at also comes with the Classified Powershift as an optional extra which effectively makes it into a 2x but the bike looks a lot sleaker.