Originally Posted by
niknak
The 1x crowd doesn't address those questions because for a vast majority of people drivetrain life isn't relevant. How many trips have you taken in which you had to replace a chain, cassette, or chainring? I had to replace a chain on a 5-month trip. I've never needed a new cassette or chainring mid-trip. It doesn't matter if your fancy 12s cassette is available at some shop if the chance of you wearing it out on that 2-week trip is nil.
....
I can't speak for everyone and I can't speak for the person you responded to. But when I express concerns about driveline component lifespans, it is not concerns that a component would wear out within a week or two, my concern is that some parts are expensive, some not so much. There are ways to reduce premature wearing of components, such as avoiding cross chaining.
And 1X systems which do not give you the option to use a less cross chained chainring would be expected to increase wear when operated for significant amounts of time on the gears with a less than ideal chainline.
Just yesterday I saw that someone commented on a particular cassette for a 1X system that had a very wide range, I was curious so I did an internet search for that cassette to learn more about it. I was very impressed to learn that you now can have a 1X system with a gear range of 520 percent using a SRAM XX1 Eagle XG-1299 12-Speed Cassette. Thus a 1X system has almost reached the threshold of the gear range you get with a 14 speed Rohloff hub.
But what impressed me even more was the price for that cassette. List price of $449 USD. You even have a choice of two colors.
https://www.rei.com/product/188095/s...speed-cassette
If I had that cassette, I would be EXTREMELY concerned about lifespan of expendable components.
I do not know what your 1X system is and I do not care to know. Just explaining that some of us actually have to pay for our components, regardless of where we are when they wear out, and prefer our components to have a long lifespan.