stevehollx

I currently run the following on my gravel bike:
SRAM Rival 22 46/34T
12-36 Cassette; 11spd
Rival 22 derailleur

Bought some property near Asheville, and looking forward to getting back into some steep gravel rides after a few years off the bike. In the past my lowest gear was 34x32 and not enough. Posted this in 2017 for the same dilemma:https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...3#post19806333
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...6&goto=newpost

Eventually arrived at getting the 12-36 cassette working, going from 34x32 -> 34x36 but haven’t spent time with the change in the mountains since implementing it.

I am anticipating that I will still want an extra gear, something in the 34Tx40 or 34Tx42 range. It seems there are some new options out now that it is a few years later?

A key point is I have a left arm SRAM power meter, so I can’t jump to another vendor’s subcompact crank.
Entertaining some possibilities if I feel I still want another lower gear:
* The roadlink to allow for 4T extra clearance which should get me 40T in the back. I assume I have to be careful not crosschaining with my 46T front? Has anyone done this with SRAM? I’d then put something like a Sunrace CSMX8 11-40T 11spd on.
* Diving all in the 43/30x10-36 SRAM Force eTap. Price hurts.

Any thoughts?

Phatman

I live outside of Asheville. I've got a 42T front and an 11-36 on the back, and I've not had an issue getting up anything. I've got a 205 pound dad-bod and I have trouble getting in more than 3-5 hours a week these days, you'll be fine with a 34x36. I'd at least get out here before you make any big changes.

Bryan C. 

I regularly ride hills in the 10%+ range. Sure on a road bike with smooth tarmac I can climb some pretty steep hills with a 34x32 low gear. But on dirt and gravel I want low gears.

A Force 1 RD will allow up to 46t cassette. I would look towards a 42t low cog cassette, you might need to extra gearing at some point so why not just get it taken care of now.

Phatman

I'm not sure the Force1 has enough chain wrap capacity to do a double chaining though.

stevehollx

It also wouldn't have a parallelogram to support a dual ring up front. I am not yet convinced that 1x11 or 1x12 works on a gravel adventure bike to drop the a front ring.

Bryan C. 

I prefer a 2x set up on my gravel bike as well.

A mid length cage derailleur should work with the 2x. But each set up is a bit unique when going beyond the published limits of the equipment. This is also based on my experience with Shimano.

scubaman

People who want to use 2x should of course use 2x! But 1x is very definitely up to the task of gravel adventure, in my view. See, for example, Ted King's crazy north-south ride across Vermont this spring: 500 km (310 miles), with almost 10,000 m (31,000 feet) of elevation, across some of the roughest gravel roads in VT, in under 24 hours. Per Cyclingtips, he used a 46 front ring and 10-50 12-speed cassette.

As a vastly inferior rider to Ted King, I use a 36 front ring and 11-speed 11-42 cassette (and can easily swap in 11-46 if needed). I've ridden that up and down Alps with easy gears to spare. What I give up is big gears to hammer downhill - which I'd need for fast group rides, but don't need or even want on gravel adventures.

mihlbach

I have a Force 22 group set up with 46-34 front and 12-40 cassette, using a road link. It works great. No problem using the 46:40 ratio.

stevehollx

Nice, thanks for confirming!