Jackmen

I have a almost new carbon Fuli gravel bike that I have really enjoyed on gravel races and rides. This week I did a ride entitled "Epitome of Epic" which was a preview of an Epic ride which they are doing in the area which is Near Camdenton in the Lake of the Ozarks. The ride was a 48 mile gravel ride over ozark gravel roads. This one was a little different than the other I have done in that it had right at 3800 feet of climbing and the Hills were very very steep, as in 15%-20% steep.

I am presently set up Sram force CX-1 with 44T up front and 11-36 rear. Everything till now had been ok, but several of these hills had me off and walking. I have never walked a hill prior to this ride.

I really like the top end this configuration gives me but I found myself reaching for lower gears which I didn't have. I like the CX-1 for gravel, and am looking at trying to go bigger in back. Everything is pretty new on the bike so I really don't want to switch derailleurs. It is a medium cage so I am maxed out at 36 in back.

I probably need either 10-42 or 11-42, which is available as a standard sram cassette. Looks like they run $60-$80 on ebay.

Do I get a long cage derailleur (looks like $150-$200), or can I get one of the wolf tooth extenders as a more economical option? Looks like these were made for shimano derailleurs to work with bigger sram cassettes. Which one would you use to extend a sram medium cage to a long cage?

I would like to get the thoughts of others that have made this jump and how has it worked. Experience can be a great teacher so let me know have done and how it has worked out.

mstateglfr 

My thoughts and experience are that large gear cyclocroas 1x is a setup which legitimately works on gravel for a small % of riders in this world and many just suffer thru as they don't fully understand gearing or how to use/maintain a 2x or 3x system.
You seem to be close to the small % of people who can legitimately use a larger cyclocross 1x setup which are typically strong riders with relatively flowing climb or long steady climb.


Itd cost a lot to change to a traditional and actually versatile 46/34 setup mated to an 11-34 cassette(which it sounds like would be all you need to climb walls). But that'd also leave you with tighter jumps in the cassette and who doesnt like that.

Anyways, the long cage sram force 1 rear derailleur can handle up to 42t. So just get an SG1150 or SG1180 10-42t cassette and slap it on.

thehammerdog

42x36. And you walk? Whst was the terrain and how steep......

Spoonrobot 

There are several gravel road climbs in the Cohutta Wilderness Area here in Georgia that I could not ride on a 32/36 (32 chainring, 36 cog) and had to walk.

I unlocked my triple and went back a few weeks later, my low gear was now 22/36 - I did not expect to need it but I used it for several climbs that I would otherwise be walking again. It's not necessarily the grade, it's the grade and the road surface. Much of the climbs were on large coarse rocks that would slide and cause you to burn up your legs or slide to a stop on the bigger gears.

My point is that before you spend any money, make sure the 11-42 will work for you. It may still be too tall. Going from 36 to 42 cogs appears to only get you 5 gear inches lower.

Cyclist0108

Gravel and 15 - 20%, as he stated. (Standing up on the bike climbing like that in gravel isn't a great idea.)

I just put on a 46/30T front to go with my 11-32T rear for this same reason.

To the OP: A 46/30T or even a 50/34T would help you out a lot, and you could keep the current rear setup.

Barrettscv 

Hi Jack,

How often did you need the 44 & 11 or 44 & 12 combinations on your existing gearing? Changing to a 36t chainring gives you a 22% deeper climbing range without changing the cassette. Yes, you would spin-out at about 26mph with the 36 & 11, but any time lost to coasting on the faster downhills would be made-up on the climbs.

TimothyH

I don't mean to derail the thread but this is very interesting. I'm looking forward to riding the Cohutta.

Spoonrobot 

I did the route listed on your page the first time I went out. It was awful and amazing and life changingly hard. Went back every available opportunity until summer was over and I couldn't make the 2 hour drive. I got giardiasis from the water at the ranger station at Hwy 2 and W Cowpen - my own fault since my expected 6.5 hour ride ended up taking 9 hours. I wouldn't have know about the area without seeing it on your page, thanks again.

TimothyH

Oh man, I drove that route in a Ford Escort about ten years ago and it was tough. You are my hero.

Sorry to hear that you got sick but good to know. Sounds like I'll bring Aqua Mira just in case.

Now back to our regularly schedules thread....


-Tim-

mtn_cyclist

I had a Road Link (I think that's what the Wolftooth thing is called) and 40 tooth cassette installed on my full Ultegra drive train. It works well and gives me a nice low gear. Look into it.

mstateglfr 

You quoted the terrain and elevation.
And its a 44t ring up front.

May times i have had to stand on climbs with 34/36 gearing. Its rough to stand and spin out. Some arent as hurculean as others.

Jackmen

Hi Mike

The epitome of Epic was steep to say the least. It made cuba look pretty tame.

I probably needed the high end and low end equally. There are usually always a few pavement sections and quite a few steep down hills where its nice to get some extra speed.

Its pretty easy to change the front sprocket on a 1X so it is possible that could get a smaller one (38T-40T) for gravels routes that have real steep sections and one that is more moderate could use my 44T. Its an option. Still would prefer the wider range in back, so you dont lose the top end.

Need to look at some charts on the difference in the gearing.

Barrettscv 

Use this: kstoerz.com | visual drivetrain comparison tool

Jackmen

I am going to try a 38 upfront and see how that works on the steeper courses.

Kopsis

The Road Link may work but it does run the risk of slow shifting and even chain slipping in the small cogs due to the rather extreme distance between the b-pulley and the cog. The long cage Force 1 RD or Rival 1 RD is a better (though more expensive) solution for 11-42 since the geometry is optimized for the increased cassette slope. I'd also consider dropping down to a 42 or 40T chainring. You'll lose a little top-end, but outside of CX and crit racing, 1x usually requires some kind of compromise.

justin1138

I'd consider doing both, swapping out a smaller front ring and a wider range cassette.

If you put a 40 or 42 on up front with a 10-42 in the back, you'd end up with a wider gear range and no loss to the high end.

Canker

If you go with a 10-42 you need to have sram XD Driver body on the hub.

phatfree

Yes, changing the front ring is probably the cheapest and easiest thing to do. You could always have a few different rings and change them out as the course dictates.

vinuneuro

+100

Jackmen

Tremendous help from several of you, thank you so much, Cranker, Phatfree, Justin1138, Kopsis, Barettscv, and Mstateglfr.

It helps with everybody's input, to make an informed decision.

ckindt

This works without the XD driver because it's 11-42.

trail_monkey

Uh.....around these parts it is similar to what the op described. I ran a 38x11x36 for a long time. I recently ordered a SRAM rival crankset with a 42 tooth chainring. In order to compensate for the 42 tooth chainring I ordered an 11 by 42 sunrace 10 speed cassette. And I still found that the gearing was a little bit too high on some of these climbs. So I ended up going back to the 38 tooth chainring on my race face crank set and keeping the 11 by 42 rear cassette. I get a kick out of some of the posts I see on different boards from people that ride gravel and can get by with a 42 by 11 by 32 cassette or something similar. In Southern Iowa you would have to be the bionic man to ride such a bike for much more than 10 or 20 miles on gravel.

In regards to a post by another poster in this thread, A 1x gravel system is perfectly doable. Most of the loose chunky gravel roads that you will ride on around the parts that I live in are not smooth enough to be building up any sustained amount of speed safely. Therefore you don't need a large front chainring to build up road type speeds. If you need lower gears simply throw a 34 or 36 tooth chainring on the front.

And to the Op......
When I put my 11 by 42 cassette on the rear I was running a sram X7 rear clutch mountain bike derailleur and I did not have to change anything except run my B tension screw all the way in and I've got sufficient clearance.

unterhausen

I have ridden a lot of gravel on a compact with a 50/34 with a 32 on the rear. That works if I'm in shape. Otherwise, it can be a bit of a struggle on some of the longer hills. What I find is that you can't stand up when it's steep enough that you want a lower gear than the one on your bike. My gravel bike now has a MTB crank with a 42/28 and I'm still using a 32 low on the rear. I don't always need gears that low, but it still works pretty well. Our gravel roads are almost all either up or down, and often pretty steep with loose surfaces. I have ridden that bike on the road for many miles. The gears are ok for flatter terrain. I looked at going 1x, and I think I could make it work, but I'd rather have 2 chainrings.

Jackmen

Finally someone who understands our Hills. Yours look even worse than ours. We only had 3800 feet in 48 miles you were almost a 1000 feet higher in about the same mileage. What kicked my butt on this ride is that there were two climbs at 15% and 16% average and we did them both twice, Ouch. That's where I didn't have a low enough gear especially after you've done 25-35 miles already on some gravel thats pretty hard pulling. Enclosed is the strava file of the ride.

https://www.strava.com/activities/863061204

trail_monkey

I have been in states where gravel is small sand and pebble and some it is hardpack dirt. That's sure not what I have grown up around. I grew up in northwest Missouri and now reside in southwest Iowa. They use that white chunky gravel in these parts. What makes the hills even worse is sitting and spinning or standing and mashing while your tires are bouncing all over the place on the rock. It physically wears you down even more. Lets put it this way.....I trained for RAGBRAI last year by riding gravel only and I only averaged about 3-4 rides a month given my busy schedule. RAGBRAI was a piece of cake even though it went through the southern part of the state and there was some 10% grades that were a half mile long. Pavement is nothing compared to gravel. 50 miles of Iowa gravel can easily be equated to a century on paved roads. I have done both.

Maybe one of these days I can make it down to the Ozarks to ride gravel. Beautiful down there!!