Seattle Forrest

Your bike doesn't make you solve a riddle before it will shift? The questions it asks before it lets you use the front shifter are much harder.

shoota 

OMG what a bunch of haters! You can't tell me this bike isn't hot. And, yes, it's raced by a legit bike racer. Everywhere except the mountains. I rest my case, haters.

FlashBazbo

This forum cracks me up. Lots of opinions. Lots of passion. Lots of speculation and projection. Precious little experience.

I rode and raced 1x for a couple years. At first, it was really cool. But after the "new" wore off, I started to notice the gaps and the lack of flexibility (at times) compared to 2x. Sometimes, it was a gear ratio that wasn't available 1x. Sometimes, it was a slower multi-shift going from downhill to uphill or vice versa (sometimes four TIMES as many shifts to get to the same place). And the worst, in hilly or mountainous racing situations was spinning out, yet falling behind, because the 2x guys ALWAYS had a higher gear. I won't race 1x ever again, if I can help it. The advantages (which are few) aren't worth the price you pay in flexibility and performance.

shoota 

This is what keeps me from 1X. I'm pretty sensitive to cadence and nothing would frustrate me more than constantly being in between gears.

WhyFi

You either die a hero poseur or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain a retrogrouch.

ljsense

There's a legit crit machine -- notice the single water bottle cage, the pre-race chain on the big cog. All set to go. Built for a clear purpose.

Seattle Forrest

Brake track on the rear wheel doesn't look good.

Sy Reene

Why not that 10-33 cassette with a double chainring? Use the ring that you can live with for 95% of a route, switch to the other maybe 2x on the entire ride to the other ring for the balance 5% of the ride?

rubiksoval

At the amateur racing level, most people have to actually train on the bike they race on. And many bike racers are very attuned to big jumps in gearing and don't like it.

rubiksoval

Single water bottle cage? On the downtube?

Looks like it'd get dropped.

And what's up with that rear wheel?! Plus some friction in that gear combo, undoubtedly.

ljsense

One persistent theme here is that there are these "big jumps" in a 1x drivetrain. I'm an amateur racer, and I do a fair amount of training on the road with my cross bike, which is a 1x11. It has about the same bottom gear as my road bike, but somewhat less on the top end. I don't feel like I'm suffering between gears. I'd say it's got a better selection of gear ratios than my very first race bike, which was a 2x7.

It's true that a 2x whatever gets you more ratios, usually a wider range. But if someone is training on the same terrain that they're racing, and a 1x works on those course, I don't see what the huge deal is.

rubiksoval

I'm sure we could go back and forth about the practicality of either, but what may be practical for you isn't for me, nor for a lot of people. I'm an amateur racer as well and raced about 30 crits without a single road race last year, but within 10 miles of my front door I have about a dozen 30 sec-2+ minute hills that eclipse 15%. Even dropping 700 watts for a minute won't get me up those climbs in the big ring (more than once, at least).

And it's not always about bottom gears and top gears; it's about gear jumps and friction. A big/big combo "feels" like turning a wheel with the brake rubbing. You can just hear the nastiness. Similar to being in the 11. I'd actually run a 55 if I could so I wouldn't need to go below the 13-14 in really fast racing situations. Straighter drivelines are faster.

Of course it's a personal preference, but it irritates the hell out of me when I'm maxed out and fishing for a gear and it's just not there. It used to always seem like it was the 16 when I first started, but I've got that one now. Still face that issue from time to time going from 19-21-23 on longer hills, but I don't do those that frequently. But those are 2x jumps. Start making that 3, and 4, and 5. Yuck. Sure, I and others could "survive", but why? Makes no sense to me.

At the end of the day, anyone can justify anything they want to themselves. But it's not likely to be such an easy sale to others, especially ones that take their performance seriously and have worked out what works well for them.

Anyway, as a quickly aging Cat 1 crit racer struggling to maintain some semblance of relevance and skill, that's why I won't ever be running 1x. Nor do I ever plan on running disc brakes, but that's another tale.

Seattle Forrest

Or a 22 cog 11-40, if you want people to give up the front shifter.

colnago62

ljsense

Fair enough, I see your point.

noodle soup

That's where I'm at. After 35+ years of riding big miles, I'm very set in my cadence. 88 is where I'm most comfortable for hours on end. Spinning it at 120+ is fine for short periods, but I know 88 is exactly where I want to be.

I never wanted discs on a road bike either, until I was offered a deal that I couldn't refuse.

I got the Domane 6.9 disc(with 9000 series Di2), for $800 less than the rim brake version, and just recently spent the saved $$$ on a second wheelset. After riding discs on the road for 8 months, I never want to go back to rim brakes again. I'd go back to mechanical shifting, before rim brakes.

noodle soup

That bike looks jacked up.

Saddle slammed all the way forward, and SRAM wiped all over it.

WTF is up with that rear hoop?

If this is your bike, I apologize.

cycledogg

This is where I'm at with this 1x gimmick!

ljsense

I think in the end it comes down to the physiology of the rider -- those who are extremely sensitive to a fixed cadence are going to do everything they can with their gearing to stay on it, while with others, it's just not that big of a deal if a couple shifts are 12 percent instead of 8 percent, or whatever.

1x12 or 1x whatever seems to me like it will fit lots of riders' needs, and I'm surprised that no one in this discussion has mentioned those who've succeeded on the most restrictive of gearing, the ol' 1x1.

Here is a guy who rode a singlespeed in a field of derailleur bikes for the win: https://cyclinghometour.wordpress.co...hequamegon-40/

Yes, it's a mountain bike race, but the 40-mile course is hilly, with long climbs and starts on a highway descent and a grassy field, with stretches of gravel road along the way.

seypat

As Sonny and Cher sang, the beat goes on. The same could be said for 3x vs 1x or 2x. Whatever floats your boat. I've road rides on triples with straight blocks thinking, "it doesn't get any better than this." You only go onto a ring if you need it, and you don't have to shift through a bunch of effing cogs. For the life of me, I have no idea why someone would want to shift through 10, or 12, or 14 cogs to get from one end of their range to the other. Even with electronic, that's a lot of shifting or holding a button. Different strokes for different folks.

caloso

There was a guy in the Masters field at Nevada City last year on a SSCX. He didn't win, but he beat a lot of riders, including me. Guy is a monster and regularly wins the SSCX field in the local cross races, but in retrospect it wasn't such a radical choice for NC. Nevada City is basically a long crit course on a hillside. Going up you're in the small ring, going down you mostly recovering anyway.

shoota 

Do you though...?

noodle soup

woodcraft

Is that bad?

I seem to recall wind tunnel testing that found that set up better than on ST or no bottle, but both bottles best.

Seattle Forrest

There are some flat sections of road out here where you don't have to shift, and being in slightly the wrong gear if you don't have the right one isn't such a big deal. But those flat parts are rare. I haven't seen people riding mountain passes on 1x systems, and I'm glad I don't have to.