euromade

I'm about to build up an AWOL and would like to get your input on the 1X drivetrain, from those who have actually tried it on a touring bike.

I have built a 1X11 system on my Fatbike, and a 1x10 on my 29er. They work perfectly and I have not had any problems running out of the appropriate gears (both SRAM). Not sure if that would be any different on a touring rig; I did watch some cyclocross youtube reviews with mixed results.


For example Kona sutra is 36Tx10-42 and AWOL Comp is 38Tx10-42. It appears the 1X system is making its inroads into the "adventure touring" setups...

Thanks for your ideas/feedback...

seeker333

If you carry a light load, tour only in flat areas and/or don't mind walking/pushing, then 420% gear range should work fine.

Otherwise build with a double, or even better, a triple crankset. The old 9s MTB combo of 22/32/44 + 11-34t yields 618% range, about 50% more than any 1x configuration.

PDKL45

Shimano are bringing out an 11-46 11-speed cassette this summer, really soon. It's available for pre-order on Chain Reaction Cycles, and, according to my calculations, with a 38 t chainring with an 11-46 cassette you only lose two gears off the top of a 30-39-50 triple crankset with a 12-36 9-speed cassette (about 3 gears off the top of the standard 30-39-50 with an 11-32 cassette, but a better climbing gear). CRC also have reasonably priced Raceface narrow-wide chainrings available in 104 and 110 BCD sizes.

You might also look for a Sunrace 11-46 11-speed cassette, as apparantly it has a better gear progression than the Shimano, but YMMV.

manapua_man

I tried borrowing a bike from a friend who had a setup like that. From my experience it felt like I could never quite get in the gear I wanted when really loaded. If I was going lightweight it wouldn't have been a problem though.

deapee

Honestly, 1x for touring, I just wouldn't recommend it. What are you saving, a little bit of weight? You need gears for hills. I don't even like my 46/36 and 11-28 11 spd for anything over 9 or 10%...I have a 34 and 32 on my road bike that gets me up 12% just fine...

I guess my thing is, if I were touring, the last thing I'd want to do is walk my bike up a hill.

fietsbob

SRAM dual drive or Sturmey-Archer | CS-RK3 Silver Rear hubs,

will give you the 1 X look but gears for climbs.

roadfix

If a 1x can provide me with 18 to around 75 gear inches I'm all for it on a mtb touring rig.

fietsbob

Do the math. Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Gear Calculator

MixedRider

Looks like you have plenty of experience based on your current bikes to make an educated decision about what may work for you. If you are already familiar with what you can and can't do with the gearing you have on your current bikes, then adding the additional weight for touring is not that big of a deal.


I currently run a 42x16 singlespeed on 700x32 tires. This was chosen after riding singlespeed mountain and road bikes for years to determine what I can and can't do.

SparkyGA

I'm doing a 1x10 32t x 11-36 using a SRAM XO on a CX bike for touring, running 35 mm 700c tires. It's pretty good overall until you start hitting the long 8% + climbs. Fantastic setup for general lightly loaded riding or quick rides, but okay for touring. Was wishing for lower gearing this year while touring in High Altas mountains in Morocco carrying 2 peoples worth of gear....

Just built up a 2 x 10 for my bikepacking off road rig . 24-36 front with a 11-36 cassette. Running a lot bigger rubber (29 x 2.4") so I needed the extra low gearing. I much prefer this gearing for touring, my knees are thanking me for it. I do tend to spin out riding unloaded on pavement, but that's a pretty minor problem.

PDKL45

I agree that previous 1x set ups may have lacked gears, but with the new cassettes and cassette-enlarging sprockets available now, a range approximating that of a traditional triple can be achieved. It can be difficult to conceptualize; however, the html 5 gear calculator helps to put things into perspective: HTML5 Gear Calculator.

mdilthey

It's not always about the gear inches. Simplicity has a lot of value, too. I liked 1x9 with a friction shifter a lot, and the "limits" of it were not noticed when I shut up my brain and just rode the bike.

When you get tired on a hill, it's easy to start over-processing your hardware choices, but at the end of the day, even the granniest of grandma drivetrains will still leave you huffing and puffing on a climb. A slightly higher ratio is almost never a make-or-break.

But don't listen to me, I only have two gears now...

HTupolev

The entire reason to have a silly low gear is that you can turn the cranks efficiently at low power, i.e. you have the option to take the climb easily without huffing and puffing.

saddlesores

maybe 'splain what you mean by "touring rig"?

if you plan on carrying 10-15 pounds in a bikepacking
adventure setup on similar terrain to what you ride
now, no need to mess with your current gear setup.

however if planning on going with racks and panniers,
40+ pounds of stuff, then you'll need to rethink your
gearing needs.

maybe you can find a 1x that approximates the total
gear range, but what you'll be missing are all the
smaller increments in between. that can make all
the difference in the world when fighting a 30-knot
headwind, or climbing a 40-km hill for 4-5 hours.

boomhauer

This is only advisable for the super athletes among us. (I'm not included. 17 gear inches for me!)

Aushiker

I have yet to put it to the test bikepacking but I have built up my Salsa Mukluk with a 1x10 setup. My setup is a SRAM 1×10/Race Face Turbine Cinch/OneUp drivetrain with a 42T Sprocket + 16T conversion.

Early testing on local hills has me thinking this will work out well with a bikepacking load (I am going as light as I can). I will know for sure late September but

djb

euromade, the key point in this whole discussion is how much weight you plan to put on a bike. Until you have toured with 30, 40, 50lbs of stuff on a bike (13-20something kilos) its hard to appreciate the advantage of having a wide range of gears.
Yes, the 11 speed cassettes have reasonable jumps between them, but having a double or a triple allows you to have a narrower range of cassette that will give you the same or lower high and low gear than a single chainring AND a narrower cassette has smaller jumps between gears--a real nice thing in real life with a load on a bike.

ultimately, you will have to try diff setups with various loads in various riding terrain to see what works for you.

the whole "simpler and avoiding bad shifting" misconception is just that, a misconception-- double and triple front derailleurs can and do work perfectly well.
When adjusted properly (high and low limits, not rocket science here) they just shift properly all the time when used with competent shifting techniques. This has been my experience touring over the last 25+ years.

I can see how a double on a mtn bike in tight situations coiuld be nice, but for a touring application, we generally arent in tight technical situations and have the extra second or so to easily take advantage of a good working triple--with the advantages of a tighter cassette.

then there is cost, a new 11 or 12 speed super wide range cassette is going to cost a heck of a lot, although I realize that prices always come down. Compare actual costs now to see the diff-but this still doesnt discount the real world riding with a load advantages of multi chain rings+cassette combos.

as mentioned, do the math, compare setups on gear inch calculators and try to make the connection to what gear inch setups you have ridden on--if you have not toured before with a load, it wont be easy to make real world personal experience comparisons.

andrewclaus

Is the strength of the 11-speed chain an issue on tour? I've heard it could be, but nobody's mentioned it yet, from what I could see from a quick perusal.

What about wheel strength--is the drive side dishing an issue?

My last XC tour I finally decided to pack a light load and I never needed my small chain ring. So I started thinking my next bike might be a 1X. I would consider it only if it saved considerable money along with weight, but it sounds like that may not be the case with component cost.

fietsbob

1 x 14, has been proven.. R'off... 1/8" or 3/32" chain.

euromade

Thanks for the great input! The 1X might be on a pricy side, however quality 3x components are hard to find even used on ebay (3x Ultegra for example). I'm leaning toward the 1X system. If I run out of the gear selection I can go to 2x11 down the road.

DeadGrandpa

I don't want to appear that I am an authority on 1x11, but I did try SRAM's 10/42 using only the 34T chain ring from the compact double originally equipped on my bike. IIRC, it gave me a gear range from about 23 to 90 or so gear inches, and that was not low enough or high enough for me, either climbing mountain grades with a moderate load or going down a gentle grade or on level ground with a tailwind.

The unfortunate thing is that SRAM's Rival RD will only work with road shifters, and will not work with multiple chain rings. So upgrading to a 2x (I used a Sora triple 9speed crank with 11 speed chain rings on the small and middle positions, 26/38T) requires that you change the RD to a mtn bike RD, the GX to handle 42T on the cassette, and you have to change the shifters, also. Which means you might have to go to a different handlebar, unless you can make friction bar end shifters work. It is an expensive learning curve. Although I think I heard someone say that older SRAM equipment is road/mtn bike compatible.

fietsbob

Its the 11 part that will have you stranded, when no up to the latest trend in premium bike parts

repair shops exist.. with any spares ... like those $300 + replacement cost cassettes..

alan s 

I love my 1x11 setup 36/11-40, but wouldn't take that bike on tour where there is significant climbing. You lose a bit too much range, so you either don't have low enough gearing or high enough gearing. For unloaded riding, however, 1x11 is excellent and provides suitable range for most terrain.

Even with a triple on my touring rig, I had to walk up the occasional 17-18% grades encountered in Switzerland on a recent trip. Having even lower gearing would have been nice, but fortunately the really steep hills were fairly short and infrequent. My gearing was much better suited for 11-12% grades, with the lowest gear combination of around 20 g.i. With the 1x setup, my lowest is around 24 g.i., which isn't quite low enough for me.

baboonst

Have a look at Sram GX Eagle 1x12, and there's 10-50 casette.I am planning to use it on my bikepacking rig.

seeker333

Sram GX Eagle costs $500 for crank, derailleur, cassette, chain and shifter (cassette alone is $200). That's prohibitively expensive for most, considering that probably half the traffic to Touring subforum spend ~$1000 for their entire bicycle. You may as well buy a Rohloff Speedhub, because you will have paid for one by the time the second GX Eagle cassette has worn out and you're ordering the second replacement cassette, chainring and chain.

I think I'd wait until that pricey 500% 1x12 tech transfers down to Deore-level components at $200. 18-90 gear-inches is probably an acceptable range for loaded touring for many people/terrains.