willbuyone

I have decided that even if I am only going to be riding causally I want a bike with a decent fork. I am not sure what drive train would me best for riding on mostly flat dry trails with a little bit of sand in the mix. I think my choices are going to be one of these 3

2020 X-Cal 8 1x12
2020 X-Cal 7 2x9
2019 X-Cal 8 2x10
I know I have to decide for myself, but I would like to hear other more experienced members. Pros and cons etc.
mostly on terrain like in these pics. I know most have already seen these pic, but here we go again.
TIA Oh yea I am going to use a Trek credit card for part of my purchase so not looking for other brand bikes.

Canker

Normally I'd say 1x12 is the way to go but on gravel with a 30t upfront and a 11-50 in the rear I'd be worried about spinning out, not enough top end speed. Yeah you could put a bigger chainring on it but why bother if you already get the gearing you want and can pay less by going with one of the 2x options?
https://www.bikecalc.com/gear_speed
Play around with that and figure out what gearing you need for your typical gravel rides. My gavel bike which does double duty as my road bike runs 46/30 chainrings and an 11-32 11 speed cassette, if it were a dedicated gravel bike I'd probably go with a 11-36 cassette.

What are the prices?

willbuyone

I think about $1200 for the 2020 8
about $1000 for the 2020 7
and maybe $1100 for the 2019 8

jrhoneOC

Id go 1x. You are teally only giving up extreme top end. 1x less maint, lighter, better performance. I personally like having less gear options. Makes me focus on riding not gearing.

Darth Lefty 

I rode an X-Caliber about two years ago and I didn't much care for it. Because it's built a little more on the XC side than trail, it has a longer stem, narrower handlebar, and shorter travel giving it less stack than I wanted, and higher gearing than I needed. And they were all 2x, I've never met a front derailleur I liked. I wanted to ride its brother the Roscoe but they were out of stock. I really liked that they both could mount a standard rack and a trailer hitch. I ultimately got a Salsa Timberjack, very similar (and also available in both 27.5+ and 29er versions).

It mystifies me why they'd sell an ostensible beginner's XC race bike with a 30t front and 50t rear. That's a stump puller. I sometimes run out at 30-11 on my Salsa and I'm not exactly fit, while I've never needed lower than 30-42. Don't most Eagle systems come with 32? Even 34 would be ok on this bike. It's not for touring.