1x Setup for a road bike
 

Looking for anyone that lives in a flat area that is running a 1X setup on their road bike. What are\were your experience, how long have you been running it\run it, and are you happy with it, if not, why.

I have a bike I would like to update the drive train on, and before putting a 2x system on it, I started thinking about going with a SRAM AXS Force 1x setup. I have no climbing outside of a bridge here and there and rarely ever touch the small chainring. If you are using something like this, what chainring size and cassette size are you running. I am looking at a 44 or 46 chainring with a 10-33 cassette.

I occasionally swap out the chinrings on my all-road/commuter whipto a 1x. Normally , I run a 50-34 chainset, but when I go to 1x I use a 46t. I am running a n11-34 cassette. It’s fine for the low hills around me. Honestly 44t might be a better gear. You won’t be smashing KOMs, but you also will have a simpler set up.

Thanks. Yea I am not too worried about the KOM or Strava segments, could care less about any of that. I just like riding my bikes, and try to keep my almost 60 year old body in somewhat decent shape due to the ice cream problem I have. :D

I live in a hilly area and run 1x SRAM red 12 speed. 48T with either an 11-34, 11-36 or 11-39 in the back 12 speed. I'm thinking of going to 46T and 10-33

Ummm.... this has been beaten to death. Did you do a search?, many, many responses as to likes, dislikes, etc.....

Yea I did , and I did not see anything specific to my question. BF searching is weak at best unless you hit the exact term. A lot of what I have seen in the past is for people that have hilly or mountainous terrain, where I am pancake flat. So apologize for those that are offended by my thread.

A 46 chain ring and even a 10-28 should work fine. I rode up an 11-12% grade today in a 46/32, but I climbed 14,278 feet this week over 188 miles. I need a 46/30 crank and 10-36, so I can pedal seated on most of these steep climbs.

I’ve got a 48/10-50 1x 12-speed setup on my road e-bike. My area is fairly flat, probably average 20-25 feet of ascent per mile. I occasionally ride with zero added power. It fine. Fine enough that I’ve been thinking of going to the same set up on my Roubaix. I’m not in the small ring terribly often except on a few punchy hills in the area. And with the 1x, I actually have a greater gearing range.

NP, And I agree that search can be useless sometimes. My take on 1x is its great for mt. biking where there might be a lot of quick occurring ups and downs with a lot of shifting. I have 2 mt. bikes with 1X and find I shift a lot more often than on my road or gravel bikes. I'm not a fan of 1X on the road as I prefer much tighter gearing than whats typical on a 11-46 or 11-50 mt. cassette. My road bikes are 14-28 (34/50 crank) or 12-25 (30/46 crank). I get away with this as I'm on Long Island where its mostly flat. Even our local north shore hills are doable with the gearing I have. I do use my gravel wheels for upstate, its an 11-34. I really do like those one tooth gears though, really nice for rollers and when its windy (we get a lot of wind).

I have the same gearing on this bike, 50/34 and I run either a 14-28 or 12-25 11 speed. I currently have the 12-25 on it. I was also looking at the 10-28 SRAM cassette, which would give me the 16 tooth, but since I've been riding my new Domane, that came with SRAM Force AXS and the 10-33, I started liking it, and getting used to not having the 16. They also have a 10-26, but that is a Red cassette and I don't really want to spend a house payment on a cassette

I’ve been running a 1x on my “road bike” for 2+ years now and I don’t see myself ever buying a 2x again. I live and ride near the WNC mountains and do a lot of climbing, but living in a flat area would make it even easier. I use a 42T and a 10-50 cassette.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0da9e851f.jpeg
Canyon Grail

I run a 44T with an 11-32 for road riding. It's fine around here on flat roads and small rollers, I have no problem keeping up with the group road rides that I do. This gearing would suck for big climbs, but I never see those.
This is on a CX bike with road tires (I have two wheelsets) - I'm not going to race crits or win any bunch sprints with this setup, but for the group and solo riding I do it's fine.

I prefer to run a 40T for CX racing, so I do some 'ring swapping depending on the time of year. 40T is fine for solo road, but a bit too small for group rides. I can still manage, but it's not ideal. 46T would be perfect for road riding, but this size is likely too big to swap with a 40T without adjusting chain length.

Do you have any idea what your preferred cadence is?

I typically float between 80 and 90 on avg, running a 50 up front and in the 15 to 19 cogs in the back, sometimes if I have a solid wind at my back, I venture into the 90's. This is why I was thinking with either staying with a 46, or possibly, the 44 up front and the 10-33 in back would be fine, as the tallest thing around here is 105ft bridge. There is one bridge that is 8% on one side and 7% on the other, and a very short climb, but I do not ride that one too often, but should not be an issue getting over it with a 46/33, will just be a little tougher than if I had the small ring with the 25,28,33 cogs.

You wont be happy with a 46T

Think more like a 40 or 42T

Your cruising speed should have you using the 13, 14, 15 a lot. Not the 17 and 19

Yup. You'll see a lot of people talking about range but for flat road riding the jumps/gaps between gears is a bigger factor, and the range can be quite narrow.

It's worth comparing the exact gear ratios on different size cassettes to see where those jumps occur. All of SRAM's 12sp cassettes have single gear jumps on the small half. The 10-28 adds in that 16T cog, giving you 8 gears that are single tooth jumps.

If I had SRAM AXS, I'd have zero hesitation about running a 44T 1x setup with a 10-28 cassette for road riding. With my current setup (11sp with 44T front and 11-32 rear) I don't think I've ever used the 44x32 on the road.

If I compare the Domane which has the 46/33 and 10-33, I find myself in the 13-15, and 17 for the most part. Mostly 15\17 right now as I am getting used to the new setup when I look at the same speed and cadence. The Emonda is still running the Shimano 11 speed which is what I am looking at possibly changing out. Everything is based on the wind and if I was prudent in my route selection. Sometime the winds decide to screw me over though.

Agree 100%. If 46/33 is the lowest climbing gear needed, I'd go with a smaller ring and maybe consider running a 10-28 cassette, for the exact reasons you stated.

For me, a 46/10 is too big for anything other than out-of-the-saddle sprinting or massive tailwind group-ride situations. At a casual 90rpm, 44/10 is still good for over 31mph. A 42/10 at 95rpm would do the same. 42x28 is just barely bigger than a 46x33.

I started looking at bikecalc and based on that I agree that a 42 44 might be the better option with the 10-28. My speed if I am by myself is generally 18-21 on a cadence between 80-85 and I am comfortable with that pace for 3 to 4 hour rides. So slight variations for weather variables should make those a good match. Even if I went with a 10-33, I would still be in a good range with a 42 tooth front.

I would start with a back up wheel set. New or used. The times I have had a problem with my bikes that did not allow a ride it were usually related to the wheels and wheel set. Having a decent back up set it a gem...

46T and 13-15 at 80 rpm is 19-22 mph. Bringing the chainring down to 40T reduces those by about 3 mph. Pretty difficult for anyone to answer. You really have no hills, a 10-28 SRAM 12 speed and 40T might be better since you get 10-17 straight block and then bigger jumps to the 28 whereas on the 10-33, you lose the 16T.

Bike Calc is a great place to play with gear combinations. At your 90 cadence your 44x10 would give you 31 MPH. How often would you pull that on the flat land that you ride? You'd be going over 40MPH before you ever spun out (120 rpm) with that kind of gearing. If all you will ever ride is flat terrain, you'll have gear combinations on the high and low end that you'll never need for your 90 cadence.

If there's a chance you might use the bike in the mountains or in hilly terrain, I'd consider a wider gap cassette in the back and a smaller ring in the front. With a 40 in the front and an 11-42 out back, your 90 cadence would give you 25.6 MPH. You'd hit 34 MPH before you spun out. My riding style is like yours and I have ridden this combination. It never left me wanting. It did serve me well the several times I took it into the mountains. That's something the 46 and 10-33 would not have done.

Long winded way of saying that if all you will ever ride is flat land, you can't really go with a bad combo. If you might hit the hills, consider a wider range in the back and smaller in the front.

A 40T with 10-28 SRAM 12 speed would be very good for your cruising speeds with your cadence. You'd have the 10-12 used only for tailwinds. The 40x28 would be more than sufficient for that bridge over the intercoastal. The small steps from 15, 16, 17 would be good in a freshening breeze.

I am living in the Netherlands (flat), and I´ve been using Campagnolo's Ekar group for a lot of road cycling over the last year on my adventure/winter bike. It has a 38T front chainring and a 9-42 cassette, giving me plenty range on the top and the low end, and the steps between the gears are sufficiently small. No regrets, it has about the same range as my other 2x11 road bike, but it's simpler, lighter, the chain doesn´t run off the chainrings every now and then. If I didn´t take this bicycle on bikepacking trips as well, I´d probably install a 40T or a 42T chainring instead.

Absolutely no chance of any hills, only flat. Which is why I was looking at a larger tooth count up front, which would pretty much be what I have on my domane, sans the small ring and front mech. I stopped by my LBS today after my haircut, one of the guys there runs a 1x on his road bike, using a 48 with an 11-32, said he was using a 40 initially, but was not happy with it, so he changed it to a 48, and been really happy. His bike like mine, no chance of seeing any hills.