March 29, 2014, 11:11 a.m. -  johnpamaisling

#!markdown Hi Morgan, Great analysis; one thing that has always made me wonder is the perceived efficiency sensation of riding bigger chainring combo over a smaller chainring combo when the same gear ratio is selected; for instance, in the current double ring setup, there is almost always gear cross over where ratios are similar. Coming from road riding/XC career, I always selected the 'big ring' over the 'small ring' when a similar ratio existed for high speed spinning; there has been lots of debate over whether this is psychological or mechanical. Here is an interesting article that puts some science behind the discussion. <http://cyclingtips.com.au/2010/04/the-big-ring-mechanical-or- psychological-advantage/> Bailout gears are of course not an issue, but on long fast flow trails where you are doing lots of moderate to high speed spinning, I wonder if the single speed is the way to go given the small front chainring, small cog combo that would be used. I could see for most Shore riding where the 1X11 is great, but for more XC/adventure riding elsewhere, I would think a 2X10 might be better. I also wonder about the longevity of the cassettes on 1×11 if a lot of spinning in the 11 through 14's is required.